[Herandu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ronin74 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Herandu, I noticed that your profession is electronics repair engineer. You'd be the big HERO on this thread and to all Rollei 6006 owners if you could tell us how to rebuild our failing $150 ni-cad battery packs.

Simply remove the tiny Philips-head screws, de-solder a few connections and pull the battery pack out. Consider replacing the standard SLX cells with higher capacity cells that last much longer.

 

[badpenny]

Anyone else remember the good old times of developing Daguerreotypes over boiling vats of mercury?

 

[kwkarth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by badpenny /img/forum/go_quote.gif Anyone else remember the good old times of developing Daguerreotypes over boiling vats of mercury?

That's maybe a little before my time. Thankfully!

You?

 

[badpenny]

Yeah, I was about -140 years old around the time the daguerreotypes were in action. But that is one point that makes me respect digital photography. It is clean and doesn't harm the environment.

 

[kwkarth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by badpenny /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yeah, I was about -140 years old around the time the daguerreotypes were in action. But that is one point that makes me respect digital photography. It is clean and doesn't harm the environment.

That's what I thought.

I guess the "good old" days weren't all good, huh?

 

[ronin74]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Herandu /img/forum/go_quote.gif Simply remove the tiny Philips-head screws, de-solder a few connections and pull the battery pack out. Consider replacing the standard SLX cells with higher capacity cells that last much longer.

Herandu - Thanks for the service call. I take it you've done this before? I'll let you know how it turns out (you're not a hero yet).

 

[Herandu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ronin74 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Herandu - Thanks for the service call. I take it you've done this before? I'll let you know how it turns out (you're not a hero yet).

Yep. Quite a few years ago. I used 1000mAH cells then, but these days you can get 2200mAH cells. Once you open up the battery pack you'll see how dead simple the whole thing is. Just make sure you got a soldering iron at hand.

There used to be a company in Canada that did this same mod for around U$100. That was a couple of years ago though.

 

[ronin74]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mbriant /img/forum/go_quote.gif This thread is making me want to cry. I have a Rollei 6006 body, 3 Rollei SLX bodies, 6 different lenses, and other Rollei medium format accessory odds and ends that have been sitting in pelican cases doing nothing for years now. Their expensive proprietary ni-cad batteries have all died, so I can no longer even "exercise" the bodies/lenses once in a while to keep them lubed. If and when I ever do get around to using them again, it'll cost me hundreds if not thousands of dollars in batteries and seized shutter replacements. I should have sold everything when I quit shooting professionally 11 years ago, and definitely when I got into digital 35mm a few years ago, but it's such great equipment, not only optically, but when it's used regularly it's as dependable as hell .... and I keep thinking someday I'll get back to it. At this point, the thought of selling thousands of dollars worth of quality equipment at a small fraction of it's cost is too difficult to deal with, so it looks like i'll stay in storage for the foreseeable future. I must get one new battery and run everything through it's paces before it all completely seizes up.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Herandu /img/forum/go_quote.gif Simply remove the tiny Philips-head screws, de-solder a few connections and pull the battery pack out. Consider replacing the standard SLX cells with higher capacity cells that last much longer.

mbriant - Looks like we don't many "excuses" left. I'm fairly set for '6006 equipment, but if you have an owners manual, I'll buy it from you. I got it used without, so I've been stumbling around blind, for example I just discovered the spare fuse for the battery pack while monkeying around with the Herandu-fix.

 

[Herandu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ronin74 /img/forum/go_quote.gif mbriant - Looks like we don't many "excuses" left. I'm fairly set for '6006 equipment, but if you have an owners manual, I'll buy it from you. I got it used without, so I've been stumbling around blind, for example I just discovered the spare fuse for the battery pack while monkeying around with the Herandu-fix.

You see, I am already doing great harm to your wallet

.

 

[ronin74]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Herandu /img/forum/go_quote.gif You see, I am already doing great harm to your wallet .

Yah,..."welcome to Head-Fi."

 

[mbriant]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ronin74 mbriant - Looks like we don't many "excuses" left. I'm fairly set for '6006 equipment, but if you have an owners manual, I'll buy it from you. I got it used without, so I've been stumbling around blind, for example I just discovered the spare fuse for the battery pack while monkeying around with the Herandu-fix.

I'm afraid I don't have a manual either, but fortunately for us, those cameras are pretty much self-explanatory. I'm going to look into a battery pack replacement myself ... I like the idea of higher capacity batteries (thanks Herandu).... they would have come in handy back when i used the Rolleis to shoot weddings. There's an old camera store in the west end of Toronto that will still rebuild the packs as well, although I don't know how much they charge. I used to go to a different place called "Commercial Camera" as the guy there was one of the few Rollei-certified repairmen in Toronto. That's the other thing that concerns me about the Rollei equipment .... how long will "old-school" repair techs who know how to do more than simply clean cameras and replace computer modules be around?

Quote:

Originally Posted by badpenny Yeah, I was about -140 years old around the time the daguerreotypes were in action. But that is one point that makes me respect digital photography. It is clean and doesn't harm the environment.

It's not as environmentally friendly as we'd like to think. We may have eliminated the nasty chemicals used in film processing, but we've replaced them with billions of discarded printer ink cartridges, millions of discarded printers, spent digital ni-cad and lithium camera batteries, and even obsolete discarded cameras ( I have working Rollei and Nikon film bodies/lenses that are older than most of head-fi's members) .... not to mention the hydro, and the polution it creates to produce, that millions of us use to power our computers when viewing our digital photos.

 

[badpenny]

Quote:

It's not as environmentally friendly as we'd like to think. We may have eliminated the nasty chemicals used in film processing, but we've replaced them with billions of discarded printer ink cartridges, millions of discarded printers, spent digital ni-cad and lithium camera batteries, and even obsolete discarded cameras ( I have working Rollei and Nikon film bodies/lenses that are older than most of head-fi's members) .... not to mention the hydro, and the polution it creates to produce, that millions of us use to power our computers when viewing our digital photos.

You can look at anything like that. Digital is still way better IMO. Not that I don't respect film. Because I do...

 

[badpenny]

Also, I just picked up a Hasselblad 500c/m. Forgot how wonderful it is to use the waist level viewfinder!

 

[kwkarth]

Just to bring a little digital perspective into this as well, I bought the Sony DSC-R1 when it was introduced. One of the things that attracted me to it was the fact that the external LCD finder could be used as a waist level finder for either orientation, vertical or horizontal. I had also forgotten how fun it is to shoot from that perspective. Also works great for shooting overhead to get above the crowds for a clear shot.

 

[ronin74]

Quote:

Originally Posted by badpenny /img/forum/go_quote.gif Also, I just picked up a Hasselblad 500c/m. Forgot how wonderful it is to use the waist level viewfinder!

Quote:

Originally Posted by kwkarth /img/forum/go_quote.gif Just to bring a little digital perspective into this as well, I bought the Sony DSC-R1 when it was introduced. One of the things that attracted me to it was the fact that the external LCD finder could be used as a waist level finder for either orientation, vertical or horizontal. I had also forgotten how fun it is to shoot from that perspective. Also works great for shooting overhead to get above the crowds for a clear shot.

Agreed, my Canon G2 (now they're up to G9) has a flip-out, 360* tilt-able display, lots of fun, but in "true" perspective. On the other-hand, waist-level finders are x-axis inverted (are 'blads x & y inverted?) which in my case, forces my eye to concentrate on composition rather than subject-matter.
Score
Analog: 1, Digital: 0