Fujica GER Shutter Jamming

[farlymac]

Okay, got a stumper here. Bought a Fujica GER a few years ago knowing it was jammed up, but what the hey, it's a good looking camera, and I might get around to fixing it someday.

Today was the day I pulled it out of the box of broken down cast-offs, and set about fixing it. Took the bottom plate off first, but there was nothing there of any interest. I did remove the film take-up spool just to see if it was damaged. Next fun thing was getting the winding lever off. I hate those friction screws, but this one is really nice and shiny chrome. After taking the top off, it was time to figure out what makes this thing tick. I got it un-jammed fairly easily, but then it immediately did it again, so I know it is out of adjustment somehow. I think.

I couldn't get a clear view of the drive mechanism, so I pulled the film counter off. Whew! No shims! With a better view of things now, and a set of lighted magnifying peepers, I actuated the drive several times until I could understand the motions and purpose of all the levers and springs. What happens is the shutter button pushes down on a transfer bar that rides against the release lever for a little red/green flag arrangement (that I suppose indicates if the film has been advanced since the last shot) that is supposed to swing back and block the shutter button from operating again until the film is advanced to the next frame.

The winder is locked up until this flag arrangement is in the proper position, and so the winder is jamming because the shutter button is not depressing the transfer bar far enough to trip the flag arrangement and release the winder.

The transfer bar has a right-angle tab at the top that rides against the bottom of the shutter button. Attempts to 'adjust' this tab have not met with any success. Looking further into the body of the camera, it is hard to tell if there is anything blocking the transfer bar from traveling the proper distance, such as a lever that is not being actuated by a solinoid or something else.

I cannot find any repair information, or even a users manual for this camera or it's like. My big question is, does this camera require the batteries to be installed in order for the transfer bar to travel it's proper distance? I would think that would be a poor way of designing a camera, as folks would think the thing was broken when it wasn't. This is a fully automatic camera, unless you are using a flash, then you set the guide number. Any help will be highly appreciated.

PF

 

[farlymac]

I finally tried a little experiment on the camera. Using some test leads, I made some jumpers to go in the battery well, and taped a couple of ZiOx 675's together for power. The camera works! So, apparently there is a lever somewhere down inside the bowels of this thing that keeps the transfer bar from traveling the proper distance if there is no, or not enough, power from the batteries.

I suppose this is a design feature to keep you from wasting film, but it probably also caused some consternation among the owners of these cameras. I was beginning to suspect this was the problem as I ran all the different scenarios through my sleep deprived brain (pulled an all-nighter over this looking for help). After taking a nap this morning, and thinking about it during lunch, it seemed the only logical reason for the locking up. Especially since there were no sounds coming from deep down inside indicating anything else was working, like the shutter. But boy, does it sound good now! From now on I'm going to make sure I do a power-up check before I start tearing cameras apart.

PF

 

[farlymac]

The little Fujica did good. Got a whole roll of Ilford FP4 Plus through it with minimal problems. There is a bit of a light leak that shows in three photos, so this could be either the seals (they really do need replacing), or due to the fact I dropped the camera while loading the film. Or a combination of both, but otherwise all exposures look spot on, and the lens has a nice contrast to it. It does fall off a bit towards the sides of the frame as far as distortion is concerned, but those are areas that can be cropped out when making 8x10 prints, and thus a bit of judicious framing of the scene is called for. But other than that, it focusses well despite having such a small rangefinder patch, and handles nice too. I definitely need to get a wrist strap on it before I drop it again.

PF

ps: Photos to follow