My R3a is dead!!

[Allen Gilman]

I've been shooting w/ my R3a for about a week and a half. So last night, I went out shooting w/ a friend. I take out the camera loaded w/ film which already had 14 frames taken. I go to compose for a shot and the winder doesn't move past a certain point. I think, "Okay, batteries are already dead." So I go buy some new batteries, pop em in, and the winder still won't move. I give the bottom of the camera a little tap with my hand, and the winder goes all the way, but the shutter doesn't fire. I tried some new batteries again - same thing. If I don't give the camera a tap on the bottom, the winder won't go all the way. Haven't dropped it or anything - I've treated it better than any girlfriend (which isn't saying much when I think about it actually...). Anyway, this one is going back to the store for replacement. What could the problem be? It's really wierd - the day before, it was working just fine. Strange...

 

[rover]

No way.

I was trying to stay calm waiting for mine.

I feel terrible for you, but I hope you got the only bad one, you know what I mean.

 

[Peter]

There was once I tried to advance the winder past the 36th frame and the lever stucked and I am not able to fire the shutter. I have to rewind the film, took out the cartridge and give the R2 and sharp tap at the bottom plate before I could fire the shutter again.

 

[RML]

I had a similar thing once with my L, in summer a couple of years ago. It lasted only 1 roll, and has never occured after that. I still don't know what/ how/why it happened.

 

[Huck Finn]

Sorry you're having the problem, Allen. Very disappointing. Thank goodness cameras come with warranties & that you discovered the problem early.

Your experience is scaring me. I'm interested in the Zeiss Ikon, but now I'm thinking that it's best to wait a year until all of the early production bugs have been worked out. It's a shame to see consumers used as quality control checkers, but it doesn't seem to matter how much you pay. Early reports on the Leica M6 & the Konica Hexar RF also revealed problems with early production models.

Good luck working out the problem.

 

[Allen Gilman]

I'm sure this is always the case in early runs of productions for cameras. I'm interested in finding out what the problem was though. It was strange because if I tapped the bottom of the camera, the winder would advance (wouldn't w/out the tap) but the shutter wouldn't trip no matter what! I don't know anything about the mechanics inside so I haven't a clue. Anyway, the R3a is still a nice little camera.

 

[SolaresLarrave]

I had a problem with a Leica and, instead of sending it back for a replacement, I sent it for repair where the seller had his warranty jobs done. To this day, the camera has very ocassional leaks. I regret NOT having demanded for a replacement.

Lesson learned: send or take the camera back to the store and demand a replacement.

Good luck!!

 

[peter_n]

Allen this is very unfortunate and you should definitely ask for a replacement as advised above.

As Huck points out a lot of products are released in "beta" condition and consumers are the QC department. You would be surprised at the number of pricy European new model cars that take a year or two to work the "bugs" out.

You would think that a manufacturer would put in an extra effort to make sure the first run of a new product is the best it can be, after all in this age of instant communication news of a problem like yours travels the globe in no time. I am sure you feel aggrieved, but as rover says lets hope this is an isolated incident and that you get an instant replacement.

 

[Allen Gilman]

Thanks for the kind words everyone. I'm sure I can get a replacement. The staff at the shop where I bought the camera are really great with customer service and I've never had any problems with them before. And, yes, let's hope it's an isolated incident...

 

[former member]

I hate to say, but the first cameras that roll off the line usually have "bugs" to be worked out. The Nikon F2 settled down after 2 years; I had a friend ages ago that had one of the first lock-up on its first field experiment. The F5 had shutter problems on the first batch. When I worked in a camera shop (a long time ago), we had a 15% defect rate on the first OM1-MD's. That turned me off to Olympus for a LONG time.

 

[jon_flanders]

I've worked in heavy industry for a long time now. I can tell you that any new product will have a nice long period of "debugging."

It was said of the first two cycle EMD locomotive engine that the only thing that worked on it was the dipstick. But it became the gold standard for many years in the railroad industry.

Currently General Electric is paying the railroads millions of dollars in penalties for the problems with their new 6000hp loco. Its so bad that in fact they have given up on the whole project and these locomotives will be discontinued.

Cameras are no different, just smaller. And now you have all those electronic circuits!

Personally when it come to computers and other new gizmos I wait for a few product generations before I buy. The only exception is with the Linux operating system. And I just paid the price of staying current recently with a bunch of broken programs.

Jon Flanders

 

[former member]

Yes, This is precisely why my main cameras are the Canon 7, Leica M3, Retina IIIS, Nikon SP, and Nikon S3. Just added an M2 to the line-up. After 40 years I figure we are way past the debugging and "infant mortality" rate on them. So far so good, some CLA's to Essex and a rewind gear replaced on the M2!

 

[Doug]

There's probably good reason early adopters are said to be on the "bleeding edge" of technology. I've done my share of beta-testing and now prefer to wait out the sorting out.