AndyJ
29-Jan-2012, 06:29
Just bought myself my first LF camera on the 'bay ... an Omega 45D as the thread title suggests. I haven't been able to make any photographs with it yet (don't have filmholders or film yet, and the GG is broken), but I've been playing around with the movements and I noticed that the shifts are inordinately stiff, particularly the front shift. I did some cleaning with naphtha on the shift rails, and the back freed up considerably (also got some dried ... gunk out that I imagine was the old grease), but the front remains quite stiff.
Anyone have any recommendations on getting it cleaned out? Is there a way to separate the interfacing parts of the rail to clean more thoroughly? Or at this point, do I just smear some lithium grease on and work it back and forth a couple times and hope for the best?
I do have a couple other questions. Is it possible to remove the springback? I fiddled around with it, but wasn't able to figure it out, and I can't find anything online about it. When I go to get a piece of glass to make a replacement GG, I'd like to take it with to make sure everything fits ok, and I'd rather not lug the whole camera (then again, the whole camera is a more interesting conversation piece than the back alone). I actually forget what my other question is. Probably wasn't anything too pressing.
Anyone have any recommendations on getting it cleaned out? Is there a way to separate the interfacing parts of the rail to clean more thoroughly? Or at this point, do I just smear some lithium grease on and work it back and forth a couple times and hope for the best?
I do have a couple other questions. Is it possible to remove the springback? I fiddled around with it, but wasn't able to figure it out, and I can't find anything online about it. When I go to get a piece of glass to make a replacement GG, I'd like to take it with to make sure everything fits ok, and I'd rather not lug the whole camera (then again, the whole camera is a more interesting conversation piece than the back alone). I actually forget what my other question is. Probably wasn't anything too pressing.