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Mike Kovacs
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Wednesday, March 29, 2006 - 05:47 am: |
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I have a Fujica V2 here that I repaired the shutter and viewfinder on for somebody. However, the aperture stays wide open no matter what the setting. There was some info in the archives on how to free the aperture. Lighter fluid flush isn't doing it. Question is, does this camera require a battery for the aperture to stop down in manual mode? I'd rather trouble shoot a circuit than rip the entire camera apart to get at the aperture mechanism. I suspect this because there doesn't seem to be a mechanical linkage to the aperture selector. |
WernerJB
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Wednesday, March 29, 2006 - 11:17 am: |
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No battery is necessary in manual mode. Did you check the aperture function before your repair, was it ok then? Try this link: http://kans1948.zero-yen.com/html/p93.html I bet the spring (yellow arrow) has come off. This forum's archives may be useful here. |
Mike Kovacs
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Wednesday, March 29, 2006 - 05:55 pm: |
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The spring is on there |
WernerJB
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Thursday, March 30, 2006 - 07:12 am: |
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So your suspicion is right as far as manual mode is concerned, in auto mode the needle-trap meter (which is deep inside the camera) "dictates" a linkage system to form a certain aperture. That is why I suspected the spring. If you look at the lens from the film chamber while you push the release knob you can see the aperture blades open and close in auto mode with the shutter cocked. In manual mode and without being influenced by the shutter you should see the aperture open and close when you operate the aperture ring. If nothing happens here you can (and probably will because I do noit see any other chance) easily take off the whole lens barrel for inspecting the aperture mechanism. This quotation from another thread my be useful: "The V2 is one of the few classic RF cameras on which the lens barrel (which contains the lens, the shutter, the self-timer, the flash socket) can be separated from the body without even stripping down the leatherette by merely removing the central screw (the one with the two notches) around the lens barrel's basic outward thread (it also holds the rear lens group in its inner thread): there are no wires, no contacts and the like, all the mechanical transmissions slip or fit in the corresponding holes in a central brass take-up ring on the camera body (this ring also contains the helicoil and is part of what is usually called the front plate)." |
Mike Kovacs
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Thursday, March 30, 2006 - 11:03 am: |
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OK thanks - the stuff I found in the archives was talking about desoldering wires, peeling leatherette, taking great care with the aperture readout in the viewdfinder, even having to custom make a special tool. So really, just the spanner nut at the rear? |
WernerJB
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Thursday, March 30, 2006 - 01:04 pm: |
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There is not much in the archives about the V2, and most of what you can find, including the above quote and what you said you were reading was most probably posted there by me. The point is, meanwhile I own several of those cameras, all DOA and all of them in perfect state now. Not so long ago I thought the V2 or its Citizen shutter were complicated, and maybe they are. On the other hand, although I am not a technician I have been able to repair (in the literal sense of the word) several specimen by now. That teaches me everybody can do it. The different postings there are clearly mirror the development of my tinkering experience and what I successively found out about my V2s. I usually want to find out about what causes a problem, I am not interested in a quick fix, because that it is not enough. It goes without saying that easy tasks are boring. I inform others to the best of my knowledge, but, of course, when somebody is tinkering at home they are on their own. Rely on your intuition, cunning, experience and common sense. And just because I fxcked up the meter indicator, and just because it was a real pain to find the right material and then properly replace it, I thought it was a fair deal to tell others about it before they screw anything up. Without a suitable tool, how are you going to unscrew that retainer nut ? From saying you had fixed the shutter on that camera I took it for granted you are not a newbie. Please keep in mind that every individual camera can have its pitfalls and removal of the lens barrel is just a first step towards a repair. |
Mike Kovacs
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Friday, March 31, 2006 - 08:41 am: |
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Why the bad attitude? (am I reading into this the wrong way?) I have a spanner I can use to get the retainer nut off. I've gotten to the point where I have so many cameras to fix, it starts to boil down to which I should spend my valuable time on. This is simply a favour for a friend - fixed the frame finder which had decemented (what he asked) but found many more problems when I looked more closely. If I just need to pop the rear retainer to fix it, great, but what I read in the archives seemed a lot more trouble than its worth IMO. I'm sorry to have wasted your time. |
WernerJB
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Friday, March 31, 2006 - 09:46 am: |
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Mike, you are reading sth into the matter that isn't there. I am sorry for any misunderstandings, but I couldn't imagine somebody would repair a rather unusual Fujica's RF first and then discover the camera needs more attention. When I got my first V2 I did not know how to start; on going in from the wrong end (through the front) I found that one cannot reach to the aperture. Then I discovered the lens barrel as a whole (incl. shutter, aperture mechs) can be isolated from the body because there are no wires in the way, not even one for the hot shoe because the camera doesn't have one. The aperture and shutter can easily be worked on, you can even cock the shutter and try it out. Also the aperture function can be tested. But from what you say about the malfunction I do not know what is wrong inside your friend's camera. I would still suspect the blades to be gummed up or a spring to be unhooked or broken. This is where you have to decide about your next step, that's all. |
Mike Kovacs
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Friday, March 31, 2006 - 09:57 am: |
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OK - thanks, I have work to do. The aperture was stiff and with a few tiny drops of lighter fluid to try and free it up, it moved a bit and it became apparent there is a loose blade. In the couse of this, the spring you mentioned has come unhooked. I'll give it a try if its that simple to get off. I have not had much success with auto apertures of this vintage, so I hesitate to completely ruin a camera that is not mine. |
Roy Randall
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Tuesday, April 11, 2006 - 12:16 pm: |
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Hi Werner, So you think someone wouldn't repair a rather unusual etc.? Wanna bet? Mine was supposed to be in working order. Well it probably had been, once! Being new to the game ignorance is bliss, like you I started at the wrong end, the front. The previous owner must have been a pro wrestler 'cos at some time in the camera's history something had jammed, and the moron had used brute force instead of brains and had managed to rotate just about every control passed its stops. There were 3 bent and broken levers, the iris leaves were all over the place, the meter resistor brush was broken, the film advance wouldn't and the focus was jammed. Did I get it working? You kidding? Actually I got everything working bar the meter and I'm currently looking for the brush mechanism. Did it teach me anything? No! Now how the hell do I get this Kowa back together? |
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