How to Remove the 35mm Film Winding Mechanism of Yashica 635 TLR Camera

The release button to allow the 35mm film winding nob locked up.  This post hows how to get to the mechanism.  I could not find anything on line that shows how it is done and hope it is useful.

I made a mistake of removing all the leatherette of the 35mm winding side.  You will see it was difficult to remove.  I hope I can glue them back together and not be too noticeable.  To get to the mechanism, only about one third of the leatherette needs to be lifted.  There are five screws holding down a plate that holds the wining mechanism.  To get to three of the screws, part of the leatherette needs to be lifted.  I made the mistake of trying to remove the whole leatherette.  It would have made it a lot easier for me if I knew that.  The red arrow points to the release button that had locked up.  Pressing this button allows the film to be wind forward by one frame.

I also removed the 35mm winding nob in this photo.  It was not required and it was tricky to put it back.

Although removing the whole side will give you access to one of the focus rack to remove the old grease, clean and put new grease on the focus cams.  This what it looks like after I removed the old grease but before adding new grease onto the focus mechanism.

This is what the side panel looks like from behind once removed.  The mechanism is a lot more simple than I was expecting.

Assembly is the reverse of disassembly.  If you do not remove the 35mm winding nob, it is quite straight forward.

Making a Shutter Release Cable for Yashica TLR/Nikon F/F2

Cameras like Nikon F/F2 and Yashica TLRs (635 and Yashica Mat) uses an older shutter release which have an external screw thread.  They require a different shutter release cable to trigger the shutter.  They are much less common and expensive.  However, I found a way to make a shutter release from a bicycle tyre valve cap and standard shutter release cable.  Most people will have these at home and will not cost you any money.

Step 1: Drill hole on a tyre valve cap

Step 2: Screw in shutter release cable

Step 3:  You are done.  This is the cable release fitted to Yashica 635

35mm Film Into 120 Backing Paper Jig from EBay

This is a post for people who wants to shoot sprocket holes photos with medium format cameras.  You can buy cheap adaptors quite easily, but they can not be used with older cameras with viewing window on the back.  For cameras with a viewing window it is difficult to get consistent frame spacing.  Even if you tape up the window, frame spacing can be hit and miss.

There is a solution though.  I saw this rig on EBay for rolling 35mm film onto 120 backing paper.  I have shot 35mm films with adaptors with good results, but you always have to do work around.  Also, no need to unload the film in the dark.

With this rig, you are able to roll 35mm films into 120 backing paper easily.  All you need are some spare 120 backing paper, film spools and a dark bag or dark room.  I bought this from EBay and received it within a week.  The rig itself looks like it is 3D printed but feel durable enough for what it needs to do.  It will not be too difficult for anyone to print one.  The cost from EBay was £14 (UK GPB) delivered.  I guess if you have a 3D printer, it will cost very little to print one.

If this works, it will make shooting 35mm film in medium format cameras much easier.

YOU NEED TO DO THIS IN A DARK BAG OR DARK ROOM!

 

I put the film canister into the rig and then taped the film onto the backing paper.  I then placed the whole thing into my dark bag and rolled the correct length of film onto the spool.  I Marked where that should be with a masking tape on the backing paper so I can feel it in the dark bag.  At the correct length, I cut the film and then roll the rest of the backing paper onto the spool.  That is not the end though, you now need to put a spool back onto the end of the backing paper and roll the backing paper/film the other way.  This is so the film starts at the right end.  You must make sure you keep the backing paper tight without slack to avoid "fat roll" and light leak.

I made two rolls of film to test.  Unfortunately I could not show you the process in the dark bag.  The camera I used to test was my Mamiya Six folding camera.  With the 35mm film loaded I masked off the viewfinder to take into account of the 35mm film

The results was very good.  Frame spacing was very good.  However, there is a hint of light leak from a couple of frames.  Here are a few photos from the first roll.

Now I know this works, I will be able to use the 35mm film in all my cameras without doing any work around.  Most importantly, I do not need to carry a dark bag to unload the film.  Is the rig worth the money?  I think so.  I have tried doing this without a rig in the past and it is difficult to centre the film.  You need three hands to hold everything.  The result was very inconsistent.

They also make a version to load 35mm film into 127 backing paper.  For people with 127 cameras, I would say this is really useful.  The width of 35mm film is much closer to 127 film.  127 films are very expensive, this rig makes shooting with 127 cameras much cheaper.  Although, you will have to live with the sprocket holes.

Half Frame Dark Slide to Shoot Panoramic Photos with Bronica ETRS

The half fram dark slide

Graffiti at Camden Town

I have been shooting with my Bronica ETRS for a number of years and always wanted to shoot panoramic images with 135W film back. Recently I saw half frame dark slide on eBay. This is basically a dark slide that only covers half the frame. This will allow you to shoot 30 6x2.25 panoramic images. It is not straight forward and does require you to shoot in a strict sequence.

