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Bruce Robbins
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, September 02, 2005 - 05:42 am: | 
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I'm trying to breathe new life into this camera. The aperture seems to be stopping down erratically. There's no battery (which might be the problem) but, under the same lighting conditions, the aperature stops down further sometimes than at others. The shutter release also has a gritty feel to it. Although sometimes it will operate smoothly, quite often it feels rough and scratchy, as if there's something impeding its progress. Also, although the self-timer works, the lever refuses to "catch" when wound all the way down: the moment I let it go, it just starts whirring away. Any ideas anyone?
Thanks,
Bruce |
Winfried
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, September 02, 2005 - 06:35 am: |
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First, I think the 35ES has manual aperture setting, too. In manual mode, however, also some kind of stop-down mechanism is used.
I have heard of several owners of the (identical) Revue400SE with sticky aperture blades. These can be cleaned the same way as shutter blades. I once repaired a 400SE for a friend where the aperture hair spring was severely misbent (I don't know how this happened).
Concerning the shutter release problem, there are lots of components linked to the shutter release - the entire auto-aperture mechanism is driven by pressing this button only. There are many opportunities to catch dirt.
Fortunately the self timer on these cameras is a separate sub-assembly outside the lens barrel. It can be removed (do not loosen the wrong screws, otherwise it will fall apart completely). Sometimes just a hairspring of a catch lever is misbent or out of place.
The Revue400SE (and the Vivitar35ES) are fairly simple cameras to disassemble, much easier than the over-engineered Canonet QL17. To remove the front assembly (it comes off together with the auto-aperture mechanism, there are just some wires to the main body) remove the top and bottom cover, peel back the leatherette on both sides of the lens barrel, remove four corner screws and lift the assembly. |
Winfried
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, September 03, 2005 - 03:08 am: |
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Ooops... the Vivitar35ES does NOT have manual aperture setting. However, I hope I pointed out some possible reasons for that malfunction.
Without a battery, in the automatic mode, the aperture always should open to f/1.7. i.e. fully open. |
Bruce Robbins
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, September 05, 2005 - 10:13 am: |
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Hi Winfried,
Thanks for the feedback. I was having another look at this problem and it seems that the roughness when operating the shutter release is caused by part of the meter needle being pushed down by a cam. This meter needle is on a pivot with downward pressure by the cam causing the other end of the needle visible in the viewfinder to rise. The cam looks to have a slightly serated edge and the needle seems to scrape down this when the shutter release is pressed. Does this sound right to you or even make any sense?
Bruce |
Winfried
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, September 05, 2005 - 01:38 pm: |
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Well, this is more or less as it is supposed to work. This is the needle trap mechanism as it is found in many cameras of that era.
Anyhow, just before the serrated cam hits the rear end of the needle, it should be caught by another moving cam. This one has a curved edge and presses the needle end against the other edge of the needle slot. This cam should keep the needle from scraping down. Maybe the actuating lever of this cam is misbent. |
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