[ryan s]

I've unstuck my share of Pentax cameras, but I haven't been able to find a similar situation out there on the interwebs. Poking around with a screwdriver, Bang on Opposite Hand haven't brought it back.

-Winder...uhhh...winds without obstruction or difficult spots
-It cannot be "partially" wound, like normal
-After the winding stroke, the shutter does not release
-Shutter button is not obstructed...it just goes straight through its travel
-Mirror is down, does not move (aperture lever trick doesn't work)
-Shutter release and rewind button function fine, visually verified with the bottom plate removed


If my MX wasn't full of film (for the last year and a half) I'd have something to work from.

Edit...Ok, just before submitting this thread, I pick the damn thing up and it fires. First, only every other wind, now I can't get it to misfire. It was probably scared because I started looking at the mypentax.com teardown guide.

Well, let's pretend it still doesn't work and troubleshoot it anyway

[HaroldB]

Well, mines at Eric's right now so it'll never happen to mine

Had a Nikon FA that would act like that - Dang lil' electronic demons at work

[titrisol]

Bang the bottom of the camera against your palm.
If you hear a mechanical buzz it will be good to work again
exercise it without film a few times and it should be ok.

But you'll have to do this every time the camera has been standing for more than a few days.

[ryan s]

Well, mines at Eric's right now so it'll never happen to mine

Had a Nikon FA that would act like that - Dang lil' electronic demons at work

I bought this one from the original owner who had it CLA'd back in 1992. Letting it sit seems to be doing it more harm than good

Bang the bottom of the camera against your palm.
If you hear a mechanical buzz it will be good to work again
exercise it without film a few times and it should be ok.

But you'll have to do this every time the camera has been standing for more than a few days.

Bang on Hand is always the first step with mechanical cameras Unfortunately, didn't work this time. No noises.

It sat overnight, and would only fire after 2 winds. Let it sit from this morning until now in the evening (both 9 hour intervals) and it needed 2 winds to cock. After the first crank, however, it winds and fires fine

[HaroldB]

Just like our human bodies - Exorcise them or they quit on ya' ~ ; - )

[ryan s]

"Exorcise" is a very clever pun with regard to mechanical cameras

Gave it a wind or two this morning, worked. Gave it a couple winds just now, works. Weird.

[HaroldB]

Well, glad it's now working properly.

Just don't call us if it starts pukin' pea soup ~ ' - P

[Gordon B]

I came across this thread whilst looking for a solution to the same shutter-cock-failure problem I had with my MEF (mechanically the same as the ME-Super). Perhaps others will find my experience useful.

Origin of my problem:
(I include this for completeness, but I don’t think this was the cause of the shutter-cock-failure).
The camera was unused for years and then when I put batteries in and fired off a few frames the mirror locked up. I freed this by gently touching the shutter curtain as suggested on another forum . I had also gone as far as exploring inside the camera by unscrewing the base plate before I found the above solution to the mirror-lockup. After I had released the mirror I found the winding would only cock the shutter every two windings/throws of the lever (as in Ryan S’ case).

Solution to my problem:
I tried attaching my MEII winder to see if driving the mechanism in a different way would help. It made no difference initially: The winder (set on single shot) would wind one frame’s worth of film, depress the trigger without the shutter firing, wind a further frame’s worth of film and then successfully fire the shutter. I then set the winder to continuous and then held the button down for several minutes while the camera clicked away. After a while the rhythm of the winding returned to normal (the shutter firing correctly after every wind).

So in short, I think Harold B has hit on the cause (lack of use) and the answer seems to be to give the camera plenty of exercise, as suggested (keep winding and firing for 100-200 frames). Using the power winder probably just speeded this process up for me.