Potential Issue with my ZI

[white.elephant]

Hello everyone.

I might be having an issue with my Zeiss Ikon. It's the latests (now retired) version, bought new around 2001.

I had just bought a new soft release for the ZI, and had been out shooting wit earlier in the week and I put it in my bag.

I took it out the next morning and I noticed that the batteries had gone dead. The camera was turned off (I try to remember to do that) but the shutter wouldn't fire, nor the meter give me a reading.

That's when I noticed that the shutter button itself was depressed (as if I had just fired it) and it seemed now to be 'stuck'

So, the batteries going dead... I can't at this point determine which is the cause and which is the effect... did the batteries die because the shutter button got stuck? Or did the shutter button get stuck because the batteries died?

I dunno.

However, the shutter button doesn't seem to easily come 'unstuck.' It remains depressed. The shutter is cocked, but it won't fire because the button is depressed.

So, is this issue a 'thing' with ZI's? has this happened to anyone else? How do I fix it> Or do i need to send it off? Can anyone recommend someone who would fix it?

help.

 

[Doug]

I suppose you've tried putting in fresh batteries? I'd think that would power it up and let it get back to normal. If not, time for service I think. As to the cause, the extra height of the soft release probably resulted in the shutter button being pressed by adjacent gear or the bag itself. It's odd that this would cause a power drain with the main switch OFF, but I'll bet that's how it happened. I don't use soft releases, and suggest better storage practice is to store the camera out of the bag. Partly because the bag could trap humidity leading to other problems. Good luck!

 

[sepiareverb]

Fresh batteries and try a cable release to fire the shutter?

 

[Bob Michaels]

I had a somewhat similar problem. It was caused by corrosion inside the shutter button switch caused by my trigger finger wicking sweat down into the shutter button from shooting much in hot humid sweaty environments. My local camera tech just put the word out among his contemporaries. One of them had a ZI parts camera who shipped the shutter button to him at nominal cost.

 

[Archlich]

The other time I saw a similar issue, it was a Fuji X-T2...

Shouldn't be a hard fix.

 

[white.elephant]

Hey, everyone. Thanks for the suggestions. I put new batteries in AND used the Cable release. Ta da! All reset.

 

[Doug]

Wow, great to get that fine Z-I back to work!