Stand dark slide against half frame slide

The slide covering the top half of the frame

I shot the top half and then the bottom half to for a complete image

1. insert this dark slide into the back to cover the uppper half of the film. 

2. Use the upper half of the viewfinder to take a picture. 

3. Switch the body to milti-exposure mode and wind the camera. 

4. Pull out the dark slide, flip it around and re-insert it, to cover the lower half of the film. 

5. Use the lower half of the viewfinder to take a picture. 

6. Take a picture. 

7. Switch back to normal mode (as opposed to the multi-exposure mode), and repeat step 1.

Small amount of light leak

Camden Market

Camden Lock

It is easy to forget sometimes. During my first roll of film, I forgot flip the multi exposure lever a couple of times and advanced the film before shooting the second image. After used to shooting 15 images to a roll, shooting 30 photos to complete a roll of film took forever.

The half frame dark slide does not allow the film back to be removed when inserted.  The camera does not know it is inserted and allow the shuter to fire.

Negative showing frame spacing.  Note full frame image can be mixed with panoramic.

This is a very cheap way to shoot panoramic if you already have a Bronica ETRS.  I will be using it again.  I do need to create a musk for the viewfinder to show the middle.  For this test roll, I guessed the middle.  The half frame slide in highly recommended if you are will be work to a strict routine.

All images shot with 50mm F3.5 lens.

Converting Bronica ETRS 135N Film Back to 135W

This is my journey of converting a Bronica ETRS 135N film back to panoramic.  Almost like the 135W back.  The Bronica ETRS camera is often overlooked because it shoots 6x4.5.  The smallest medium format size, but it is really nice camera to shoot with.  I have been shooting with it for over 4 years without any problem.  Over the years, I have shot 120, 220 and 35mm films with the appropriate backs.  Shooting 35mm films results in 24x43mm images and it also expose the sprockets as well.

I love panoramic images which I started shooting with a Horizon 202 (a swing lens panoramic camera).  That camera was sold when I started shooting digital.  In the last few years, I started to shoot film again and really want to shoot panoramic again.  Since I was already shooting with a Bronica ETRS it makes sense to use that to shoot panoramic with the 135W film back.  It produces 24x55mm images (2.3:1 ratio).  The cost is the only draw back, costing more the camera itself.  Currently the cost of a 135W film back is about £600 (GBP).  Not the amount I am willing to pay as it is not what I shoot all the time.

I have seen various posts on the internet on how to convert a 135N film back (cost around £150 currently) to 135W.  It involves removing the film mask to and fitting a 3D printed wide mask, moving the film transport roller to the wide position.  There is one drawback though.  Film spacing will not be correct for the wide format.  The 135W back uses a different gear ratio to move the correct amount of film forward.  The 135N film back will not do that.  The work around is shoot a blank frame with the lens cap on after shooting a photo.   Not the most efficient use of film but at least you do not get overlap images.   This is the draw back of converting a 135N back to 135W back.  I have heard you can 3D print a new gear with 14 instead of 21 teeth to achieve the correct film spacing.  That is something for me to do in the future.

Now onto the modification.

Step 1: Remove the standard 35mm mask.  There are 4 small screws holding it.

Film masked removed and the 3D printed wide mask next to it.

Standard and 3D printed wide mask.

Step 2: Remove the metal plate on the side held by 4 screws.

Step 3:  Remove the roller pin and remove the roller.  Watch out for the ball bearings on the sides of the rollers.

This photo shows the location the roller needs to needs to be moved to.

Roller removed, note the ball bearings.

There are 7 ball bearings on each side.

Step 4: Use 2mm ID, 5mm OD, 2mm width bearings to replace the ball bearings.  Then move the roller to the outer position.

Fitting the bearings will fill out the space for the new roller position.

Roller moved to the outer position.

Step 5: Put everything back together.  You need to counter sink the 3D printed mask of the screw holes.  The screws are not long enough and the screw heads should be flushed with the surface.  Note the standard pressure plate is not wide enough to cover the wider area.  I may look into a wider pressure plate in future.

The wide mask fitted.  I will paint the mask with black paint before using it.

This is the image spacing using the blank frame method (shooting a blank image at 1/500s at F22 with the lens cap on).  Else you will get frame overlap.

Test images from the first time using the modified film back.

Update 2025-04-13

I have swapped the 21 gear tooth with a 3D printed 14 tooth gear.  This corrects the frame apacing problem and I do no not need to shoot a blank frame after every shot.  In order to make this work properly, you also need to file the pin on the insert.  Note the scratches on the surface of the insert from filing.  I had to ground down a small screw driver in order to fit in the slot of the screw head.  I did not have a screw driver that thin.

3D printed gear and pin filed down to a couple of mm.

Downloads

ETRS wide mask: Bronica SQ 135W Film Gate by Zackjevans - Thingiverse

Youtube video of modding a 135N film back: Bronica ETR-Si | Modding a 135N back to be a 135W back