Troubleshooting A Rolleiflex 2.8f Light Meter For Repair

In this video I go over some things you can do to test and clean a Rolleiflex 2.8F light meter. If you have a non-functioning meter cleaning the contacts can sometimes bring it back to life. I've seen these with "broken meters" that weren't broken at all, they just needed a good cleaning. If that doesn't work then there are some things you can test to help isolate the source of the problem if you would like to find replacement parts. To do this you’ll need a regular eraser, a small screwdriver, a multi meter, and a paper clip or sewing needle.
Link to the video I mentioned: • How to take off the FO...

[@toho45]

Thank you so much!!!!!! Until today since 2000 then I dare to open it up and clean. 🙏

[@mjmdiver1137]

Great video... one comment on the wiring. You can check wire continuity through the body from the nameplate to the meter location with the multimeter as well. You will have to check each wire independantly, but that is good, because it may help determine if there is a fault on one or the other (or both). Set the MM for resistance (ohms) and then test the positive-positive wire (polarity doesn't matter with the MM). Take one of the leads from the MM and touch it to the positive at the nameplate location and the other at the positive at the meter well. Do the same for the negatives. They both should show (essentially) 0 ohms resistance since they are short and should be cleanly soldered from contact to contact. If not, you may have a cold solder point or a bad wire.

[@drbarnack1885]

Thanks _so much_ for this! I had cleaned my contacts between the light meter and the camera body, but couldn't figure out why I was consistently off by two stops. I didn't think to zero the shutter/aperture/ISO settings before reinserting the meter body. Now I'll shoot some 6x6 this weekend without carrying around a light meter!

[@shyatt3]

Glad to hear it helped you.

[@regularSenseAppeal]

Thanks a lot for this video my friend! I just brought my 2.8F meter back to life thanks to you.

[@shyatt3]

Really glad to hear it! Hope you enjoy the camera.

[@lukemandelbrot7903]

Great video! very helpful! Thank you!

[@MachineDoctorRen]

Thank you for sharing this great video, I followed your instruction and installed a "new" meter to my 2.8F.

[@shyatt3]

Glad to hear it was helpful!

[@filmneri]

Just perfect! Thank you for sharing!

[@shyatt3]

Glad it helped.

[@neilpiper9889]

Back in the day, professionals mostly preferred Rollieflexes without meters and used a Gossen meter. Also, this choice saved weight.

[@shyatt3]

Hey Neil. The one Rollei I've kept over the years is a 2.8C for that very reason.

[@Astyanaz]

When I got my best Rolleiflex (out of close to a dozen Rolleis) I wanted to get a lightweight one. I waited until I found an f3.5E with Planar and no meter.

[@ghosttownsentinel5288]

Good video. Thanks for it.

[@Gwalion]

Excellent video. Thanks.

[@shyatt3]

Thanks Paul. Hope it was helpful.

[@deemdoubleu]

Awesome. I have the same model and they are such beautiful pieces of engineering. It's just a shame, though a reality, that there aren't many places (or the parts) around to keep these in tip top working order. My shutter is a bit lazy, so I will probably have to do a deep dive on that at some point soon.

[@StundeDesSiegers]

Thank you for this great tutorial. Much appreciated! Now I know that the meter of my white face is dead. The cell and the cabling are fine.

[@shyatt3]

I'm glad it was helpful! Sorry to hear about your dead meter though.

[@dbetinis]

Very good class thank you. Could you do a video for the selenium test/repair for the Yashica LM, not the LM Mat or the EM just the plain Yashica LM?

[@ricardommyamada]

Very Good! Thanks!

[@shyatt3]

Hope it was helpful Ricardo!

[@devroombagchus7460]

Thanks. Very clear.

[@shyatt3]

Thanks Robert. Sorry for the terrible video quality though!

[@devroombagchus7460]

@@shyatt3 Thanks for telling me the video quality was bad. I didn’t notice, because I was following your actions and explanations. 😇😊. Look forward to seeing more from you.

