R-D1 shutter panic/disaster

Robin Harrison

Robin Harrison

aka Harrison Cronbi
Local time
2:50 PM
Joined
Apr 12, 2005
Messages
446
Ok. This isn't good.

A few hours ago I took my R-D1 out of my bag for a few quick streets shots. Turn on. Aim. Fire. Nothing. Oooh - wind on...no already wound on. Check it's on. Turn it off. Turn it on. Fire. Nothing.

The lever wind is 'wound', it will not advance.

The shutter blinds do not show the metered light gray blind - it is in an uncocked state.

I have no idea how this happened. All worked well when I last used it.

Any ideas? Please? I presume this is just mechanical? Anything I can do?

:bang: :bang: :bang: :bang:
 
Nope. Have just tried fully charged battery and empty card. Dials showed 'F' battery and >100 images left.

I think the problem is mechanical because the shutter is not properly cocked.

Grrrrr.

I can't even open the film door to have a poke around. ;)

Grrrr.
 
Any other ideas? If not, does anyone know anyone au fait with repairing these cameras? Perhaps they might have seen this situation before and may be able to help?
 
I have not seen anything posted before on this, but I had occasion to once remove the bottom plate from an R-D1.

Soldered into the wiring inside on the bottom is a tiny lithium battery (I think it's lithium), which is silver colored with a little blue coloring on it.

Shorting out this battery with needle-nosed pliers reset the camera.

I have no idea how I did this or if it would work again, but if you are desperate and going to have the camera repaired anyway, you might try doing this.

I wonder if it might reset a "locked" shutter.

Maybe let the camera sit a few days with no battery, might reboot something too.
 
Maybe similar to what Edward is saying, or not...my camera got locked up in a similar way, and I was getting ready to ship it to Steve's in California. On a whim I did a reset (Initialize Settings in the menu) and reformatted my card at the same time (it wasn't full). I'm not sure which of these two actions did it, but the problem was solved, that was about 2000 clicks ago.
 
Thanks for the suggestions, guys. Sadly, the Initialize Settings/Reformat trick did not work. Either did leaving it sit for a few days without a battery. Removing the bottom plate is not something I'm too keen to try, so I guess it's time to start getting repair quotes. :( :(
 
Robert, if you find someone able to repair the R-D1 in the UK please let us know, I have a feeling that, sooner or later, they are all going to fail, and I won't mind having an address to sent it to when mine goes belly up.
 
I read somewhere that Robert White had some official Epson training in repairing them recently.

Ian
 
And - if you haven't done so already - have a read of my R-D1 repair page, and what to do (or not do) if you end up having to talk to Epson.
 
I'm sure I've read threads about similar problems - sorry can't search now as I'm at work :eek:

AFAIR this is a mechanical problem that's quite easy to fix once you get into the guts of the camera - it's a standard Copal shutter I think, so nothing there to panic about!

anyway, best of luck with the repair...

ps - about Robert White, I called them up a couple of weeks ago and their story to me was that, yes they had received training to set up the rangefinder, but only to check that new cameras are shipped up to spec; they were not taking in repairs.
 
pfogle said:
ps - about Robert White, I called them up a couple of weeks ago and their story to me was that, yes they had received training to set up the rangefinder, but only to check that new cameras are shipped up to spec; they were not taking in repairs.
Click to expand...

Aaaargh! :bang: :bang: :bang: :bang: :bang:
 
pfogle said:
ps - about Robert White, I called them up a couple of weeks ago and their story to me was that, yes they had received training to set up the rangefinder, but only to check that new cameras are shipped up to spec; they were not taking in repairs.
Click to expand...

But they adjusted my rangefinder for me under warranty..... confused!
 
wintoid said:
But they adjusted my rangefinder for me under warranty..... confused!
Click to expand...
I didn't mean it's not worth a try :D - anyway, mine's long out of warrenty :eek:

- still, if it's a shutter job, you want a specialist repairer, no?
 
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