saman13
Newbie
A friend of mine has a beautiful Minolta Hi-Matic 11 that was owned by her grandparents. The camera worked just as it should mechanically, but had a very cloudy viewfinder. So, I offered to clean it for her. I had done the same thing with two Canonets and my Hi-Matic 7s with no issue.
I cleaned it up and everything was working fine when I put it back together. But, when I handed it back to her, she wound the lever about halfway around and then it stuck. The shutter release was also stuck.
Now, the shutter release is locked in the up position. The film advance will wind, then when it gets to the end of the stroke, will meagerly fire the shutter. Does anyone know what could be causing this?
When I took it back apart I realized I had let the little shutter release pin fall out, so I replaced that but that was not the issue. Perhaps it broke something when it fell through to the bottom of the camera?
If anyone could provide some insight it would be much appreciated. I would like to avoid making an enemy out of a friend!
Update... The shutter release is not actually "locked". The issue is that the "resting" position (the position after the shutter has been cocked) for the gear in the bottom camera now does not line up with the small hole that allows the shutter release pin to pass through. So, when the shutter is cocked, the shutter release is blocked with the solid gear, rather than being able to pass through the small hole in the gear that it is supposed to. When the gear is lined up so that the position of the hole corresponds with the location of the release pin, the shutter release can be depressed. However, because this is in the middle of the winding cycle, the shutter has not been fully cocked and the shutter will not fire.
So, it seems as if the whole mechanism got out of line with itself somehow. I do not have a clue how I would remedy this. And, all of this still does not explain the fact that the film advance is firing the shutter and the film advance does not stop. I wind the advance lever, shutter fires. I wind the advance lever, shutter fires. Etc.
I cleaned it up and everything was working fine when I put it back together. But, when I handed it back to her, she wound the lever about halfway around and then it stuck. The shutter release was also stuck.
Now, the shutter release is locked in the up position. The film advance will wind, then when it gets to the end of the stroke, will meagerly fire the shutter. Does anyone know what could be causing this?
When I took it back apart I realized I had let the little shutter release pin fall out, so I replaced that but that was not the issue. Perhaps it broke something when it fell through to the bottom of the camera?
If anyone could provide some insight it would be much appreciated. I would like to avoid making an enemy out of a friend!
Update... The shutter release is not actually "locked". The issue is that the "resting" position (the position after the shutter has been cocked) for the gear in the bottom camera now does not line up with the small hole that allows the shutter release pin to pass through. So, when the shutter is cocked, the shutter release is blocked with the solid gear, rather than being able to pass through the small hole in the gear that it is supposed to. When the gear is lined up so that the position of the hole corresponds with the location of the release pin, the shutter release can be depressed. However, because this is in the middle of the winding cycle, the shutter has not been fully cocked and the shutter will not fire.
So, it seems as if the whole mechanism got out of line with itself somehow. I do not have a clue how I would remedy this. And, all of this still does not explain the fact that the film advance is firing the shutter and the film advance does not stop. I wind the advance lever, shutter fires. I wind the advance lever, shutter fires. Etc.
