[Pentaxlvr]

Today while at an air show my Pentax Super Program's rewind mechanism failed unexpectedly. It is just loosely hanging and swinging around with little resistance and no connection. The shutter will no longer fire. I never forced anything. Any thoughts anyone? Should I junk it or send it to get fixed? Perhaps I should give it to someone who will use it for parts. Strange, the body of the camera is immaculate, almost new.

-Pentaxlvr

[BROO]

Why not get it fixed. I love my super program. Maybe have a service on it and have the light seals replaced too?

[c.perkins]

If you remove the rewind unit from the camera body does the camera body function as designed ?
It is just a thumb wheel to install and remove the rewind unit from the body.
What model rewind unit do you have ?

I have to ask...
Did the rewind unit just come loose and all you need is to realign it to the camera body and re tighten ?

Clarence

[Pentaxlvr]

I have never taken apart a film single lens reflex before. Too complicated, I risk not knowing how to put back together and losing parts in the process of attempted repair. I would rather give it to someone else, unless the solution is relatively easy, than do it myself for the novice I am. I am very concerned about cost. Putting more than $200.00 in this thing would be financially crippling.

Regards: Pentaxlvr

[leekil]

You can buy another one for much less than $200.

I think this is a common failure case; I have had two fail that way.

[c.perkins]

Could someone explain/describe in detail what this common failure is ?
A photo would be nice
I cannot grasp what you are describing since these are two separate components that you can put together and separate at will all day long.

Thanks;
Clarence

[TwoUptons]

Today while at an air show my Pentax Super Program's rewind mechanism failed unexpectedly. It is just loosely hanging and swinging around with little resistance and no connection. The shutter will no longer fire. I never forced anything. Any thoughts anyone? Should I junk it or send it to get fixed? Perhaps I should give it to someone who will use it for parts. Strange, the body of the camera is immaculate, almost new.

-Pentaxlvr

I thought when I saw your post initially that the problem was that the rewind knob had failed somehow.
I did that to mine (bent shaft, still don't know how), but the camera still fired - I just couldn't open the back, IIRC.
With that, I was completely confused why the shutter would have failed (unless you got to the end of the roll and hadn't pushed the button on the bottom to start rewinding.

But now I'm a bit confused. Did you have a failure of the rewind knob and associated hardware or of a motor drive?

-Eric

[Pentaxlvr]

I am sorry it is the film advance lever that has failed. It was working perfectly when I attempted to advanced the lever after a shot. It just hangs loose and I cannot trip the shutter release.

-Pentaxlvr

[c.perkins]

Thank you for the response.
I thought I was losing my marbles cause I thought you were talking about a motor drive.

I know there is a retaining cap that holds the advance lever on.
Is it still there ?

Clarence

[leekil]

The problem seems to be, at least what I recall, is that something in the film advance mechanism jams in the middle of advancing the film. This happens in a way that the film is partially through the advance, but not completely, and it is totally frozen and won't advance any more. In this scenario, the film advance lever has no resistance in the backwards direction; that is, the lever will freely move from the at rest position against the body, up to the position at which it stopped advancing the film.

[blackest]

Have you tried tripping the shutter by the timer ?

[Pentaxlvr]

No, it does not do a thing to use the self timer. It just remains the same. I am considering whether to send it to Eric for repair. It is just to good a shape to chuck away.

-Pentaxlvr

[TwoUptons]

You’ll pay more sending it to Eric than you will buying another one, but then you’ll have a known good one instead of a mystery camera.

-Eric, but not that one 🙂