Don H Marks

I have been working on one of my Non-Reflex H8 cameras. This one came to me with a broken eye-level finder. Apparently the camera was dropped at some time and it hit the eyepiece. This broke it off and a lens element fell out. A few years ago I cludged togetether a temporary fix by attaching a free lens element to the out side of the finder. Still it was a blurry image and difficult to use. I had seen the eye-level finder was offered as an accessory, so I searched for a few years to find a new one or at least a new eyepiece.

New pin was cut to about 7mm from some 1.25mm rod.

Friction grease and a thicker wavy washer and success! Nice firm friction on the knob. Counts all the frames!

Remains of the sheared pin. Measured diameter 1.25mm. (H8 Non-rex SN132921)

These are the parts I have found. I might need a better wavy washer.

It is not clear to me what causes the friction between the rotating shaft and the knob to turn to knob to advance the frame counter. Error above, should read..."It is not clear to me what causes the friction between the rotating shaft and the knob so that the knob will advance the frame counter."

I don't have an answer for the OP but I just saw this thread and am pleased to view the picture and the parts diagram. I'm repairing a Declic that is otherwise fine except for a missing safety release lever (BX 2830). I see now that this piece will be quite easy to duplicate.

I'm currently repairing a Bolex H8 non-Rex with sheared off pin on the 1:8 shaft. Not sure how a prior owner did it but the shaft was smooth all the way around, at first I could not even tell where the pin was. Only with 25x loupe could I make out where I could press to get the pin remnant out. Anyway, the original washers were long gone, but I had some metric washers that appear to be the correct size. A washer on top, a wavy washer and a washer on the bottom from what appears in the 1961 service manual. Problem is, after re-assembly with the new pin, there is no friction between the shaft and the knob to rotate the counter. I wonder if I'm missing something or just need a stiffer wavy washer. It is not clear to me what causes the friction between the rotating shaft and the knob to turn to knob to advance the frame counter.

Amazing simple mechanism to allow two revolutions of the focus ring.

Here it is with the proper 2mm ball bearing in place. Now, of course, it will seamlessly go into the macro range as it should.

This is the lens as I got it. Looked OK to me at first, but infinity is really the line above the 200m.

The 2mm ball was just the right size.

Obtaining some ball bearings of various sizes...

After some experimentation with different size ball bearings, it appears a 2mm ball is what is needed. I was a little confusing at first because the lens as I got it was stopping in the middle of the infinity symbol (see images below). So, initially I was trying to get a ball bearing with a diameter to allow it to stop there. However, this lens the infinity is the line to the left of the symbol, a line which i mistook for the 200m line. But the 200m line is over one. A 2mm ball allows it to stop at the last line, which is indeed the infinity line. Anyway, the lens now works perfect!

Ok, you have me feeling ever stupider. I should have seen that. I think I was put off by the fact the ball in my Macro Switars is so tiny. I have plenty of little ball bearings in my workshop at home. I should be able to get this fixed today. Thank you for your help!! As I recall the little ball in the Macro Switar comes out through the hole in the lens, so the solution here could be as simple as popping a ball bearing in the hole without having to disassemble the lens again.

With no solution immediately available, I put it back together. For now I'll just use it as is. I'll just loosen the screw if I need macro. It is in very nice condition. At the price I paid, it is too good to send back for a refund.

Pictures of the focus mechanism. I don't see any way to let the focus ring to two revolutions. Maybe some parts have been swapped with a non-Macro Yvar 150mm?

The front of the lens has never been apart as the lens rings are pristine with no evidence of them ever having been removed. At the other end, the helicoid has been apart before, there are some scratched alignment marks present. No evidence I can detect of any mechanism to allow it to ignore the infinity stop to allow the second revolution of the focus ring to get into the macro range. Either an incompetent repair damaged the focus stop mechanism or a clever repair fixed a damage lens so at least it has perfect function from infinity to 12 feet. No chance of getting a second lens to compare as this one was already low priced. I'll just leave it as is for now and consider it a slightly crippled lens that otherwise works fine.

A little bit more research and I see every other lens has the stop screw flush with the body. My lens, the stop screw goes in exactly one full revolution from flush before it stops. So, If I back the screw out to flush with the body, yes, then it will do two revolutions, but won't stop at either end. This speaks to something buggered inside. Looks like I'll have to take it apart and see.

Thanks Dom, I was hoping you might chime in. I do know that my smaller Macro Switars use the little ball that allows the two revolutions, I have seen that mechanism during CLA of the lenses. However, close investigation of MY Yvar 150 reveals only an inner stop. I can peek through the hole and can see inside and it appears there is nothing in there except the inner stop. Which is a slotted screw (that seems to function like an eccentric to fine tune the infinity stop). I see no additional mechanism to allow it to pass over this stop to the second revolution. It is pretty empty in there. I'm well familiar with e-bay purchases, so my first impression is someone buggered my lens. Before I dig into this otherwise pristine lens looking for signs of tamper, I ran across this curious description of a "dual-range" extension. Why call it that if it is one continuous seamless focus?

This old B&H PDF from the camcorder heyday lists some of the wide angle adapter that were once available: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/FrameWork/Product_Resources/SourceBookProsumerVideo/02CamcorderAccessories.pdf

I put a 0.5X Wide attachment on my Switar 8-36 EE Zoom also. This brings it down to about 4mm on regular 8 format.

You could try a wide angle accessory lens. Here I had SK Grimes make an adapter for a Kenko 0.5X Wide Angle attachment for my 5.5mm Switar. This makes it about a 2.5mm lens on regular 8 format.

I feel like an idiot here, as I'm a long time Bolex user. Since the early 1980s. I recently got a Yvar Macro 150mm f3.3. The question is how to get to the macro setting of the Yvar. For example, I can loosen the focus stop screw, get into the macro zone and re-tighten the screw. That works fine, but is a little odd. Is there some trick I'm missing. Some hidden button or something. Or did they really expect people to loosen that focus stop screw to change the focus zones. I can't find an on-line PDF of the lens user's manual. Thanks in advance! Yes it is an H8 REX and yes it is the H8 RX lens with the 2.2mm extended mount. Focus is fine. This picture was just a quick focusing test. I plan on using the lens in the middle position with a turret plug in the bottom hole.