Kodak Signet 35

I picked up mine 3 years ago in e-Bay. They nice little cameras.
 
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I just picked one of these up at Hollywood Camera, in Portland OR. It was a bit pricier than the e-bay sales, but then I got to examine it closely and -- way more important -- spend a bit of time chatting with the unbelievably nice old guy running that shop. He's generous with his experiences and happy to spend as much or little time talking about cameras -- and he likes RFs -- as you want.

Anyway. I posted some low-res shots to the gallery, stuff from a test roll of Kroger brand 200 (anyone know who makes that, really?). I'm really pleased with the camera. Here's a link to a slightly higher-res image at Picasa:

http://picasaweb.google.com/smchadwell/KodakSignetTestRoll/photo#5218217169950928754
photo
photo

photo
 
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racoll said:
It really is a great lens with a cheap shutter. The camera can allow you to get really nice shots, though.
Click to expand...

Fortunately, the only easier shutter to work on came on a Argus. The Signet's shutter is very easy to get into and it's easy to fix and clean. Good thing, because I think we'll be doing it a lot.
 
FallisPhoto said:
Got my Signet this morning and spent most of the day working on it. It has been stripped down, cleaned, polished and buffed within an inch of its life, lubed and reassembled. Now it's loaded with film and ready for action. These are really easy to work on.
Click to expand...

how far did you strip it down? Have any pics of the final buffed camera?
 
I just picked up one of these myself. Pretty decent shape cosmetically, but two problems so far:

1. The shutter button requires a large amount of force before the shutter snaps (though the speeds seem relatively accurate)
2. The rangefinder is extremely dim, pretty much only viewable when pointed at a bright contrasty light source. When I put a finger over the viewfinder hole, it shows two triangles. Probably a misalignment somewhere. Ranges seem a little off as well.

I may shoot a roll with scale focusing to get a gander at the lens and see if the shutter is indeed accurate, but it'll probably be mostly a display piece.
 
Sounds like your camera needs to be serviced. The shutter release requires very little pressure to trip the shutter, and the rangefinder patch (although small) should have good contrast.

These are very nice cameras, although I find it to be a bit small.
 
I found out why my shutter was so hard to press, and it's a completely boneheaded thing I did. I forgot that some cameras lock out the shutter if the middle sprocket does not turn (i.e. no film in the camera). I gave it a few turns and voila, shutter released.

I managed to disassemble the lens using the instructions above (you guys were right, dead easy to open up). No problems seen really. I'll have to see if I can go in and clean the rangefinder bits. Still doesn't really explain the two triangles I see.

I guess I will need to insert film to test the advance and frame counter.
 
Okay, I had a bit of time this evening so I opened up the Signet and wiped down the pieces of glass (ignoring the mirror, which I'm told should not be touched). The view is now cleaner (and my Q-tip dirtier), but I am still seeing two superimposed triangles where there really should be one. Doing my first rangefinder calibration using the adjustment hole at the top of the lens (under the aperture scale), I've managed to align it somewhat (the left triangle seems to correspond with correct distance now). If the two triangles were aligned, it would give me a much brighter patch, but alas, it's barely visible indoors.

Anybody have any ideas where the misalignment could be that would cause two horizontally superimposing triangles?


Also, I've read through the site mentioned and I do not quite understand how to make sure the film counter works. I have yet to test the camera with film, but in my eye, the film advance never worked when it arrived. It seems like a rather simple system where the advance will ratchet the gear in the counter one tick, but I don't see how I can position the lever while inserting the top back on simultaneously.

The instructions on the site reads: "When reinstalling the top cover, push down on the lever next to the film sprocket so that the film counter pawl is pulled back. Slide the cover on and release the lever. This is necessary to reseat the film counter ratchet."

I can manually pull back what I assume to be the pawl, but as I said, it would be impossible to slip the cover back on without it snapping back in place.

Please forgive my ramblings, I'm a complete novice to camera repair, though the Signet 35 seems like a good place to start.
 
CliveC said:
Okay, I had a bit of time this evening so I opened up the Signet and wiped down the pieces of glass (ignoring the mirror, which I'm told should not be touched). The view is now cleaner (and my Q-tip dirtier), but I am still seeing two superimposed triangles where there really should be one. Doing my first rangefinder calibration using the adjustment hole at the top of the lens (under the aperture scale), I've managed to align it somewhat (the left triangle seems to correspond with correct distance now). If the two triangles were aligned, it would give me a much brighter patch, but alas, it's barely visible indoors.

Anybody have any ideas where the misalignment could be that would cause two horizontally superimposing triangles?


Also, I've read through the site mentioned and I do not quite understand how to make sure the film counter works. I have yet to test the camera with film, but in my eye, the film advance never worked when it arrived. It seems like a rather simple system where the advance will ratchet the gear in the counter one tick, but I don't see how I can position the lever while inserting the top back on simultaneously.

The instructions on the site reads: "When reinstalling the top cover, push down on the lever next to the film sprocket so that the film counter pawl is pulled back. Slide the cover on and release the lever. This is necessary to reseat the film counter ratchet."

I can manually pull back what I assume to be the pawl, but as I said, it would be impossible to slip the cover back on without it snapping back in place.

Please forgive my ramblings, I'm a complete novice to camera repair, though the Signet 35 seems like a good place to start.
Click to expand...

to get the cover on and counter wheel engaged you need to hold it back with a loop of thread or floss, or nylon fishing line, then put the cover on and as you get the cover almost on let go of one end of the loop of floss and pull it out and the counter whell will be engaged. Have a test roll of 35mm film to test your cameras.
 
68degrees said:
to get the cover on and counter wheel engaged you need to hold it back with a loop of thread or floss, or nylon fishing line, then put the cover on and as you get the cover almost on let go of one end of the loop of floss and pull it out and the counter whell will be engaged. Have a test roll of 35mm film to test your cameras.
Click to expand...

Brilliant! Will try that tomorrow when I'm less bleary-eyed.
 
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