LucaM
Newbie
Hello everybody
Please forgive me for any mistake: it's my first time posting on here.
This is a verbose repost, please be patient and don't ti;dr. I have an XA which was gifted to me last yearfrom my father, it has been in used from the 80s more or less untile the early 2000s and has been inside of its case in a drawer ever since. He never recalls having had trouble with it, although when I picked it back up, even with silver oxide batteries the thing had an annoying problem. The shutter fires fine, and the light meter that regulates the shutter doesn't have any trouble. On the other hand the needle in the viewfinder worked fine, but seemed to be a constant 2 stops slower in the indication of the shutter times if compared to the actual shutter time and any other light meter (both handheld and other cameras). Easy fix I though, so I went ahead and opened the camera following some online posts and the XA repair manual. i mechanically adjusted the needle to have a correct reading, and it does indicate the right shutter speed now. But whenever I move the focus ring, the needle bounces up and down as if there was some bad connection or a short under the focus ring. What I actually did find out though, as I opened the camera, is that probably someone else tried to fix it, and as they pried up the top of the camera, which houses the buzzer, by pulling too hard they separated two of the pads on the breakout pads of the soft circuit that sends out connections to the buzzer and the needle electromagnet. Since two of the pesa that send out the red cables are actually coming from a single track, i ended up soldering both red cables for the buzzer and the needle on the same pad. The electromagnet still works, still reads fine and still bounces. I also noticed the the grey cables on the bottom of the camera were unsoldered from each other, due to a cold solder joint and maybe too much handling. I did resolder them, don't know if I did any good though. Also whenever I move the focus the buzzer emits a scratching sound.
This is it for now.
I really hope that someone can point me in the right direction, I know many people here are far more skilled than I am, and I know that Mr Hermanson replies to posts on here.
I would send it to a repair shop in Genova, Italy where I live but unfortunately non of them are really used to repairing them anymore. There's a good one in Rome but sending it to Rome and having it shipped back would probably cost me just as much as buying a couple of new XAs.
Thank you in advance to anyone who will reply
Please forgive me for any mistake: it's my first time posting on here.
This is a verbose repost, please be patient and don't ti;dr. I have an XA which was gifted to me last yearfrom my father, it has been in used from the 80s more or less untile the early 2000s and has been inside of its case in a drawer ever since. He never recalls having had trouble with it, although when I picked it back up, even with silver oxide batteries the thing had an annoying problem. The shutter fires fine, and the light meter that regulates the shutter doesn't have any trouble. On the other hand the needle in the viewfinder worked fine, but seemed to be a constant 2 stops slower in the indication of the shutter times if compared to the actual shutter time and any other light meter (both handheld and other cameras). Easy fix I though, so I went ahead and opened the camera following some online posts and the XA repair manual. i mechanically adjusted the needle to have a correct reading, and it does indicate the right shutter speed now. But whenever I move the focus ring, the needle bounces up and down as if there was some bad connection or a short under the focus ring. What I actually did find out though, as I opened the camera, is that probably someone else tried to fix it, and as they pried up the top of the camera, which houses the buzzer, by pulling too hard they separated two of the pads on the breakout pads of the soft circuit that sends out connections to the buzzer and the needle electromagnet. Since two of the pesa that send out the red cables are actually coming from a single track, i ended up soldering both red cables for the buzzer and the needle on the same pad. The electromagnet still works, still reads fine and still bounces. I also noticed the the grey cables on the bottom of the camera were unsoldered from each other, due to a cold solder joint and maybe too much handling. I did resolder them, don't know if I did any good though. Also whenever I move the focus the buzzer emits a scratching sound.
This is it for now.
I really hope that someone can point me in the right direction, I know many people here are far more skilled than I am, and I know that Mr Hermanson replies to posts on here.
I would send it to a repair shop in Genova, Italy where I live but unfortunately non of them are really used to repairing them anymore. There's a good one in Rome but sending it to Rome and having it shipped back would probably cost me just as much as buying a couple of new XAs.
Thank you in advance to anyone who will reply
sorinlaza
Newbie
Hi Luca M,
I have exactly the same problem as the one you describe: the needle in the viewfinder is constantly abt 2 stops slower than the correct one; you say you have fixed that (" i mechanically adjusted the needle to have a correct reading). Could you please tell me how you did that. Thanks very much for your answer and best regards!
I have exactly the same problem as the one you describe: the needle in the viewfinder is constantly abt 2 stops slower than the correct one; you say you have fixed that (" i mechanically adjusted the needle to have a correct reading). Could you please tell me how you did that. Thanks very much for your answer and best regards!