Help: Canon P shutter won't fire

[xxloverxx]

Everything was working fine till about 5 minutes ago. I tried to wind and met some resistance, but being about to shoot didn't think much of it and wound on.

There was a loud slap-like sound and the shutter wouldn't wind on or fire. The film still advances. The shutter button feels loose, vertically, and trying to turn the collar from A to R is met with a lot of resistance and fiddling around (I have to pull the button up first).

Does anyone have any idea as to what I might have done/how I could fix it? 🙁

 

[Al83]

It's not at the end of the film, is it? Mine has a tendency to feel like it will advance for the next shot right at the end of the film but I think is actually tearing the drive holes in the film. It just gives the impression that it is advancing the film. I have to "advance" the film a couple of times before the shutter will fire. Hope that makes sense!

 

[xxloverxx]

Nope. This was on the first 10 frames of the film. As I said, the film winds perfectly, there's just clearly something wrong with the shutter side.

 

[xxloverxx]

Probably a wiser option, instead of trying to fix it myself, would be to finally give this camera a proper CLA in Paris (moving in just over a week). In which case, does anyone know any places in Paris that'll CLA a Canon RF?

 

[Al83]

can you rewind the film into the canister (but not the tail) and take it out? If you take the lens off and look at the shutter does it look normal? When mine tears the film I hear a loud noise like you described but I can't see why it would do this in the middle of the roll... Sorry, not very helpful I know....best of luck, will be interested to know the cause

 

[Al83]

I meant to add...you say the film winds perfectly but how do you know? The indicator on the top plate rotates normally as I cock the shutter even when the film clearly isnt moving (since i get a double exposure on these shots).

 

[xxloverxx]

The orange mark in the middle of the rewind lever turns.

Actually my red dot is now offset as well — it should be at the top after winding and now it ends up at the bottom.

Winding is smooth, I should clarify. It's just one wind there was resistance at the end and I pushed past it, not thinking, and it seems to have disconnected something inside.

 

[02Pilot]

If you're going to try to fix it yourself, start with the service manual (which is really just a parts manual; you can find it online) and have a look here: http://www.zorkikat.com/2009/11/wanna-see-whats-inside-a-canon-p/ to get an idea of what you're going to be looking at.

It's very difficult to say what might have gone wrong, but from what you describe it seems likely that something in the linkage between the advance and the shutter has failed and may be obstructing or otherwise interfering with the release mechanism. A gear could have stripped (either lost teeth or stripped on the shaft); a spring may have broken; or perhaps it's just a screw that came loose and lodged somewhere inconvenient. Having pushed through the resistance may or may not have caused further damage. The only way to know is to start digging into it.

 

[Steve Bellayr]

These older cameras do tend to have some issues. Normally, a CLA is all they need. Most mechanical items do need tune-ups/adjustments after years of service.

 

[Roger Hicks]

These older cameras do tend to have some issues. Normally, a CLA is all they need. Most mechanical items do need tune-ups/adjustments after years of service.

Well, I'd prefer the term "repair" to CLA. A good repairer will clean out the works as a sort of side-benefit of the repair. A bad CLA artist will leave you with a camera that may run better for a while but may actually wear and fail faster than the same camera before he interfered with it.

Cheers,

R.

 

[02Pilot]

Well, I'd prefer the term "repair" to CLA. A good repairer will clean out the works as a sort of side-benefit of the repair. A bad CLA artist will leave you with a camera that may run better for a while but may actually wear and fail faster than the same camera before he interfered with it.

Cheers,

R.

Absolutely correct. All the cleaning, lubricating, and adjusting in the world is not going to fix something that's broken, which seems rather likely to be the case with the OP's camera.

 

[xxloverxx]

Well after some googling I've found a guy in HK who should be able to help: Mr. C. T. Lee of Panda Camera-Repair Service, Penthouse, Double Building, 22 Stanley Street.

Will take it there tomorrow afternoon to get a price estimate.

 

[xxloverxx]

Had a nice talk with him. HKD650 (~USD83) if it's a repair with no part exchanges needed, else he can't help as he doesn't have any Canon P parts. He'll call in a few days.

Well, that wasn't as bad as I'd thought it'd be.

 

[rogue_designer]

Fingers crossed. It sounds to me like the cocking linkage disengaged or broke. Here is hoping he can fix it.

If not, you might try shipping it to DAG, or buying a beater for parts to repair with.

These are great cameras, and worth the effort, IMO.

 

[xxloverxx]

Well, it's fixed*—*the shutter spring snapped and had to be replaced.

Lovely guy also reglued my VF front window (it'd worked itself loose and I'd used super glue –*he did it properly), re-calibrated the RF and removed a massive dent in the bottom plate.