Polaroid pack cameras: open-camera interlock?

[Dante_Stella]

Ok, so last night, my 360 unexpectedly failed to take pictures. Two black frames. First, I blamed dead batteries. Then I blamed what I thought was an unnecessarily clever double-battery conversion. I debugged the hell out of these two. Nothing.

Then having opened and closed the camera a few times, I figured out that the shutter only actually opens when the bellows are fully extended (odd that in almost 20 years of using and fixing these, I never noticed this). After working it a few times, everything then worked perfectly.

So is it my imagination or is there a switch buried somewhere in the camera that cuts electricity to the shutter when the camera is closed? I can see why you might have this - since you might cock the camera, close it, and accidentally hit the shutter button.

Dante

 

[kzphoto]

Could be a short in the wire from the batteries to the shutter or the cable release maybe not depressing the shutter completely?

 

[Dante_Stella]

Could be a short in the wire from the batteries to the shutter or the cable release maybe not depressing the shutter completely?

No short that I could find. May be a cable release extension difference closed vs open.

Dante

 

[3rdtrick]

There is a switch. On most cameras, it is just at the bottom of the battery compartment but your 360 has a different battery setup. Unfortunately I am not home this weekend to look on my 360 but when you find it, you can just bypass it. I do not leave my shutter cocked when I close up even though if you use the 1-2-3 it seems that is what they expect you to do.
Pete

 

[3rdtrick]

OK, I am home and looked at my 360. The interlock switch is the same as my other metal body cameras. The rear small door opens the same as the other cameras but you may need to push in at the edge with a screw driver. Push just below the metal rivet on the side. There is a circuit board that can lifted out by removing the screws. I did not lift mine out but you should be able to see the terminals on the interlock switch and bypass them with a wire.
Pete