mooge
Well-known
The VI-L isn't really a difficult camera to work on. There are a few tricky things however, so I'll try to describe them here...
To remove the top cover, remove the following:
-shutter release ring (3 x setscrew)
-shutter speed dial (3x setscrew)
-wind lever (pin faced screw...)
-screw on right hand side of top cover
-cold shoe (4 screws) and parallax pin for auxiliary finders (it unscrews)
-ring around RF window, RF lens under that (the lens has two notches for it to be rotated, align these notches with the retaining ring notches underneath and unscrew)
-horiz. RF adjustment screw cover (beside VF window)
-flash connector (unscrews) and bayonet mount for flash (pull out)
Note that the rewind lever does not need to be removed.
Bottom cover:
-retaining ring around tripod socket
-two screws beside cassette latch thing
and the baseplate can be pulled off.
There isn't much under the baseplate - just the shutter tensioning things and a big bar spring. Just like Leica! Oh, and some flash contacts.
Front panel / back door:
-four screws on front panel
-lens mount (4 x screws, make note of any shims)
-two screws under lens mount
-open back door
Note that the top cover does not need to be removed before the front panel is removed, hence getting access to the shutter and slow-speeds escapement is very simple. This is a nice feature! Also, the self timer lever does not need to be removed.
The camera I repaired today had a couple issues:
1. slow speeds stuck
2. opening curtain has holes from wrinkles
/
1. the slow speeds were coaxed back to life with a bit of lighter fluid... and that's it.
2. the opening curtain was removed and replaced with one from a Pentax spotmatic F. The other curtain in that spotmatic is now in my Leica M2, so it's been pretty handy as a donor camera. Note that the curtains and metal bar that the curtain is pulled from is very similar from the Leica to the Canon to the Spotmatic; there doesn't seem to be any issues substituting one for the other except that the spotmatic curtains are a little shorter both on the ribbon and curtain sides, which only results in a smaller area for glue.
general procedure for curtain replacement:
1. take note of overlap between shutter curtains (in the direction of travel, which one is in front or behind)
2. clear access to shutter curtains, spools, etc
3. release spring tension on curtain to be removed
4. remove old shutter curtain
5. glue new curtain onto take-up spool (the one with the spring). placement on this spool is not critical.
6. glue curtain or ribbons onto shutter drum / whatever the other spool is called. Placement here is critical - align curtains and then glue curtain / ribbons. To bring the ribbons around the shutter drum to where they can be glued, I taped the ribbon to the drum and then rotated the drum.
7. let glue set
8. re-tension spring until shutter functions as normal (assuming it worked before)
For the VI-L, there's a baffle that needs to be removed for the curtains to be removed. It's held in by a screw with a spring attached to it that must be removed from the lens cavity. Canon has provided an access hole to remove this screw, but you'll require a very long and thin screwdriver to use it. Othewise, you'll have to unscrew it from an angle. The other screw is somewhere under where the accessory shoe was.
RF alignment:
- Vertical, then horizontal. I'm not sure but I think they affect each other (changing horiz changes vertical...)
- set the finder to 'mg' - this is also pretty nice, but doesn't make RF aligning interesting (RF alignment gets my vote for dullest repair task...)
Fig. 1
Pulling the shutter ribbons around the drum with tape
fig. 2
Old and new curtains. Note how wrinkled the old metal curtains are!
Final note:
this camera has the best rewind lever of all time. Of all time!
hope someone finds this helpful, or amusing.
cheers.
To remove the top cover, remove the following:
-shutter release ring (3 x setscrew)
-shutter speed dial (3x setscrew)
-wind lever (pin faced screw...)
-screw on right hand side of top cover
-cold shoe (4 screws) and parallax pin for auxiliary finders (it unscrews)
-ring around RF window, RF lens under that (the lens has two notches for it to be rotated, align these notches with the retaining ring notches underneath and unscrew)
-horiz. RF adjustment screw cover (beside VF window)
-flash connector (unscrews) and bayonet mount for flash (pull out)
Note that the rewind lever does not need to be removed.
Bottom cover:
-retaining ring around tripod socket
-two screws beside cassette latch thing
and the baseplate can be pulled off.
There isn't much under the baseplate - just the shutter tensioning things and a big bar spring. Just like Leica! Oh, and some flash contacts.
Front panel / back door:
-four screws on front panel
-lens mount (4 x screws, make note of any shims)
-two screws under lens mount
-open back door
Note that the top cover does not need to be removed before the front panel is removed, hence getting access to the shutter and slow-speeds escapement is very simple. This is a nice feature! Also, the self timer lever does not need to be removed.
The camera I repaired today had a couple issues:
1. slow speeds stuck
2. opening curtain has holes from wrinkles
/
1. the slow speeds were coaxed back to life with a bit of lighter fluid... and that's it.
2. the opening curtain was removed and replaced with one from a Pentax spotmatic F. The other curtain in that spotmatic is now in my Leica M2, so it's been pretty handy as a donor camera. Note that the curtains and metal bar that the curtain is pulled from is very similar from the Leica to the Canon to the Spotmatic; there doesn't seem to be any issues substituting one for the other except that the spotmatic curtains are a little shorter both on the ribbon and curtain sides, which only results in a smaller area for glue.
general procedure for curtain replacement:
1. take note of overlap between shutter curtains (in the direction of travel, which one is in front or behind)
2. clear access to shutter curtains, spools, etc
3. release spring tension on curtain to be removed
4. remove old shutter curtain
5. glue new curtain onto take-up spool (the one with the spring). placement on this spool is not critical.
6. glue curtain or ribbons onto shutter drum / whatever the other spool is called. Placement here is critical - align curtains and then glue curtain / ribbons. To bring the ribbons around the shutter drum to where they can be glued, I taped the ribbon to the drum and then rotated the drum.
7. let glue set
8. re-tension spring until shutter functions as normal (assuming it worked before)
For the VI-L, there's a baffle that needs to be removed for the curtains to be removed. It's held in by a screw with a spring attached to it that must be removed from the lens cavity. Canon has provided an access hole to remove this screw, but you'll require a very long and thin screwdriver to use it. Othewise, you'll have to unscrew it from an angle. The other screw is somewhere under where the accessory shoe was.
RF alignment:
- Vertical, then horizontal. I'm not sure but I think they affect each other (changing horiz changes vertical...)
- set the finder to 'mg' - this is also pretty nice, but doesn't make RF aligning interesting (RF alignment gets my vote for dullest repair task...)
Fig. 1
Pulling the shutter ribbons around the drum with tape
fig. 2
Old and new curtains. Note how wrinkled the old metal curtains are!
Final note:
this camera has the best rewind lever of all time. Of all time!
hope someone finds this helpful, or amusing.
cheers.
