| Author |
Message |
    
David
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, June 20, 2004 - 05:46 pm: | 
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Boy I thought I'd found a bargain with this Vivitar DL50 camera but after I got it home and examined it more closely I found it was missing the plate that presses the film from the back. Are these normally set a fixed distance from the rear of the camera and would it be possible to fabricate a replacement? I thought about using some craft store foam glued to the camera back. |
charlie
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, June 20, 2004 - 07:36 pm: |
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The pressure plate has to be very smooth to allow the film to slide across it when winding to avoid scratching the film.Maybe a smoooth piece of plastic between the foam and the film would work. |
Jim Brokaw
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, June 20, 2004 - 11:02 pm: |
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The film pressure plate is usually spring-loaded, and needs to fit 'right'. Usually there are two parallel rails along the top and bottom of the film chamber opening. The two flats closest to the film opening are slightly lower than the flats further away, and the film runs in a channel made by the pressure plate bearing on the two higher farther rails. So you need to make sure that the plate you put in is the correct width to fit to the appropriate rails, and also it needs to be fairly rigid. I suppose a thin piece of rigid sheet metal (shim stock from the local hardware store) cut to the right size would work, backed with foam for springyness. The best thing would be if you can find a 'parts body' and swap in the pressure plate, or even the whole back. I don't have much luck lately with 'parts body' buys, the last two have turned out to work fine with new batterys installed... but I guess I can live with that! |
rick oleson
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 21, 2004 - 06:10 am: |
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I would recommend against plastic for the pressure plate, as it will build static electricity as the film slides across it. A brass or aluminum plate would be best, polished to a mirror finish and very smooth and rounded at the edges so that it won't cause scratches on the film. Don't spring it too stiffly; the plate must stay flat for proper focus. |
David
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, July 31, 2004 - 12:22 pm: |
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Thanks for the advice, this is a cheap camera but unusual in that it has both normal and tele lenses that are interchanged by rotating the lens bezel. I'm curious to see how it performs! |
