One day, I decided I was bored enough to jump into stereophotography. I wanted to create a stereo memory of the city I’m about to depart. This is still ongoing…
But the real issue was finding and aquiring a good setup for stereophotography. Film, of course. Stereo Realist is the most popular camera ever in this niche, but it is quite quirky. I opted for the “leader” in the field, Wollensak Model 10, which has Tessar design lenses, unlike its cheaper counterpart Revere 33, which features Cooke design.
I’ve finally found the camera on eBay and won the bidding. It wasn’t exactly cheap, but it came with original camera case and seemed to be in good condition. Visually.
Functionally, the camera was just ok. Film counter works. Rangefinder was dirty. I hope the film is advanced correctly…shutter was awful. Lots of oil, erratic operation.
Google the camera and find a repair tutorial -easy, right? Well, stereophotography, on film, is still a niche. Always been. The only thing I’ve found was a mention of Jess Powell and his $35 VHS repair manuals (approx $90 in 2022). Nowhere to be found and Jess is unfortunately on the other side now…
Then I discovered a post regarding Wollensak disassembly on stereo email group. Because, not only its a niche, but it cannot be too simple. Wollensak cameras were made in the US and the knobs on top of it use weird screws — you need Bristol spline wrenches to be exact. Not cheap either, available only from specialty supplier. Fortunately, some surplus store posted a little rusted wrenches on eBay for a few bucks each. You need #76 and #48, in case you ever want to take the top plate off. Flathead screwdriver will damage the screws, there is a lot of torque there.
Anyway, the post was authored by David C. Glick, whom I immediately contacted. He was very kind and generously send me a DVD copy of the repair tape.
I was under the impression that Jess just dismissed the whole shutter service in the video. Yep, it would’ve taken the whole tape or more and the video resolution would make the video pretty much useless. Most of the video is focused on the rangefinder adjustment and film counter mechanism, which is mostly good and sound advice.
The advice provided regarding shutter was not sound, though. Maybe that’s why a lot of these cameras are soaked in oil, just like mine. When I gave it an ultrasonic bath, I’ve never seen anything like that — the solvent turned dark! I have previously cleaned a few disassembled shutters this way and while I did get some fine debris floating, the solution was always clear. The Wollensak was really dirty.
Of course, I’m an amateur and it was my first stereo shutter disassembly. I very much preferred to be able to do the “assembly” part as well and take pictures, therefore I filmed the whole process in 4K. I also took a lot of pictures with an old iPhone. It took me two long afternoons to do. Plus another morning to clean and adjust the rangefinder.
I have managed to shorten the two days of work into a little over 1 hour and 30 minutes. Most of the footage is sped up 2x, a lot of it is 4x and some 8x/21x. You can tell by my analog wristwatch. It must’ve been this way — I proceeded very slowly and carefully, it was my first work with this camera.
You can find the video on youtube. It shows complete shutter plate disassembly, reassembly, shutter speed measurement, film winding lubrication.
Obviously, I cut out a lot of content. The assembly was not as quick as it may seem. The shutter jammed. I had to lubricate the friction points a few times. The gears were extremely dry from acetone, so I had to take them out and oil their shafts individually. Some of the flat surfaces on top of each other were also causing too much friction. It took a while to figure out, but finally I got it to work smoothly. I have to admit, I was uncomfortable with the amount of lubrication in some spots that I subsequently wiped off the excess. The shutter still performs. The speeds are not in spec — this shutter type has its speeds regulated by spring strength. I’m not in the mood for spring manufacturing (although it’s pretty simple with a piano wire and DIY), so I just correct for the real speeds. There is also the thing called “shutter efficiency” since this is a leaf shutter, so my measurements may not be very accurate at high speeds.
You can watch the video by clicking on it below. It will open in a new window.