Lazarus Times Two

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Pictured is a rather old Pentax Spotmatic body undergoing a bit of minor surgery for sticky mirror syndrome. The gear and pinion just to the left of centre work with the L-shaped lever just to their right, to both cock the shutter and mirror trains, raising the mirror, firing the shutter and returning the mirror to its position after the shutter closes.

The problem with cameras as old as these is that the lubricants for all of these actions dries over time and stuff stops doing quite what it should. After firing, the L-shaped lever should flip out of the way of the spring-loaded lever that runs in the slot you can just see beneath: a small pin on the top of the gear should just flick the L and release the mechanism to reset the mirror. If this fails to whack it at just the right speed, the mirror sticks up.

The usual trick is to apply some very light oil to the gear and pinion, and to the small shaft of the L-shaped lever. I successfully rescued an SP500 this way [blog posts passim] and that is still functioning well. This Spotmatic and an SP1000 have both been given the treatment and whilst so far both are improved, they're still not quite there: repeated winding and firing might loosen them up - the SP500 needed two treatments and a lot of exercise to get that working reliably - but they might need a more thorough service at some point: they are both well over half-a-century old, after all. Keep you posted!

Comments

  1. Joe Stoner19 October 2021 at 09:23

    I see TROUBLE mate:
    FOUR wires means electrickery and that might be more "difficult" for you!
    I need an emoji for DEEP irony here:)
    Re thining my attempt at making the nation laugh at the cunt! Solution Morris & the Minors!
    A Brummie outfit I seem to recall!
    ATB
    Joe

    ReplyDelete

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