Konica Auto S2 fix?

[AJShepherd]

Just acquired a Konica Auto S2 off the 'bay - but the shutter's jammed (and it won't wind on), the rewind button's seems to be stuck 'in' and the selftimer lever appears to be missing.
Apart from that it looks in pretty good condition.
Does anyone know of anywhere preferably in the UK I could get it serviced?

 

[btgc]

Shutter is stuck because of dirty blades/mechanism. Someone tried to advance, but no luck - thus no wind. Then someone tried to charge selftimer - but this doesn't help to clean shutter, cause of problem. After forcing selftimer lever, it fell off. Why rewind lever is stuck, it's a mystery to me.

I'm not in UK, so can't give advice who can do the job. Greg Weber in USA specializes on Konica.

 

[Mr_Flibble]

Mine had a stuck shutter too when I received it. dried-up lubricant was the culprit.

What happened is somebody cranked the winding lever and pressed the shutter release button. But as the shutter fails to fire it stays in the cocked position and this locks up the camera completely.

It's pretty easy to repair yourself.
I freed up the shutter by removing the front lens element and gently prodding the shutter blades.
Then I flushed the shutter with naphtha.

Be careful not to break the wires of the CDS sensor when removing it from around the lens.
I had a heck of a time soldering them back on

My KAS2 works fine now, but I do give it regular exercise.

I hope that helps,

 

[StefanJozef]

Try www.camerarepairworkshop.co.uk They say they specialise in Konica, Minolta and Fuji.

 

[FallisPhoto]

Just acquired a Konica Auto S2 off the 'bay - but the shutter's jammed (and it won't wind on), the rewind button's seems to be stuck 'in' and the selftimer lever appears to be missing.
Apart from that it looks in pretty good condition.
Does anyone know of anywhere preferably in the UK I could get it serviced?

The stuff with the shutter is an easy fix you can do yourself. Your choice though, you can take a couple of hours or pay someone else about $130 to do it.

If you do it yourself, you're going to need a friction wrench, a lot of cotton swabs, a lens wrench, an small cheap artist's watercolor brush and a few small precision screwdrivers. A friction wrench is basically a big rubber plug that fits inside that lens hood and that sticks out far enough that you can get hold of it. A wooden plug with a sheet of rubber material glued to it can be substituted. This is a lens wrench: http://tinyurl.com/dzvofs If you don't have one, a set of needle nosed pliers will work (just be careful not to slip and scratch anything with them).

Okay, take your friction wrench, push it up against the ring surrounding the lens and unscrew it. The lens will come out with the ring. Under that, you will find three screws that hold the lens hood on. There is a website that recommends detaching the lens hood from the plate it is attached to, but there is no reason to do this and you risk burring the heads of the screws. Just leave those three screws alone. Make a note of what ASA the camera is set to and continue.

Between the three screws, you will find a wavy-edged ring. If you look closely, you will find a single screw next to it, and the screwhead will have one flat side. Turn the screw until the flat side is toward the wavy-edged ring. With the screw turned to this position, the screw is no longer engaged with the wavy edge of the ring and it can be turned. Incidentally, that little "screw" isn't really a screw and it can't be unscrewed -- it just looks like one.

Next, take your lens wrench (or needle-nosed pliers)and remove the wavy-edged ring. With the ring removed, the lens hood, and the plates under it, can be removed. They just lift off. Pay attention to what order the plates come off in. This is your last chance to make a note of what ASA the camera is set to. Take off the plates, leaving only the cam plate (the plate with all the slots cut in it).

Now , if you turn the cam plate, while it is still in place, you will notice a couple of pins that slide along those grooves. Pay attention to which grooves they are sliding along in, because when you lift off the plate, you will need to know which grooves to put them back into later, when you put the plate back on. Now lift off the cam plate.

At this point, you have access to all the gearing and to the shutter blades. You are going to clean it all with naptha (lighter fluid, white gas, camp gas, or whatever else you call it where you are). Keep the camera lens-side up from now until the operation is completed.

First, clean the shutter blades. Squirt a few drops of naptha on a cotton swab. You want it to be really sopping wet. Apply this, gently, to the blades. After a few seconds, they should snap open. If not, then use the small artist's watercolor brush to work the naptha in among the gears. At some point, during this, either the blades will suddenly snap open/shut or the self timer will start counting down (and then the blades will snap open/shut). When you think you've got it, mop up all the naptha you can get to with cotton swabs rinse the gearing with fresh naptha and mop that up too.

Now, since I am keeping this as simple as I can for you, you only have access to one side of the shutter blades. This is okay though. It isn't ideal, but it will work, because as the blades work together, the sides of the blades you can get at wil be rubbing against the sides you can't get at, and they will be transferring naptha (and dissolved dirty lube), to the front of the blades, where you can mop it up. It takes longer to do it this way than it would if you could get at both sides, but it is easier to describe and simpler to follow along with the instructions. It does work.

Okay, keeping the previous paragraph in mind, follow this proceedure: Wet one end of a double-ended cotton swab with naptha. Mop the shutter blades with the wet end. Be gentle, because they damage easily. Let the naptha work for you intead of scrubbing at them. Just rub gently and work the naptha in there. Work the shutter a few times (yes, cock and fire it). now mop up the naptha (and dissolved crud) with the dry end. Repeat, repeat, repeat -- about 50 times.

Now set the cam plate back in place and turn it so the shutter speed is set on B. Trip the shutter and hold the button down. You can see past the shutter blades now and what you are looking at are the diaphragm blades. Turn the settings from f/1.9 to f/16. See them move.

Remember what you did with the shutter blades? Do it with the aperture blades too. 50 times again, working the blades between moppings. As long as you're in there anyway, open the diaphragm blades and clean the lens too.

At this point, you just set the camera down and let it dry out for a few hours. After it's dry, cock and fire the shutter a few times and see if it is still working. If it isn't, you are going to have to swab the shutter blades a few more times, because you didn't get it all and the dirty oil just redeposited when the naptha dried up (yes, I really was serious about doing it 50 times). Be sure to open both the shutter blades and diaphragm blades and check the lens (something may have dripped on it). Clean it again if it is necessary.

If the shutter is workng now, put it all back together the same way you took it apart, in reverse. Put the plate with the ASA indicater in so that it shows the ASA it was set for when you started all this (I told you you'd need to make a note of what ASA the camera was set for). Remember to turn that screw so the head engages the wavy ring and keeps it from unscrewing. Clean the lens that you removed and screw that back in with your friction wrench and you're done. You should now have a functional shutter, albeit one without a self timer lever.

Edit: BTW, coincidentally, I just did one of these yesterday. Mine wasn't totally stuck though -- just the speeds slower than 1/8 second didn't work. It works fine now though. Tomorrow I take off the top pate and bottom plate and clean it up in there. While I am at it, I'll see if I can find any reason that rewind button of yours might be sticking, although that is no doubt due to hardened lube too.