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Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II
01-01-2016, 08:10 AM
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Ca. 1978 I had my first slr, a rolleiflex sl35 with tessar 135/4 attached slung around my neck in Acadia National Park, when I slid down some seaweed-covered rocks into waist-deep salt water. My arms were too busy flailing to keep me upright (which I barely managed), and so camera and lens were dunked. I'd previously read what to do in a photo magazine (popular photography or some such) : I immediately drove the gear to the nearest drinking fountain, flushed it out with fresh water, sealed it in a plastic bag, went home, shook out as much of the water as I could, and put it in a warm oven with the door open overnight. The next day I shipped it to Rollei for an assessment. They advised it was a write-off, and sent it back.
The lens was obviously toast, with the diaphragm fused by rust (salt water had remained trapped inside). The body appeared to be in better shape. With nothing to lose, I pulled off the top plate and removed the pentaprism (unnecessary steps that woefully complicated re-asembly). This yielded no joy, so I attacked from the bottom, squirting in WD-40 (trying not to go nuts with it), and forcing gears. After giving up, I went back to it a couple of days later. The WD-40 had by then worked it's diabolical magic, and I was able to cock and fire the shutter! I spent several hours re-assembling the film advance mechanism until I got it working properly again, through sheer trial-and-error. I continued using this body for the next ~25-years (I still have it), with occasional hiccups, a hand-held meter and a new vivitar 75-205 cf-zoom in m42 mount to replace the tessar. I later lost a prized distagon 25/2.8 when it fell out of my bag somewhere at a beach, and didn't miss it until too late. I replaced that with a $25 new 28mm JML Optical in m42, procured from an Astronomy supply house. Thus began the seeds of my replacement system, an SP offered to me by a friend.
The moral of my little story is: keep on usin' da film! :D
Pelagic SL35, non-pelagic distagon 25/2.8, tri-x (vignetting caused by polarizer):
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