Jammed my R4M

M

marcusreynolds

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I got my first proper rangefinder, a voigtlander R4M this morning & I think I've wrecked it already.

I loaded the film okay & fired off a few shots, but now the wind-on crank is moving the film on but the shutter doesn't fire.

I've managed to rewind the film & remove it, but the shutter button is still rock solid. The interlock between shutter & wind-on seems to be broken because I can wind without the shutter firing.

Is there anything else I can do or does it have to go back to the dealer under warranty.


Thanks
 
I'm guessing by now you've forced it a little as well 🙁
Didn't know that this was still happening on Bessa's, I managed to kill a T the same way. Will probably be beyond easy repair so yes, back to the dealer under warranty. Apparantly if you rush the wind on slow speeds or on bulb (so that you start winding before the shutter has stopped travelling) you can jam it
 
Terao said:
Apparantly if you rush the wind on slow speeds or on bulb (so that you start winding before the shutter has stopped travelling) you can jam it
Click to expand...

I wonder whats happening in the camera to cause the problem. Any idea?
 
This exact same thing has happened to my Bessa R2a TWICE and I havent found anyway to fix it either time, so yeah, just send it back and get it repaired under warranty.

Try not to let it put you off though, because apart from this little flaw the Bessa's are lovely, affordable and usable cameras. Have had mine for almost a year, using it almost every day and aside from the above mentioned problem, it's been awesome.

J.
 
I believe this happens because people wind on too quickly with a slow shutter speed on "M" Bessas, or when the shutter speed dial is set on automatic with "A" Bessas.

One tries to wind on before the shutter cycle is complete and the camera locks up. So, I might recommend that C/V shooters set their cameras to a high manual shutter speed when loading the camera, and to be careful winding on when shooting at slower speeds.

Larry H-L
 
Similar thing happened to my Bessa-T, I could advance the film, but the shutter would stay halfway down. Happened after 20 rolls of film. Had to have it repaired.

Since then, I've made it a point to not advance before I'm absolutely 100% sure that the shutter has closed. I've put 60 more rolls through it, and with this precaution, it didn't happen again..
 
You guys must have missed this thread back in October.

Check it out. At the end there's a link to some pictures showing the source of the problem and exactly how to fix it. The only thing that has to come off the camera is the baseplate.

Mind you, I'm not sure this is your problem and your fix... but it's worth checking out!
 
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