Alongside time spent with the Dykstraflex team evaluating the condition of the crane after its move out of the museum, I devoted some time this week to servicing and repairing as many of the ARRI 2B and 2C cameras I have in stock as I had time for. Among this group of 5, two cameras stood out due to the unique features they offer. There is a 2C that has a Nikon lens hard front, and another 2C with several John Russel conversions, a Panavision mount that is interchangeable with an ARRI B mount, a swing-away matte box fixture (although the matte box is missing), optics for a video tap, and a heated eye cup.
One camera stood out from the others, a 2B, because it had so much case foam rot on the inside and outside, that the camera wouldn’t even turn over by hand. Why I picked this one as the first to examine, I can’t say, but this camera had to come completely apart. Every bit had to be cleaned once disassembly was done, then the case rot was cleaned off of the casting. After dissolving as much of the case rot as possible with WD-40 and moving on to acetone and finally sandpaper, everything was cleaned with soap and water, allowed to dry completely, and repainted.
The camera was then reassembled, the timing was checked, and the camera was successfully run with film. The other four cameras happily just needed basic servicing. They were all partially disassembled, deep cleaned, lubricated, reassembled, the timing was set, motors were installed, and the cameras were run with film. All are now ready to shoot film once again. I hope to get them listed on CinemaGear.com in the next week or so.