[@mariofazioli7534]

Hello, You are really very , very good. Quality of recording, excellent, quality of knowledge excellent, i can go on all day with excellence, i am hooked on your channel. Question, , do you repair TLRs,do you also sell Rolleiflex cameras, and where is your location if you do . thanks

[@regularSenseAppeal]

Fantastic video - thanks a lot! A local shop, now closed unfortunately, knew how to make make new selenium cells for these cameras. IIRC they'd cut a strip of selenium to size from a sheet and resoldering the wires. If you know of any information or video describing how to do this I would be very grateful.

[@shyatt3]

I wish I did! Unfortunately even though I've heard that's possible I don't have any experience doing it.

[@coleturner3859]

wow your copy is gorgeous. mine is more beat up than a mad max car!

[@shyatt3]

It's a beautiful one! I got quite a deal on it since the meter wasn't functional when I bought it and it needed a few other quick fixes.

[@mamtorad1]

Hi, thank you for the video, it is very helpful. I have one aditional question, my light meter works and the needle show proportionally but it seems as if not enough power from the selenium cell was going through to the needle, therefore it wants me to over expose the shots by many stops. Do you think that the case can be that the contacts are a little dirty because some power goes through but not enough? Thank you!

[@shyatt3]

Hey Vinny. Good question. The first place I would start is the meter settings when putting it back into the body. The Rolleiflex manual says "before re-inserting instrument: first set camera to DIN / ASA value 12, filter factor 0, shutter speed 1/500th sec. and diaphragm f:22, then insert exposure meter and tighten screws." If all of these settings aren't in the proper place when the meter was reinstalled then the movements aren't going to align properly. This is the most common reason I've encountered when a meter is working but the exposure seems to be off by some number of stops.

[@mamtorad1]

@@shyatt3 Thank you for your reply, Ill try it today :)

[@andrewmcalea9978]

Thanks, meter now working.Do you know if working with the meter out results in the film inside being exposed to light?

[@shyatt3]

Glad to hear you got your meter working. Good question. I’ve never tried it with film in the camera so I can’t say for sure, but I can’t immediately think of any reason that it would expose the film.

[@madhavanpalanisamy6688]

Very useful video! thank you! my meter needle moves and I think it's working fine, but I have an issue with the coupling, there is a 3 stop difference (under) when checked. for 400 I need to keep it at 100. Do you know what would be the issue? thanks so much in advance.

[@shyatt3]

Thanks Madhavan. I'm glad it was useful. I can't say for certain why that's happening but it may be that it's meeting some resistance somewhere along the line. The contacts and cell can corrode. I would try cleaning the contacts of both the meter (the posts on the meter itself and maybe where they connect in the body) as well as the selenium cell where it connects to the body behind the nameplate. Be very careful if you try to clean the meter contacts in the side of the body. You can very easily bend one of those backwards and then lose contact with the meter. It can be a major pain to fix that. If that contact looks clean then it's probably best to leave it alone and just clean up the contacts on the meter itself with an eraser.

[@madhavanpalanisamy6688]

@@shyatt3 thank you so much, I am glad you replied:) sorry I don't think I was clear..it's not much about the meter (the needle reacts to the light perfectly, I compared it with another Rollei and both reacted the same.. let's say 8 o clock) but the other loop lever that moves as we set the aperture and speed..that only matches when I keep the filter value at 3 or bring iso 3 stop down otherwise it stays at 11'o'clock for when compared with the other Rollei or my light meter). i went through some more tutorials and I think it's time for a cla...thanks again.

[@shyatt3]

@@madhavanpalanisamy6688 Sorry Madhavan, I think I understand now. You may have already done this, but it is very important that you set the camera properly before reinserting the meter. If it was ever removed and then the body not set properly before the meter was reinserted then it can cause this issue. The Rolleiflex manual says "before re-inserting instrument: first set camera to DIN / ASA value 12, filter factor 0, shutter speed 1/500th sec. and diaphragm f:22, then insert exposure meter and tighten screws." If these settings weren't in the proper place when the meter was reinstalled then the movements aren't going to align properly. Have you tried removing the meter, setting these as mentioned, and then reinserting it?

[@madhavanpalanisamy6688]

@@shyatt3 thank you, again. yes, i did after going through your video. no luck. i can still manually meter and shoot but this meter was working well..and if i can sort this issue then i could totally rely on it.. i saw this video kzbin.info/www/bejne/j3KQppVjgrBoaqs and maybe some of the adjustments would help in this case as well but i better leave it to a specialist. thanks so much, you are very kind and helpful.

