Jörg Krüger
Revueflex AC2
Revueflex AC2 with Auto Revuenon MC 1.4/50
(Chinon CE4 with Chinon MC Auto 1.4/50)
I must admit I bought it for the most part for the lens, the camera was clearly faulty: you could turn the film advance lever freely in any direction without any effect - so I paid only 5€ for it, together with another nice camera. I already had the Revue AC3 (Chinon CE4s), which is basically the same camera, but with some differences in detail: f-stop visible in the viewer, top shutter speed 1/2000 instead of 1/1000s, two button cells instead of three. But somehow, it turned out, that I like the AC2 much more than the AC3 - the AC3 is somewhat plasticky and the AC2 has the same look and feel like the Revueflex SD1 (Chinon CS4), which is one of my favourite M42 cameras. The AC2 features the K-mount bayonet and is a fantastic camera - Pentax should have made it. Conservative design with shutter speed dial, DOF-preview lever, aperture priority automatic exposure - what do you want more? The shutter is made by Seiko and it is also fantastic. Nice detail: the AE-lock button also switches on the exposure meter.
I did some quick testshots with the lens on a Pentax DSLR and the results are quite promising. And I found no negative comment on it on the net, it seems, it is really good. As top model the AC2 was often equipped with the 1.4/50 as standard lens - the Auto Revuenon 1.9/50 was for lower models.
About the repair: at first I thought the advance lever is just worn out, I removed the cap, but the lever sat tightly on the shaft. The camera has a connection for an attachable winder, so I tried to cock the shutter with it - successfully, the camera was working. I removed the bottom plate - the advance lever had still no effect on the mechanics at the bottom. The camera has a multi-exposure switch, my last hope was, that there must be a kind of clutch, and so it was: the shaft of the advance lever is quite short, and on its other end should be a disk, but that was entirely torn off. No spare part at hand, so I tried to bend it back into its origin state, very carefully in a mini vise. A crack remains, I filled it with some electronic solder - not the best solution, but it should prevent the disk from cracking again. And yes, after reassembling the camera worked again, but the advance lever should be turned carefully, which brings me to another question: was there reason why the lever was treated with to much force? Something blocked inside? The end of a film? Unfortunately I found no answer.
Hints on removing the top plate: advance lever and rewind crank/ISO dial are more or less standard. The shutter speed scale is glued on, there is a small slot at 1 s where you can attack with a small screwdriver. Unscrew the ring around the shutter button counterclockwise. Don't forget the unlock-button of the ISO dial (unscrew it). The fiddly part: you have to remove the plate with the Revueflex writing because there are two screws under it, but that plate is utterly glued on. I used a plastic card, I inserted it from top and used it like a saw (not a good idea to use acetone here - it's all plastic). One screw beside the frame counter.
Revueflex AC2
Revueflex AC2 with Auto Revuenon MC 1.4/50
(Chinon CE4 with Chinon MC Auto 1.4/50)
I must admit I bought it for the most part for the lens, the camera was clearly faulty: you could turn the film advance lever freely in any direction without any effect - so I paid only 5€ for it, together with another nice camera. I already had the Revue AC3 (Chinon CE4s), which is basically the same camera, but with some differences in detail: f-stop visible in the viewer, top shutter speed 1/2000 instead of 1/1000s, two button cells instead of three. But somehow, it turned out, that I like the AC2 much more than the AC3 - the AC3 is somewhat plasticky and the AC2 has the same look and feel like the Revueflex SD1 (Chinon CS4), which is one of my favourite M42 cameras. The AC2 features the K-mount bayonet and is a fantastic camera - Pentax should have made it. Conservative design with shutter speed dial, DOF-preview lever, aperture priority automatic exposure - what do you want more? The shutter is made by Seiko and it is also fantastic. Nice detail: the AE-lock button also switches on the exposure meter.
I did some quick testshots with the lens on a Pentax DSLR and the results are quite promising. And I found no negative comment on it on the net, it seems, it is really good. As top model the AC2 was often equipped with the 1.4/50 as standard lens - the Auto Revuenon 1.9/50 was for lower models.
About the repair: at first I thought the advance lever is just worn out, I removed the cap, but the lever sat tightly on the shaft. The camera has a connection for an attachable winder, so I tried to cock the shutter with it - successfully, the camera was working. I removed the bottom plate - the advance lever had still no effect on the mechanics at the bottom. The camera has a multi-exposure switch, my last hope was, that there must be a kind of clutch, and so it was: the shaft of the advance lever is quite short, and on its other end should be a disk, but that was entirely torn off. No spare part at hand, so I tried to bend it back into its origin state, very carefully in a mini vise. A crack remains, I filled it with some electronic solder - not the best solution, but it should prevent the disk from cracking again. And yes, after reassembling the camera worked again, but the advance lever should be turned carefully, which brings me to another question: was there reason why the lever was treated with to much force? Something blocked inside? The end of a film? Unfortunately I found no answer.
Hints on removing the top plate: advance lever and rewind crank/ISO dial are more or less standard. The shutter speed scale is glued on, there is a small slot at 1 s where you can attack with a small screwdriver. Unscrew the ring around the shutter button counterclockwise. Don't forget the unlock-button of the ISO dial (unscrew it). The fiddly part: you have to remove the plate with the Revueflex writing because there are two screws under it, but that plate is utterly glued on. I used a plastic card, I inserted it from top and used it like a saw (not a good idea to use acetone here - it's all plastic). One screw beside the frame counter.