Konica SII Needle meter

[amir103115]

Hey guys it's me again, I have yet another Konica with a slight problem. This camera uses the needle matching system that is supposed to respond to the user changing the shutter speed or aperture ring but as shown in the photos the needle does not move. The needle does twitch from time to time when changing either shutter speed/aperture ring but it does not move out of where it's current light reading is. To clarify, the meter works BUT does not adjust itself when setting the shutter speed/aperture ring so I won't know when it is matched up with the "Properly Exposed" marking in the center. Attached are photos with various settings but with the needle giving the same reading.

 

[bluesun267]

Your meter linkage is most likely suffering from dried lubricant, or perhaps the glue holding the window or nearby light baffle material has failed and is touching the mechanism. Most likely all will become apparent once you remove the top cover. The top cover is pretty easy to remove IIRC.

My advice (if you are not comfortable with doing such repairs yourself) is to simply ignore it and use the camera without meter

 

[amir103115]

Your meter linkage is most likely suffering from dried lubricant, or perhaps the glue holding the window or nearby light baffle material has failed and is touching the mechanism. Most likely all will become apparent once you remove the top cover. The top cover is pretty easy to remove IIRC.

My advice (if you are not comfortable with doing such repairs yourself) is to simply ignore it and use the camera without meter

I am comfortable with taking apart rf’s and have removed the top cover to clean the viewfinder before. Unfortunately there are no service manuals so i don’t really know what to look for or how do to fix it I would use it meterless but since the meter does work but isn’t adjusting then it’s worth a try to see why it doesn’t react to the shutter speed/aperture changes,if only i knew what exactly is the issue. You mentioned a meter linkage or a material touching the mechanism,I will look out for that when i go home and remove the top cover again thank you for the tips!

 

[amir103115]

I am comfortable with taking apart rf’s and have removed the top cover to clean the viewfinder before. Unfortunately there are no service manuals so i don’t really know what to look for or how do to fix it I would use it meterless but since the meter does work but isn’t adjusting then it’s worth a try to see why it doesn’t react to the shutter speed/aperture changes,if only i knew what exactly is the issue. You mentioned a meter linkage or a material touching the mechanism,I will look out for that when i go home and remove the top cover again thank you for the tips!

 

[amir103115]

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Quick update,I touched a metal coil thing in the light meter assembly and now it responds to the shutter speed/aperture ring being adjusted BUT now it seems to not go all the way down when there is no light present. So the linkage works? But the light meter is not calibrated nor do i know what calibrates it other than the fact that moving said metal coil seems to affect the meter. the copper wire is coiled under the T shaped bracket holding the light meter assembly

 

[amir103115]

After a bunch of tinkering i managed to move the copper coil into a position where the light meter at zero light is at Zero Point and when metering reads as accurate as my phone light meter after adjusting the shutter speed/aperture to get the needle into the Fixed Mark for correct exposure setting. I guess that copper coil is important somehow(I have still no idea what it is or what it does) after putting the camera back together, it still behaves erratically. I will attempt to use the meter under sunlight and see if that gives me more reliable readings. Until then, im stumped as to what that copper coil is and why it affects the reading

 

[ranger9]

I can't see very clearly in the photos, but I am guessing that the copper coil is the return spring for the meter movement. The movement takes little force to move (it has to move very easily, so it won't take much current to deflect the meter needle) and that also means it takes very little obstruction to make it stick in one position. My guess is that by touching the return spring, you dislodged whatever was causing the movement to stick in position, and then by moving the zero adjustment (which affects the starting position of the spring) you got the pointer to go back to the zero index when the meter cell isn't receiving any light. So far, so good… the erratic response to the control rings probably means the electrical contacts in them are dirty or that the wires connecting them to the meter circuit are bad, so that's your next troubleshooting project. Have fun!