Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2012 14:06:26 GMT -5
I hadn't picked up any new cameras for some time but was wandering through a local antique bazaar and found one I couldn't pass up. A real American-made 35mm RF. This Clarus MS 35 was manufactured in Minneapolis from 1946 to 1952. Came equipped with a 50mm Wollensak lens. A 100mm and 35mm also were available. The early models had all sorts of problems and developed a bad reputation. The later ones could produce decent images. The one pictured here was made after 1948 as it has a flash connection. Only about 20,000 Claruses were made so I figured this wasn't too bad a deal for $25. Everything seems to work.   |
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Stephen
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Post by Stephen on Dec 1, 2012 15:39:42 GMT -5
Nice condition for a Clarus, the early shutters were notorious for not wanting to work, the main trouble was not the design, but staff at the factory had no idea what they were assembling, or how it worked. As experience came the troubles fell away, but the reputation for jamming up plagued the makers till the end. The parts were well made, albeit not to German standards, and the optics available were pretty standard for the period. The low price was an attraction, but was to be the downfall, as they made no money selling them.
The value now should add a nought to what you paid......if not more in good condition and working.
Not at all known in the UK, the only Clarus I handled was sold by a US serviceman in the 1960's. We did have a Wescon badged version in secondhand stock in the shop in the 1970's. These appear to have been made from Clarus stock parts till they ran out.
Stephen.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2012 18:44:25 GMT -5
Yeah the Wescon was made from Clarus parts purchased with the company went bankrupt. There were about 20,000 made (don't know if that includes the Wescons). This one I'm pretty sure was made in 1949--which I believe was pretty much the last year of Clarus production.
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Stephen
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Post by Stephen on Dec 2, 2012 9:07:10 GMT -5
Looking at the shots the condition is rather good, has it perhaps been reconditioned in the past few years perhaps?
Most Clarus get a bit battered "at the edges", just like the Corfield Periflex, which also used soft castings for the "top and bottom plates". I know that Ken Corfield studied the US designs quite a lot after the war, including the Perfex and the Clarus, when considering the engineering for his Periflex camera.
In the end he had ex-Leica engineers working for him, and the genral design followed Leica pattern. I think his use of aluminium was got from the US designs, plus there were huge stocks of the metal in the UK after the war, and everybody in engineering tried using it!
Must try to find a Clarus, but it might have to come from the US. Perfex do turn up in the UK, and are a sort of second cousin to the Clarus.
Stephen.
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Post by Randy on Dec 2, 2012 11:28:15 GMT -5
Great find Wayne, I never knew about this one.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 2, 2012 19:46:14 GMT -5
The camera condition was good because it had spend it's life in a leather case. My previous experience with Russian cameras made me nervous as a 40-year-old Zorki in mint condition often meant it had never worked properly so the owner never used it. But as far as I can tell everything on the Clarus works properly and the shutter speeds seem to be somewhere in the general area they should be. I don't think the camera has ever been reconditioned.
BTW: the best thing ever invented for bringing the shine back to a camera body is the microfiber cloth.
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Post by pompiere on Dec 2, 2012 21:48:20 GMT -5
BTW: the best thing ever invented for bringing the shine back to a camera body is the microfiber cloth. Do you use any liquid polishing agent, or just the cloth? |
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mickeyobe
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Post by mickeyobe on Dec 3, 2012 9:10:39 GMT -5
BTW: the best thing ever invented for bringing the shine back to a camera body is the microfiber cloth. I am sitting this one out skeptically waiting for other responses. I think a great deal depends on the material one is trying to restore. Mickey |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 3, 2012 11:38:12 GMT -5
I just used the cloth, but Mickey is correct--it depends somewhat on the metal. Most of the FSU cameras are nickel plated, I believe, and it works well on them. I have also found that before polishing wiping the metal with lighter fluid (Naphtha) gets grime out of the microscopic pores and then the microfiber cloth works better. The top of the Clarus appears to be polished cast aluminum. The microfiber cloth is the best thing ever for cleaning ANY lens--the only proviso being make sure the cloth is absolutely clean. If it has been used to previously clean something else it could have particles of grime embeded in it and those will scratch a lens. BTW: the best thing ever invented for bringing the shine back to a camera body is the microfiber cloth. Do you use any liquid polishing agent, or just the cloth? |
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photax
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Post by photax on Dec 3, 2012 12:56:57 GMT -5
Congratulations Wayne ! This is a fine and very rare camera. And very expensive over here. I`ve seen only one in my life and this one had not been working. Have fun with it  MIK |
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mickeyobe
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Post by mickeyobe on Dec 3, 2012 14:59:33 GMT -5
I just used the cloth, but Mickey is correct--it depends somewhat on the metal. Most of the FSU cameras are nickel plated, I believe, and it works well on them. I have also found that before polishing wiping the metal with lighter fluid (Naphtha) gets grime out of the microscopic pores and then the microfiber cloth works better. The top of the Clarus appears to be polished cast aluminum. The microfiber cloth is the best thing ever for cleaning ANY lens--the only proviso being make sure the cloth is absolutely clean. If it has been used to previously clean something else it could have particles of grime embeded in it and those will scratch a lens. Do you use any liquid polishing agent, or just the cloth? Wayne, Now I am with you all the way. I have found that the most difficult metal to restore is aluminum. My Univex Mercury I and II were in a terrible state. It took a lot of elbow grease to get them looking respectable. Over the months and years I can watch the tarnish slowly accumulating. However, it only takes a minute or two with Wayne's microfiber cloth treatment to bring them back to respectability. I have some small microfiber cloths that are used exclusively for my lenses - after I blow and brush the glass carefully. They are washed periodically in warm soapy water, rinsed very thoroughly and air dried. Mickey P.S. Lee Valley Tools has or had a sale on 12" x 16" microfiber cloths at 60 cents each. I bought 10. M.O. |
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Post by pompiere on Dec 3, 2012 21:33:43 GMT -5
Thanks Wayne, I will give it a try. I always got the cloths from the eye doctor, so I never used them for anything but glass.
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