[@shyatt3]

@@madhavanpalanisamy6688 Yes, sounds like it needs more help than I can give. I hope you get it sorted out. They're lovely cameras.

[@DimitrisPapadopoulos1980]

PERFECT ! I have a dead meter in the 3.5 rolleiflex which has the ASA dial on the meter ring. Is it the same ?

[@shyatt3]

Good morning Dimitris. If I'm understanding you correctly then you have the 3.5E. That meter works differently than the F that you see here.

[@DimitrisPapadopoulos1980]

@@shyatt3 I Think my is the C version. The meter is uncupled with the aperture and speed.

[@shyatt3]

@@DimitrisPapadopoulos1980 There's occasionally confusion over that because of the way they were named. For example, some of the 3.5E cameras still had model numbers such as K4C2 and K4C3. As I understand it the 3.5C was available with a Planar lens, all of which had uncoupled meters, or with a Xenotar for which the meter was optional. Also, though the E and E2s came without meters they had the space to have an uncoupled meter installed, which some people had done. If you're unsure about the model there are several good sites out there where you can look up the camera's serial number. In both cases the meter is uncoupled and works differently than the F.

[@DimitrisPapadopoulos1980]

@@shyatt3 Yeap the meter in the C ( I believe I have..) is not coupled with the speed and aperture. The meter gives EVs then the photografer should set the aperture and speed to this EV reading

[@DimitrisPapadopoulos1980]

@@shyatt3 Thank you so much ! I checked my meter ! The needle responds very well to the multimeter ( mΩ scale) when i put the probes at the cell ends. So as I can understand the cell itself is Dead... with a bright flash light gives close to zero mVolts... Is there any source for a working one ?

[@stevespidey1953]

My meter is working, but the pointer with the little circle barely moves away from the back side of the meter, even when I change the ASA all the way to 1600. Ideas? Thanks for the video!

[@shyatt3]

Hey Steve. It may be that the meter was removed from the body at some point and not reinstalled correctly. The Rolleiflex manual states "before re-inserting instrument: first set camera to DIN / ASA value 12, filter factor 0, shutter speed 1/500th sec. and diaphragm f:22, then insert exposure meter and tighten screws." If these settings weren't in the proper place when the meter is reinstalled then the movements aren't going to work properly. If it were mine I would try unscrewing and removing the meter, making sure everything is set as mentioned above, and then reinstalling the meter. Let me know if that works.

[@Mado680]

You’re a life saver!

[@SnapJimmy]

What is “Filter compensation dial” for ? Do I always set at 0 when shooting? I have Rollerflex 3.5E2 & don’t know how to check… thank u

[@shyatt3]

When you use a filter on the camera, such as a yellow filter for example, it cuts down on some of the light reaching the film. But since the meter is not in the lens it doesn't "see" the filter and adjust your exposure accordingly. So that dial will allow you to compensate by the amount of light reduction caused by the filter.

[@SnapJimmy]

@@shyatt3 is it like exposure compensation dial? So I usually set it at 0 when shooting without color filter? Much appreciated^*

[@shyatt3]

@@SnapJimmy Yes, if you don't have a filter on the lens then just set it to 0.

[@jamesmoore9511]

Volts not ohms (6:27) for measuring cell output.

[@kevangogh]

My 3.5F meter works, but I have to turn the exposure compensation to -1.5 to -2.0 to get it to read correctly. I mean, I use other digital camera and also a light meter to compare against and this thing is off by 1.5 to to stops for some reason. If there's no light, it correctly is on the red calibration mark. Is there a way to adjust that?

[@shyatt3]

Hey Kevan. The meters require some calibration over time. On the back of the meter is a small screw head you can turn and it will change the position of the needle. My guess is that you need to turn that screw to reset the needle to the green line and you'll be good to go. Let me know if it works.

[@shyatt3]

And by the way, make sure you follow the instructions to set the ISO, shutter speed, and aperture dials to the correct positions before removing the meter.

