weird issue with Konica III, some help needed!!

[layer-cake]

hey everyone, first time poster but I've read many of the threads in the forum🙂 (many thanks to the admin helping me get my account setup)

I'm hoping someone could maybe help me a bit with a Konica iii that I bought, when I first got it looked like someone has sprayed Q20 onto the shutter and aperture blades and everything had become clogged up, its the first RF camera ive had that I really bothered fixing (normally it rip it apart for the lens to convert to MFT, only broken cameras though and the Konica is far too nice for that)

in the process of getting the lens off I removed the shutter timing mechanism to see if you had to go in from the front before realising there is a retainer ring at the back allowed to lens to come free.

I've managed to clean and fix everything but now the weird problem is the bulb function only works if the camera is upside down (don't ask me how I figured that out) and I'm driving myself mad trying to work out what is the cause of this, its works perfectly at all other speeds so I don't think its the shutter timer!!

any help would be appreciated.

 

[02Pilot]

First things first: which shutter do you have? The Konica III came with either the Konirapid or the Seikosha.

Second, I'm not home to check mine, but from you description my first guess would be that a spring is dislodged, not connected, or missing, and that the lever that actuates the B setting is only falling into place when gravity (rather than spring tension) puts it there.

 

[layer-cake]

it would be the seikosha shutter, I think you have a very valid point with something maybe missing a spring.

I do think someone has tried to work on this camera as there was a spring in a different position on the rangefinder part that I had to reposition.

I can take photos of the assembly if that would help?

 

[02Pilot]

It might help to take photos, but mine has the Konirapid shutter, so I'm afraid mine won't serve as a useful reference. Perhaps someone else will have a similar example to yours. Have you checked online for photos of the shutter innards?

 

[btgc]

It might help to take photos, but mine has the Konirapid shutter, so I'm afraid mine won't serve as a useful reference. Perhaps someone else will have a similar example to yours. Have you checked online for photos of the shutter innards?

Konirapid is basically Seikosha, as said Greg Weber and opening both I didn't find differences, they are minor if any.

I have Ricoh with Seikosha not keeping shutter open in Bulb mode, some time ago I opened it for a check but didn't succeed then. I have impression combination of weak spring and extra tension is reason there. Now I've got spare camera so I may revisit Ricoh.

 

[layer-cake]

yeah I've tried to look up repairs with all combinations of words for this camera and the only site that really came up with anything is rangefinder forums, but most of the time Greg weber was always the person to send the camera too.

I live in south Africa so it would be rather expensive just for the shipping, I did email him but didn't hear back but that was for the rangefinder issue I had. I'll post some photos tonight of the shutter assembley.

 

[btgc]

I live in south Africa so it would be rather expensive just for the shipping, I did email him but didn't hear back but that was for the rangefinder issue I had. I'll post some photos tonight of the shutter assembley.

I think, Greg isn't email person, but answers phone. If your shutter otherwise works fine then DIY is the way to go. If III isn't your only camera then missing Bulb also isn't big deal, to be fair, at least you can use it already. That etch to fix, though, can be understood.

 

[02Pilot]

OK, if the two shutters are very similar (the Konirapid looks a lot like a Syncro-Compur, BTW), when I get a chance I'll open mine up and check it to see if I can figure out anything that might help solve the issue here.

 

[Dante_Stella]

Could it be the shutter release adjustment? That's under the little hatch near the take up spool. A lot of shutter release/transport "issues" can be caused by that adjustment point.

Dante

 

[layer-cake]

lol I really do seem to have the bug to get her fixed, I'll see how it performs if I manage to get the B shutter functioning! I font shooting on film very often and when I do its mainly medium format.

I'm trying to load the photos, I just need to figure out how, Dante I'm not sure what area on the body you are referring too, I know o did bend the metal pin that sits in the groove just above the shutter gearing mech but I bend it back and I have looked at this specific area for any movement when turning it upside down.

 

[f16sunshine]

I sent mine to Greg Weber. It was a iia but still. The man really knows his Konicas 😀
He did a brilliant job and quite reasonably as well.

Cheers!

 

[layer-cake]

sorry the quality is quite bad, resized my mobile cameras pics, could someone please rotate them for me? its impossible to do on my mobile.

 

[layer-cake]

I just managed to fix it 😀 you can't really see the spring in the pictures but weirdly enough it was another spring in the wrong position that I knocked lose completely when I removed the silver ring to take the photo now, a bit of good luck it seems!!

the spring was on the wrong step by the shutter release mechanism and wasn't putting enough tension on the section that moved.

 

[02Pilot]

Glad you sorted it out.