When I put a roll of film through my new-to-me Ciro-Flex C last month, I was very pleased with the results except for the fact that the negatives had visible lines on them. Scratches, most likely. I did some research and learned that the most likely issue was the with roller bars across the film plane.

There are two bars which are meant to roll when the film is advancing through the camera. It seemed likely that one or both of these bars wasn’t rolling and, as a result, pieces of dirt, gunk or rust was causing the scratches as the film advanced over it.

I went back to the drawing board with my Q-tips and cleaning solutions. Despite my earlier tear-down and cleaning session of this camera, there was clearly more work to be done.

The rollers were dirtier than I’d realized and the top roller wasn’t rolling. I gently nudged it back into action and I cleaned until my Q-tips came back clean. This was tedious but easy work. I was tempted to very lightly add some sewing machine oil to the rollers where they meet up with the camera frame, but decided against it. Since they appeared to be freely rolling on their own, I didn’t want to introduce any substance that might cause gumming or get on the film.

It seemed likely that one or both of these bars wasn’t rolling and, as a result, pieces of dirt, gunk or rust was causing the scratches as the film advanced over it.

I took the camera out for another field trip. This time I loaded up a roll of Kentemere 100. I shot the twelve frames over a Saturday and Sunday just driving around Wichita and surrounding areas.

The Kentmere was developed in Rodinal 1:50 for 13 1/2 minutes at 70°. As a side note, I also put a roll of the exact same film – in 35 mm format – in my Olympus 35 SP which went out on the same two-day field trip. I’ll discuss this camera and its photos in a different post.

Once again, big beautiful negatives. And this time, no pesky vertical lines! That second round of cleaning did the trick. Upon examinging the scanned photos, I was blown away by how crisp and sharp they are. My girlfriend, upon hearing me ooh and aah over them said, “I think you’ve found your new favorite camera.” She might be right.