Repairing film cameras

[John Farrell]

To start, you need a place to work, light, tools, technical information.

This is my workspace - the end of the dining table. The white surface is a melamine covered shelf - an old pillowcase protects the glass table top.

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For light, I use a head torch (and +4 hobby glasses, so I can see close up).

Tools, I have accumulated over the years - few specialist tools are needed.

Technical information - service manuals and the like, is mainly found online. A helpful fellow called Rick Oleson has a website with notes on some older cameras.

Rick Oleson

There is another website with a large number of service manuals, as well as general repair information, and a camera repair course.

Learn Camera Repair

[zou]

I once took apart a broken Praktica. It did not go back together. Probably best to start with a fully manual camera.

[John Farrell]

If you take a camera apart, keep the parts separated - that's what the compartmented box is for. Put a note in the compartment, if you need to, to identify where the part is from, keep notes of your dissection, and take lots of photographs as you go.

[John Farrell]

Few cameras, in my experience, suffer mechanical parts failure. Battery leakage can damage parts, and older cameras with cloth focal plane shutters can have deteriorated shutter blinds. This is a product of age, rather than a fault.

Most failures are caused by age - dried out lubricants, dirt accumulation, and decomposed light seals. Note that many cameras have seals inside, as well as around the door. Clean out the dirt, dried lubricants,and seals, relubricate, and replace the seals, and the camera will work.

[gray1720]

Have you ever encountered an Ilford Advocate, John? I have one that I was givenn by a fellow forumite, but have never worked out how to restore its function as the only stripdown I've found on the intertubes is of a slightly different model.

I have also got two Kodak Retinette projects that will need to be done this winter. One is a 1B that I've already "fixed" twice but each time, after a few releases of the shutter, it stops working - there's a spring underneath a hook in the mech that won't stay where it should. I'm going to get the fornicator if it kills me!

Kodak Retinette 1B by gray1720, on Flickr

There's also an 022 that I bought for parts for my other 022, then realised that it worked as least as well. It's pretty grotty, but underneath lurks a nice camera. Ironically, I find the more complex Compur Rapid shutter easier to work on than the Pronto of the 1B - at least in part because the "Gotcha!" spring in the Compur only stops the slow escapement working when you get it wrong.

Scabrous Retinette by gray1720, on Flickr

Can I suggest you add a magnet-on-a-stick tool to your list? Dead handy for retrieving the bit gthat just whistled past your ear, or rattled across the floor!

[John Farrell]

I've no experience with Ilford Advocates - I avoid working on the shutters of lens shutter cameras, as I no longer have the patience required.

[John Farrell]

If you are working on an Olympus Trip 35, you may have to remove the front lens element. When you reassemble the camera, you will have to set the lens to infinity focus.
There is a simple way to do this. With the top plate off the camera, rotate the brass gear shown in the picture below until the shutter opens, then pin the gear with a toothpick, as shown.


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Mount the camera on a tripod facing an infinity target, with a ground glass on the film rails (I use a piece cut from a CD case, which has been roughened with an abrasive cleaner), and set the focus to infinity. 


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[gray1720]

Dec 13, 2022 23:13:40 GMT John Farrell said:

I've no experience with Ilford Advocates - I avoid working on the shutters of lens shutter cameras, as I no longer have the patience required.

Pity - I might have another go over the Christmas period (I have a nasty feeling Ric Oleson's notes also cover a slightly different model to mine), but I've worked out how many days I have actually *free*, not going anywhere or doing anything, and it's.. January 2nd!

What are Trip 35 prices like in NZ? I used to pick broken ones up for under a fiver 10-12 years ago, but they seem to make silly money on ebay now. They're actually quite fun to fix as they're nice and simple. 

[John Farrell]

Dec 14, 2022 9:17:28 GMT gray1720 said:

Dec 13, 2022 23:13:40 GMT John Farrell said:

What are Trip 35 prices like in NZ? I used to pick broken ones up for under a fiver 10-12 years ago, but they seem to make silly money on ebay now. They're actually quite fun to fix as they're nice and simple. 

I only buy them if they are cheap - $5 or so. I sell them online after I've fixed them, and if they work. The prices depend on which hipsters are watching, but I aim to get about $40 for them. I have seen them sell for a lot more than that.

I bought the Trip in the picture at an op shop for $5. The lens unit was loose, and the light meter jammed - one of the lens screws was inside the movement.It worked fine when it was cleaned up.

[gray1720]

Good work, John - making money doing something you enjoy, and giving others enjoyment too.

[John Farrell]

I used another trick to keep the shutter open on a Kodak Coloursnap camera, for resetting infinity focus. I opened the shutter, and put a plastic ring (a battery adapter) between the blades, from the back.

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[zou]

My K2's film speed selection dial around the lens mount was stiff from lack of use before it came to me, so applied some sewing machine oil carefully some months back. Still seemed stiff so did a bit more yesterday and it's turning smoothly now in both directions.

[pentaxpete]

'Sewing Machine Oil' is great -- I was GIVEN by a Fellow Camera Club member who sent it to Ffordes and they sent it back as 'Not Working' a PENTAX KX body -- the aperture activating spring would not work so I applied a minute amount of Sewing Machine Oil in by Capillary Action and PULLED gently and spring moved around the lens mount and it has been 'working ever since ' !! Ha Ha !!

[John Farrell]

I use sewing machine oil, too - but there are few places on a camera which need oil. Most lube points use grease (of various sorts).

[gray1720]

Luckily the Pentacon 1.8/50 seems well served by YouBend videos, as now I have to fix one... I could stick the Helios or the Cassar onto the MTL3 instead (the joy of M42), but I sort of feel that I got it with it, I'm going to fix it. One day... I've already sorted out a Retinette 1B and had a go at the Daci Royale, and the unbuggering list is getting longer, not shorter!