Canon Canonet - original, bottom lever. Broken, or user error?

T

thereabouts

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I have picked up a very cheap original Canonet, with the lever on the bottom.

Cosmetically it looks very good. Almost unused, with lens cap, no scratches, everything turns 'smoothly'. Rangefinder patch is a bit dull, but seems aligned. The inside is very clean.

However, I can't seem to get lens aperture blades to do anything - open or close when moving the aperture ring, or fire when the shutter button is pressed. The shutter button works, at least it seems to. Sometimes it doesn't seem to press down, but I think I may have the lock on? At other times the button seems to stay locked down. At other times I can repeatedly press the shutter button down, without having to rewind. At other times the rewind doesn't move, so I'm not so sure... perhaps I have some setting engaged?

I'm not even sure what some of the settings on the lens even do. For example, there is a little switch with orange coloured X at one end and M at the other. I've attached a couple of screenshots, with circles around the 'mystery' (to me) features.

Any suggestions what I might be doing wrong, or is the camera stuffed?

I have a good camera repair person available to me, but I don't think it's worth spending much on fixing this, if it's at fault.

I should also say, that I haven't put any film in this yet.

Thanks.

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I can't help with the others, but the lever marked X & M is for the flash sync - X for electronic flash, M for flashbulbs as they burn slower but for longer. Often also found with a V setting for self-timer, though obviously not in this case.

Adrian
 
The MX lever is for flash, the lever on the underside closest to the body is a self timer and the lever on the outer edge of the lens is for film speed. Try moving the apature ring off of the Auto setting and see what happens.
 
Thanks.

Yep, I moved it off of Auto and still nothing. It's as if there's is a 'disconnect' between the aperture blades and both the aperture ring and the shutter button.

Is it one of those cameras that needs film in it to work. I had an old Zeiss Ikon (I think) which was like that.
 
Are you handy and willing to throw this away/sell it for cheap again if your repair attempt goes wrong?

If so, you could try opening up the top plate / bottom plate and just poke around a bit.

I've fixed a few of the traditional winding Canonets this way, just watching the mechanisms work and finding the faults. It takes some practice and lots of patience but what do you have to lose in this case? A non-working camera becomes a parts camera...
 
For what it's worth, I also bought a Yashica Auto Focus manual wind camera, which I've shoved some batteries in, but it appears to do nothing.

Again, it cosmetically looks perfect and clean.
 
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