[irishbeachboy]

Hello, I have a similar if unrelated issue with my 6X7. Sometimes when winding the film advance lever the mirror will raise, when pressed, the shutter will release and mirror returns to rest position and the exposure of the film is not effected. The MLU works as designed when the camera winds on as properly. It's an intermittant problem but I've noticed the lever which operates the aperture is a little sluggish and if not fully up seems to engage the mirror mechanism when winding on, anybody see this before??

[Silent Street]

Thanks for the replies. Here's my last "grasping at straws" attempt to solve the battery question: Is there any chance that the type of battery matters? The manual calls for a silver-oxide battery (which I know isn't made anymore), and I am using a Duracell lithium battery. What are you using, and does it matter?

Aside from that issue, I mentioned there were other problems. For one, although the meter "works" (in the sense that the needle moves) it is very inconsistent and the position can be changed by jiggling the camera about. Basically it is useless.

Also the prism doesn't seem to sit very securely on the camera - there is more play than what I would have expected. This may be due to bad seals (I assume there should be some, but its mostly just a sticky layer of gum left where the prism sits on its frame). I notice that the back has more "play" in it too, so it wouldn't surprise me if it needs new seals all around.

The last thing is something which seems really odd - the exposure counter dial appears to be on backwards (see the picture below)! It is clocked 180 degrees from what the manual shows and what I see in pictures online. So unless this is just some rare version of the camera I don't know about, I might think it is the result of a poor servicing attempt. I have not run any film through the camera yet to know if it affects proper film advance or frame counting or anything along those lines.

Finally I agree with you desertscape, I should try to return it. Unfortunately given the statements in the auction about "no returns" and "all sales are final", I don't think he will go for it. But the camera is hardly "fully functional" as stated.

Jeff

Doesn't look like a professional reassembly job does it?
If the seller did not disclose this fault and the others you have noticed, you do have reasonable grounds to return the camera and seek a refund, irrespective of no returns or refunds. The camera was faulty when you received it!

Prism seals requiring replacement are a ghastly, sticky, gooey and tedious job. It can be done of course, but it needs a lot of time, patience and good old finger rubbing. It's even more of a pain to replace the seals in the channels.

I use a common alkaline 6V battery in my 67; silver oxide batteries of this type are less common here in Australia than seeing Noah in his Ark...

[Sasha Krasnov]

A related question is how the shutter holding solenoid gets "dirty" in the first place! The mechanism is very, very well sealed. A common belief is that the mechanism just gets tired, succumbing to that whether it is open or closed (open, operating, closed at rest). The thing is damned if it does and damned if it doesn't!

I think the dirt resulting from gear friction (for years) near the magnet sticks to it tightly when a camera is not in use for a certain period of time.