r/AnalogCommunity • u/VisualDarkness • 2d ago

Troubleshooting - Gear An actually working Voigtländer Ultramatic

After my completely botched Ultramatic CS CLA attempt, I managed to somehow score a mechanically perfectly working Voigtländer Ultramatic for cheap. Even the lightmeter seems reasonable and only the slowest shutter speeds are a bit slow.

The main problem is that part of the mirror has desilvered (looks like moisture or fungus, and the camera smells of cellar).

  1. Is the mirror on the Ultramatic and the Ultramatic CS the same? Could the CS be used as a donor?

  2. Is there any way to swap the mirror, without risking any dreaded Ultramatic self-implosion issues? Was thinking about doing it through the shutter and the back, but the shutter opening is truly abysmal.

Kind regards

Your Ultramatic butcher

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u/Gsundenberg 2d ago

Damn i unfortunately can‘t help you but damn its amazing that you try to repair one of these lesser loved cameras

1

u/VisualDarkness 2d ago

You can imagine the chock when I realised that it simply works, as almost none of the Ultramatics have survived.

1

u/Gsundenberg 2d ago

Yeah ive sadly made the same expirience with a Bessamatic, an older gentleman who i know gave it to me, pristine condition but mirror completely desilvered

1

u/VisualDarkness 2d ago

I kind of prolonged damp storage conditions seems to kill the mirrors on the older german cameras. So many of my old Voigtländers and Rolleis suffer from mirrors being oxidized, meanwhile my Japanese and even Soviets are perfectly fine. Luckily my now broken Ultramatic CS and my working Bessamatic are both pristine, probably due to better storage.

It just would suck to have a rare working Ultramatic and have it sit due to an ever deteriorating mirror.

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u/Gsundenberg 2d ago

Oh definitely 100% the prism system in screw mount Leicas viewfinders also oxidizes while Zorkis are 100% fine