[@kevangogh]

@@shyatt3 I tried this today. When you take the meter off, that little screw moves the thin needle which is coupled to the selenium cell, but it was already aligned well to the thin red mark on the meter. Also the amount of movement is pretty limited. There's another screw right in the middle which seems to have something to do with the other needle with the circular hole in the middle. This thing is basically off by 2 stops. When there's no light, the thin needle aligns properly to the right hand side where it should. When exposed to light and you adjust speed and aperture, mine is 2 stops off from where it should be. I can get it correct by adjusting the exposure compensation dial to -2 however.

[@kevangogh]

@@shyatt3 I finally figured this out, I found a copy of an old service manual for the 3.5F. There's an additional adjustment. There are 2 screws located under the small leather circle on the center of the ASA/DIN dial. It involves first setting ASA/DIN to 15/25, 1/500s and f22. Then you change the setting to 1/2s and f/8, adjusting the pointer to zero, etc. You also have to adjust the ASA/DIN by moving the compensation dial to 0 and getting a DIN of 33, then moving the compensation dial to 3 and getting a DIN of 12. It took some experimentation and going back and forth quite a few times but I finally got it. If you want a copy of the actual instructions just contact me directly...

[@shyatt3]

Kevan Gogh Glad you got it calibrated!

[@auerfokus7624]

Hey great Video! Thank you very much 🫱🏼‍🫲🏽 I still got one more question. How do you clean the contacts? You said something about „eraser“. Since I‘m German I don’t really know what exactly you mean😅 is it like a tipical eraser from school? Please explain it to me 😂 and maybe one more thing: how can you prevent corrosion?

[@shyatt3]

Thanks. Yes, I mean the part of a pencil which is opposite the tip and used for removing what you’ve written. It works great for this sort of thing.

[@auerfokus7624]

@@shyatt3 Thank you! And is there any way to prevent the corrosion? I‘m not planning to use this camera in the rain or dusty Environments. Mostly standard outdoor Portraits and landscapes

[@auerfokus7624]

@@shyatt3 and do you suggest cleaning the contacts when everything is working fine? Or is it better to leave it as it is when everything still works

[@shyatt3]

@@auerfokus7624 Corrosion is just one of those things that happens over time. And my general approach is not to mess with anything if it’s working ok. If the meter is working and seems to be reasonably accurate, then I personally would just leave it like it is.

[@pzarc]

Do you know if the light meter in a 2.8f is the same as 2.8E?

[@pzarc]

I see It's not

[@shyatt3]

I don't have as much experience with the E as the F, but I can say they are not the same. The E doesn't detach from the body in the same way and it is not coupled so the two are not interchangeable. Plus all the Es that I've owned had a switch up by the name plate for bright and low light levels which the Fs don't have.

[@andyvan5692]

good video, but where the hell is the battery which powers this??

[@shyatt3]

Hey Andy. There is no battery as strange as that may sound. The material used in the meter (which is behind the windows under the Rolleiflex name plate) is Selenium. Selenium naturally creates an electric current when exposed to light, and the more light its exposed to the higher the current. So that can be used for a light meter without the need for a battery.

[@AAI30]

Hey do you know where I can get a replacement meter?

[@shyatt3]

You'll have to get on eBay and see if you can find one that somebody is selling as parts. They aren't manufactured anymore unfortunately so that's your best bet.

[@Mado680]

What about the other needle? That’s where I have my problem, it doesn’t move when I change the settings.

[@shyatt3]

Which needle do you mean?

[@Mado680]

Nevermind you already answered it in a previous comment, I had my rolleiflex for about 2 years now and I couldn’t use the light meter and in a matter of seconds I fixed it thanks to you!

[@shyatt3]

@@Mado680 Man I'm really glad to hear that! That was my hope in making the video so thanks for letting me know.

[@kaotic2007]

My 3.5f lightnmeter seem totally unresponsive, with your tutorial i discovered the problem is coming from the selenium cell, i have a basic voltmeter (10V scale) and the cell can't move the voltmeter needle. Please how much voltage must the cell produce in good light?

[@oscarwong7698]

Does it work with a 3.5f?

[@shyatt3]

Hey Oscar. Yes, the 3.5F and 2.8F adjust the same way.