Bringing them back to life...

R

Rich Silfver

Guest
Just brought my first dead camera back to life...

...and it was as easy as rubbing some vinegar on a q-tip on the battery plates in the camera. Dried it up and voila...the camera was brought back to life!! :)

(It was a very nice condition Olympus 35EC).

Anyone else have any 'resurrection' stories about cameras that they coerced to move back into the living...?
 
Good Richard ! It's always nice to resurrect them and now you can run another test with it. Seriously, I'm starting to like a lot that place from your pictures ! Do you live near that beach ?

My succesful reparing story is not with a RF, but with a Minolta SRT. The silk curtain that blocks light entering trough the eyepiece was out of place.

First I thoght the curtain was glued somewhere, but later (months later, as I forgot it during some time), I saw it only needed to be placed under two tiny lids under the mirror plate.

With a plastic stick and 10 minutes, the SRT was ready to be used again, as the problem was really easy to fix, once you discovered where that curtain should go. It's worn and has seen better days, but at least it can be used to take pictures again :)

OTH, my repairing attempt on the Agfa Isolette I got some weeks ago was a complete disaster. The camera ended in worst shape that when I received it, and this is NOT the way things were supposed to be...

So the Canonet with the stuck shutter ring is going to visit the repairman. I don't want to mess up this one, and as the whole thing needs general cleaning and foam replacing, I think that maybe going the "professional way" is required this time.

Have you ever visited the Classic Camera Repair Forum ? Huge collection of tips and tricks for repairing cameras, and lots of very kind people with useful answers.
 
Taffer,

yeah very proud of my 'repair' as I am the least handy person I know!

I live downtown San Francisco so it takes me maybe 15 mins or so to head down to the beach.

By the way - I like your PAW site. Good idea.
 
Richard,

I think you and I could run a competition to see who's the least handy person, I'm still ashamed by some of my disasters... :p

OTH, in fact the PAW idea came from Lars. I think it was on the "how often do you use your cameras" thread where I saw his comments about his PAW and decided to follow it. It's a really good way of enjoying taking pictures again !

Problem is sometimes is very difficult to find a "decent" photo to post...
 
Re: Bringing them back to life...

rsilfverberg said:
Just brought my first dead camera back to life...

...and it was as easy as rubbing some vinegar on a q-tip on the battery plates in the camera. Dried it up and voila...the camera was brought back to life!! :)

(It was a very nice condition Olympus 35EC).

Anyone else have any 'resurrection' stories about cameras that they coerced to move back into the living...?
Click to expand...

I've had both good and bad luck with bringing them back from the dead. One trick I learned that works fairly often is how to revive stuck or 'slow' shutters on older rangefinders.

Often, the front lens element can be removed fairly easily - just rind something to turn the thread-mounted retaining ring inside the front of the element, and with luck, get the lens element out with out scratching it.

Once you have clear access to the shutter, I have found that a drop or two of liquid lighter fluid (sold at grocery stores as 'Ronsonol' or 'Zippo' for a buck or so) will free up a stuck shutter, or bring a slow shutter back to normal speeds. Sometimes you have to do it more than once, so I let the camera sit out and open for a day or so and try it again. That usually does it, if it is going to work at all.

My batting average is about 75% using this trick.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks
 
taffer said:
OTH, in fact the PAW idea came from Lars. I think it was on the "how often do you use your cameras" thread where I saw his comments about his PAW and decided to follow it. It's a really good way of enjoying taking pictures again !
Click to expand...
PAW has been around long before I ever started doing it. As you mention on your own PAW site, AFAIK, Kyle Cassidy is the originator.

And yes, it's both a good motivation to take photos and it can be damned difficult to come up with something each week. I'm already many weeks behind (about 9 or 10). Been really busy and haven't had time to hit the darkroom. The short daylight hours are the biggest problem, though.

Oh well, I will be burning through lots of film in Hawaii next week! I've decided to bring my Bessa RF kit in addition to my SLR kit.

And to get back on the topic, with the tips I've read here, maybe I'll keep my eyes open for a Canonet. I saw an Olympus SP selling for around CAD$150 (approx USD$113) last year. It was in nice condition and the shutter speeds sounded right. If the prices comes down to around CAD$100 I might pick it up.



...lars
 
long life vinegar!

long life vinegar!

A friend told me some weeks ago about a broken camera sitting in his closet for years, and finally yestarday I remembered to ask him about it. Luckily, as his father wanted to throw it to the trash !

It has resulted to be a Ricoh 35 ZF, that is, a 500G without rangefinder and self-timer. Lens, shutter and meter are exactly the same than on the 500G, with both shutter priority mode and fully manual (operates without batteries). After a general cleaning, I remembered Richard's advice and applied some vinegar with a q-tip on the badly corroded battery compartment, that cleaned up fairly well.

I wasn't expecting too much, so imagine my surprise when after checking the battery size (1.3V PX675 I think) and stealing a 1.5 V LR44 from my X370s, I pointed to my desktop lamp and the damned needle began to move giving reasonable values ! Also, all speeds seem to work properly (B,1/8 to 1/500) and the auto aperture is working also !

It's true, you feel really well when that happens :cool:

Apart from gummy light seals, the camera is still pretty nice, and even though it's not a rangefinder, it still has the Rikenon 40mm f2.8 I've been wanting to try for some time. Will give it a try soon, probably with some shadow pictures, but I still have a nicer camera to try first :)

Oscar
 
Last edited:
Taffer

How do you like the performance of that Rikenon 40mm 2.8 lens. I too have a Sears (black Ricoh 500) and was wondering what kind of results to expect from it's lens.

Thanks
Russ
 
i have tried to get my recently acquired konica c35's meter working but with no luck. i even took the bottom plate off to check for broken wires to the battery contacts.
i really wanted that camera to work. the seller (ebay) is willing to do a refund but i might try to find a local repair shop and see what can be done.
and as far as useless goes, i believe i would have a good chance at winning that competition.

joe
 
Russ said:
Taffer

How do you like the performance of that Rikenon 40mm 2.8 lens. I too have a Sears (black Ricoh 500) and was wondering what kind of results to expect from it's lens.

Thanks
Russ
Click to expand...
Hi Russ,
well you can take a look here and judge for yourself if you like them. Considering they are more or less point and shoot pics, with guess focus (the zf has no rangefinder), and hand held, they turned out pretty good :)

Maybe it's not on the same level as Canonet or Zuiko (Olympus) glass, but I liked the results. In some kind of pictures you don't want the sharpest lens in the world...

Apart from that, film was standard Fuji print film, so you can load it with B&W Delta 100, Ektachrome slides or some other high quality emulsion and see how it performs.

Give it a try, those cameras are so tiny and light you can carry them easily in a coat pocket.

Have fun !

Oscar
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom