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.
mooge
Well-known
... and if you tighten the self timer lever screw too much it will shear
-_-
-_-
ferider
Veteran
Thank you Mooge. My VI-L is working OK mechanicaly, but I bookmarked this for future reference.
A question though: my camera has a good 50mm frameline, but an almost invisible 100mm frameline. You think this is due to the silvering fading or can it be improved via cleaning ?
Thanks,
Roland.
A question though: my camera has a good 50mm frameline, but an almost invisible 100mm frameline. You think this is due to the silvering fading or can it be improved via cleaning ?
Thanks,
Roland.
mooge
Well-known
Hey, Roland!
I'm not so sure if framelines could be improved by cleaning. On the example I have, the framelines have been kind of eaten by something, and like yours the 100 mm lines are not too visible. On the other hand, the silvering looks good and all the dust and crap that I missed is projected into the finder, so it's just probably the framelines deteriorating.
more photos (unfortunately I couldn't be bothered to take good photos the first time and now I'm too lazy to remove the top cover...)
The rotating cube of optics! it's driven by some crossed helical gears (barely visible here) and those are way cool. I'd like to have seen how they made gears back in the day, or even now. it's insanity.
I really should sketch a schematic (or... get back to doing stupid video lectures) but basically the finder is:
eyepiece -> framelines window -> rotating cube -> beamsplitter ->VF
|->RF
What's exposed after removing ten screws. Really really nice. Note that you don't even need to remove the self timer lever to get here (the timer will unwind a bit though), so I sheared that screw for nothing, pretty much. I eventually drilled the sheared screw out with a 0,8mm drill, and threw a screw and washer from a Pentax ME super self timer (!) in there - it's ugly but the best I can come up with at the moment.
I'm not so sure if framelines could be improved by cleaning. On the example I have, the framelines have been kind of eaten by something, and like yours the 100 mm lines are not too visible. On the other hand, the silvering looks good and all the dust and crap that I missed is projected into the finder, so it's just probably the framelines deteriorating.
more photos (unfortunately I couldn't be bothered to take good photos the first time and now I'm too lazy to remove the top cover...)
The rotating cube of optics! it's driven by some crossed helical gears (barely visible here) and those are way cool. I'd like to have seen how they made gears back in the day, or even now. it's insanity.
I really should sketch a schematic (or... get back to doing stupid video lectures) but basically the finder is:
eyepiece -> framelines window -> rotating cube -> beamsplitter ->VF
|->RF
What's exposed after removing ten screws. Really really nice. Note that you don't even need to remove the self timer lever to get here (the timer will unwind a bit though), so I sheared that screw for nothing, pretty much. I eventually drilled the sheared screw out with a 0,8mm drill, and threw a screw and washer from a Pentax ME super self timer (!) in there - it's ugly but the best I can come up with at the moment.
ferider
Veteran
Thanks ! I'll keep using it dedicated to my 50/1.2 then .... the VI-L is way underrated around here, IMHO.
Now back to your lectures
Now back to your lectures
mooge
Well-known
And looking at it now, it seems like the VI-L is like the de luxe Canon P. Maybe it's not that people don't like it, just that it's less common?
I guess many of the repair tips here are probably applicable for the Canon P as well, they seem to be very similar.
I guess many of the repair tips here are probably applicable for the Canon P as well, they seem to be very similar.