IIS <EP> Shutter Curtain Leak: advice please...

[nostalghia]

I brought this cam the day it came in the mail to the most highly respected repair man in my city to check it out...

he noticed the shutter curtain was rigid and would leak light; he quoted me $140-150 to replace it with a new one (is this too high, or is it just me???). see pic below

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=72636&ppuser=16725

also, the locking mech. for the wind knob is broken. quote: $40

for now, i'm holding the knob in place w/ mid. finger and clicking w/ index...

I would really appreciate some advice on these repairs as i've never had this done before...thanks guys and girls!!!

 

[John Shriver]

Those are normal and customary prices for those repairs. If he can do a good job at it, go for it.

 

[nostalghia]

thanks, john. i had no idea . . . i think the new cloth/rubber curtains are probably fairly costly themselves. i would try to do it myself, but i think that definitely exceeds my repairing ability as of now, lol.

i'm sure he'll do a fine job with it . . . until i find some extra $, i'll probably hold off on it for awhile and use the cam for "special effects" :]

 

[crawdiddy]

I think it might make more sense to acquire another camera. But I would attempt to diagnose the problem better myself. For example, could you remove the lens, open the back, and look through, and find whether it's leaking while cocked, or after released? Wait a minute, I realize now, it's a bottom loader, and you can't do that.

Well anyway, the repair price seems a little high. How much did you pay for the camera?

I have a couple of Canon 7s myself. I noticed when I first started using it, that there's some light leaking in through the shutter. It tends to expose the vertical edge of film. I had heard this is fairly standard with rangefinders. I've used SLRs longer, and so I hadn't run into it. I guess the mirror is actually performing a useful function, other than serving as a TTL viewfinder.

Even if you can't look through the film chamber from behind, I think I'd try some tests to explore where the leak is, and how much light/time is required to register on film.

Good luck with the camera.

 

[nostalghia]

from my understanding, the IIS is a fairly uncommon canon ranger with a production run around 1,850. Since these were made in '54-'55, and unless the curtains have been previously replaced, they are prone to drying out and developing tiny holes. Its also an <EP>, found at a military sale at a naval base, so its prolly a one (now 2) owner camera, that no doubt has some interesting history behind it.

An SII (body) sold on evilbay this afternoon for $151.50 -- http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=290174932853&ssPageName=STRK:MEDW:IT&ih=019
could be the pics, but the viewfinder + rangefinder looks a little sketchy to me...

love the profile pic crawdiddy, haha.

anyone know if its possible to temporarily fix the curtain leak with some kind of masking, etc...?