Hassy 500 EL Odd issue

[Jake Mongey]

Hi,
Recently I got a great deal on a 500 EL with an upgraded screen and for the last few months ive been thinking it works fine however after actually reading the manual Ive discovered a fault.

The camera will work fine on AS and A modes but on O, S and SR modes the camera will fire but the lens cocking pin will stop just barely before it reaches the position that causes the camera to wind on.

Anyone know what causes this? The on off lever is set to O and has fresh 9V batteries with the adapter. Just wondering if theres an easy fix but if there isnt ill probably just run it in A mode and deal with it as quite frankly I have no money and have had no luck applying for jobs for the last month.

 

[x-ray]

These are really old cameras that were popular with wedding, portrait and aerial photographers. Most likely it just needs rebuilt. I worked for an aerial research firm in the early 70's while in college and just after. We put so much 70mm through them that they had to have them rebuilt almost every year. It could be something as simple as a cutoff switch out of adjustment but it could be worn heavily too. EL's are so inexpensive you probably could get another cheaper than getting it repaired.

Best of luck.