Minolta 7sii can't stop winding!!

[weihsuan]

Hi all,

I've a user 7sii here, slight dent on the film counter, no where near pristine. Sounds like a great user to start using.

However, the film advance does not stop winding. Which means i can wind/advance a roll of film to the end without having to trip the shutter once.

Also, the self timer is not catching. Once i turn it all the way counterclockwise, it does not hold the position but starts its "counting" immediately. Does not eventually trip the shutter though. It feels like a certain shutter mechanism is dislodged, or otherwise.

Everything else seems to work well - lens is clear, meter works, shutter priority works, etc.

Anyone with similar experience? or possible solution to this?

Thanks
Wei

 

[farlymac]

That slight dent is indicative of a possible drop, which could have dislodged something like a lever or gear in the film transport/shutter cocking gear train. A spring could have come off a catch pawl, allowing the continuous winding. Since the shutter isn't being cocked, then the self timer has nothing to actuate at the end of its run, and obviously also isn't latching up at the start.

It will need to be opened up to see what isn't right. Maybe work the mechanism a few times to observe where the missing step in the sequence is.

PF

 

[weihsuan]

Thanks for the advice!

To clarify, shutter works fine firing at all speed, just that film advancing doesn't stop. Theoretically the camera is working.

I opened up the bottom and top covers, had a look at both and seems nothing is out of place. The dent did not impact on any internal mechanism. Took the chance to clean out the finder, now its much clearer.

I wonder if the mechanism that stops film winding is on the top or the bottom?

I'll take a photo of the bottom w cover off tonight, and hopefully someone wld spot some problem.

Cheers

 

[farlymac]

Not that the dent would actually be displacing something, but that the drop could have jarred something out of place. This could be a vertical displacement that would not look obvious. Is the frame counter still working? The catch pawl for the film transport may be hidden under the frame counter, depending on the camera design (such as the counter is built around the winder shaft), so it is likely on the topside of the camera.

Is your self timer built into the lens barrel, or is it on the body front? It sounds to me like the latter, from your description of it not latching up. But I don't think that it not latching, and the film transport not stopping are related issues. Curing one will not fix the other.

I don't have a 7SII to look at, or ever worked on one, so I can only give you generalized advice, having seen these problems before. Hopefully, someone else has some experience with this particular model, and can give you more specific directions.

PF

 

[AlexBG]

I have a normal 7, the shutter 'stop' is at the bottom of the camera. It is a little wheel that has a piece cut out that a hook grabs on.

http://www.oocities.org/zzhuy/hiMatic9/lensBoardCoupling.html

 

[weihsuan]

Thanks all for the advices! I opened up the bottom and found the problem. Fixing was easy 😉

Refering to image below, circled in red is the root of the problem. The spring (circled in red) was out of place previously, resulting in endless winding. Once put in position, spring returns the lever in direction of red arrow after each shot catching onto the cutout on the cam (circled in green) stopping further winding.

Like to share this for future references.

Hope this wld be useful for others.

And thanks again to all!

On a side note, aperture blades on the 7sII was sticky and not able to open wide. Its an easy fix by removing the retaining ring on the lens, carefully taking out the lens cover (without breaking the wires attached), unscrewing the front lens element, and applying Zippo lighter fluid slowly on the blades. Allow Zippo to dry, try moving the aperture ring, half pressing shutter, etc and repeat.

Cheers