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Kafamda Elmavar
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 17, 2004 - 09:13 am: | 
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I picked up an MG on Ebay and have been variously thrilled and disgusted with it. Here's the story.
Upon receipt, I put in fresh batteries and noted that the meter was working. I cranked the film winder, and found that I couldn't cock the shutter. I would wind the film lever, and it would wind and wind and wind freely without setting the shutter. I would press the shutter button and it would go all the way down, but the shutter would not fire. I tried the self-timer, and it gizzed for a while and then stopped gizzing without firing the shutter.
I started tapping my finger on the shutter button vigorously (like you would on the return-key of a computer keyboard), and after a few minutes this seemed to loosen something up because the shutter started working on every other crank of the film winder. Eventually, I got it to the point where it would set the shutter on every crank--i.e. it worked normally.
Yesterday, however, I was shooting a 36-exposure roll when at about frame 28 I detected some slippage in the winder (i.e. I cranked and it seemed to go a little too far). I shot the next frame and tried to crank, but it stopped about halfway through the rotation and will not move farther. I tried the tapping trick again, but to no avail.
In desperation, I tried operating the timer, which had not worked before. This time it did work. The shutter opened and closed. But the mirror is now stuck in the up position, and the aperture is engaged (i.e. if I put a lens on, the iris is stopped down to the aperture setting rather than fully open). The film winder is still stuck in the halfway position, and now the shutter button is firmly up and won't depress at all.
Note that all of the problems that I've discussed above remained (and remain) unchanged regardless of whether I am in Auto, 100X, or Bulb mode.
I'd be grateful for any possible diagnoses and fixes. Thanks! |
David Nebenzahl
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 17, 2004 - 10:38 am: |
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How about the obvious one: send it back to the seller and ask for a refund? |
Kafamda Elmavar
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 17, 2004 - 11:11 am: |
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Doh! It was an as-is. But good try. |
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