Is my camera screwed?

[cwarnett]

I bought an old Wards AM551 the other day and it worked fine.

But today I took the thing out of my backpack (probably a mistake to be keeping it in there) and the range focus (I think this is what the yellow image that you focus with is called? I'm new to the RF world) is nowhere to be seen in my viewfinder.

I can see the diagonal piece of glass going across that it would be reflected off of, and I see the yellow thing that would normally be reflected in the side, though I haven't figured out how the whole mechanism works.

How difficult/ expensive is this sort of thing to fix? I also just saw a retina IIIc for $75. Should I just dump this one for a more proven model?


Thank you for your help. Also, I am new to this forum, so hello everybody.

 

[FrankS]

Welcome, cwarnet. Sorry can't help. Just welcome!

 

[rogue_designer]

I think given that it's not a terribly popular/well known brand, getting it repaired cheaply will be difficult. If you want a direct replacement, I would probably look for a Yashica Lynx 5000 or Lynx 14 - or even the GSN/Canonet type of rangefinder - you'll both get a higher quality piece of kit, but also one with a larger support network.

The IIIc is fantastic, but then you'll be looking at lenses, and an external meter, etc. More of an investment in RF's. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

Anyway, just my $.02. Welcome to the RFF.

 

[clintock]

It's a house-branded konica auto s2, so fixing it should be easy enough, once you find someone who fixes the s2, and that's a camera worth fixing, and very very proven! probably some mirror or prism just came un-glued from something and is adrift in the top cover somewhere.

 

[rogue_designer]

It's a house-branded konica auto s2, so fixing it should be easy enough, once you find someone who fixes the s2, and that's a camera worth fixing, and very very proven! probably some mirror or prism just came un-glued from something and is adrift in the top cover somewhere.

I didn't realize it was a rebranded s2 - then yes, by all means see if you can get it repaired. 🙂

Good catch Clintock!

 

[clintock]

Gotta admit all I did was google..
But it did sound familiar.. If ever there was a good camera to try your hand at repair on, this is the one- it's big, conventional, lots of people have them (the konica anyway) and have repaired them, plus it's good enough to be worth the effort. And if you smoke it, you're only out a pizza.

 

[Stu W]

http://www.kyphoto.com/classics/konicaautos.html

 

[cwarnett]

Thank you for the advice! I think I will try to fix it myself. Also, I ended up getting the retina! The interface will take a tiny bit of getting used to, but i do like it a lot. I will report back on the success or failure of fixing the c2 in the next week or so. Have a nice day everyone.