Voigtlander Bessa L jammed shutter or self-timer

[justjasper]

Hi folks,

A Bessa L in my care recently developed a stuck shutter problem, which I gather is fairly common on these cameras. Having looked at various threads on here and on Flickr, I took the bottom plate off, thinking I'd be able to hook a little catch back on and hey presto (as described on this thread).

Unfortunately, that hasn't done the trick and it's still stuck, with the grey shutter curtains slightly down and not moving.

Does anyone have any advice as to what I might try next? I am able to advance the shutter lever if I unhook a little catch at the bottom where the mechanism checks to see if the shutter has been fired, so it does seem to be a problem with the shutter not firing. The self timer on the front is loose and moves around, which makes me think it might be something to do with that being broken.

The fault developed suddenly, as I was winding the film around frame 30 of a film.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated!

Cheers,
Jasper

 

[monopix]

If the grey, second, shutter curtains are half open (or half closed) then that's basically the problem. The curtains have to fully open to trigger the main shutter and I'm guessing they didn't fully open to do that. Usually recocking everything, as you have done, will sort these problems out. If it hasn't then I guess the second shutter (the grey curtains) are jammed. You might try moving the grey curtains manually to see if you can get them to fully open. Otherwise I think you need to get inside. The pictures in this thread will give you an idea what you're dealing with https://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=172706

 

[justjasper]

If the grey, second, shutter curtains are half open (or half closed) then that's basically the problem. The curtains have to fully open to trigger the main shutter and I'm guessing they didn't fully open to do that. Usually recocking everything, as you have done, will sort these problems out. If it hasn't then I guess the second shutter (the grey curtains) are jammed. You might try moving the grey curtains manually to see if you can get them to fully open. Otherwise I think you need to get inside. The pictures in this thread will give you an idea what you're dealing with https://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=172706

It's a while since I posted this, so I hope it's still ok to reply and doesn't count as necro-ing the thread.

I just wanted to post an update in case anybody else has the same problem: I eventually just tried pulling the grey shutter curtains up with a pair of tweezers, and that did the trick. It took more force than I was comfortable with, but since multiple repairers had told me it would cost more to fix a shutter than to buy a new camera body, I figured there was nothing to lose.

I wonder if it may have been something to do with the self-timer, as there were some strange clicking noises emanating from it as I pulled the curtain back into place.

In any case, everything now seems fine. Many thanks for the words of advice, monopix!

 

[monopix]

but since multiple repairers had told me it would cost more to fix a shutter than to buy a new camera body, I figured there was nothing to lose.

Next time you might consider getting a quote from me.

Well done getting it fixed though.

 

[agentlossing]

Thank you for the update, it's always possible that will happen to my T as well so it's good to know that may work!