| Author |
Message |
    
Davidwaugh
Tinkerer
Username: Davidwaugh
Post Number: 1
Registered: 06-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, June 15, 2010 - 10:36 pm: | 
|
My 'new' Aria arrived the other day in ex. condition, except I can't get any shutter speeds faster than about 1/30. Anything slower seems accurate, but anything faster stays around 1/30.
I've had a few replies today from repair centres who are basically advising me 'not to bother'. I would have thought it would potentially be fairly easy... perhaps lube that has hardened over the years?
I'd appreciate any advice on how I might be able to do something myself. Seems a shame to not bother as in every other way it's in nice condition.
Thanks in advance. |
Mareklew
Tinkerer
Username: Mareklew
Post Number: 100
Registered: 03-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, June 16, 2010 - 01:17 am: |
|
How did you measure the speeds?
Are we talking about the Aria SLR?
Marek |
Davidwaugh
Tinkerer
Username: Davidwaugh
Post Number: 2
Registered: 06-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, June 16, 2010 - 02:59 am: |
|
Just by ear... it's exactly the same sound from 1/30 upwards. I also ran a film through and everything was overexposed. I just can't find a repair manual for the Aria but I imagine it wouldn't be too hard to get too the shutter??? Yes it is an SLR btw. |
Monopix
Tinkerer
Username: Monopix
Post Number: 137
Registered: 11-2008
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, June 17, 2010 - 03:38 pm: |
|
Just PMed you about manual but also thought worth mentioning that Kyocera still repair the Aria. I just had my RTSIII fixed by them. Worth considering maybe?
If I can also add an opinion. Although I don't have experience of servicing the Aria, I do of other Contax cameras with similar shutters and it's highly unlikely that lubrication has anything to do with it. It could still be shutter problem though but could also be electronic. |
Mareklew
Tinkerer
Username: Mareklew
Post Number: 104
Registered: 03-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 18, 2010 - 03:08 am: |
|
David: can you measure the shutter speeds exactly? Take a photodiode + phone jack + soundcard approach.
I can be easily explained if shutter speeds are OK either below or above 1/125s (synch speed), as at this point function of shutter changes in some designs. It can also be easily explained if ALL shutter speeds are off.
I don't know Aria specifically, but troubleshooting is similar in all FP shutters.
Marek
PS: check speeds in full manual mode !!! else you have AE quirks in the game... |
Davidwaugh
Tinkerer
Username: Davidwaugh
Post Number: 3
Registered: 06-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 21, 2010 - 06:34 am: |
|
Thanks very much guys (sorry for the delay - been away for a few days). Monopix - very much appreciated the link to the manual. Mareklew - thanks for the insights. I just fired the shutter with the back open tonight and indeed, it looks like the fastest is actually 125th (not 1/30 as I thought). Should have done this from the start. So you are obviously onto something ;-) Any ideas now Mareklew? Thanks very much. |
Monopix
Tinkerer
Username: Monopix
Post Number: 139
Registered: 11-2008
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 21, 2010 - 02:00 pm: |
|
I don't think there's any difference in operation above and below the sync speed with these shutters. The shutter has a natural speed (the speed you'd get with no control) something in excess of it's top speed and all the shutter speeds are controlled by varying the delay between 1st and 2nd curtain release.
I would check the shutter speeds in both manual and AE modes because, if it's a shutter speed dial problem, it would only show up in manual mode. Try pointing the camera at a constant light source which gives you an exposure of about 125th with the lens at minimum (smallest) aperture. Then open the lens up a stop at a time and see if the shutter speeds get accordingly faster. If they do that in AE mode but you can't get above 125th in manual mode, then I would suspect the contacts under the shutter speed dial. If you can't get the faster speeds in AE or manual mode, then it could be the shutter mechanism itself or the camera may have lost it's calibration settings. Section C of the manual tells you how to recalibrate the shutter speeds but it looks like a long process and without a shutter speed tester I would think impossible. |
Mareklew
Tinkerer
Username: Mareklew
Post Number: 108
Registered: 03-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 21, 2010 - 03:30 pm: |
|
Well, the difference is, speeds below sync speed are noticeably different from setting to setting, while faster speeds are all running at constant 1/125s with varying slot width for effective exposure under 1/125s. So for untrained eye this might lead to the impression, that nothing changes.
I'd suggest employing the TV-Screen test method to check if the speeds indeed fail to change.
For some cameras with mechanical, yet electronically controlled shutter, there's a difference between slow and fast shutter speeds: it's the power draw. The release catch is actuated by small solenoid, so is the catch for the second curtain. To make sure the shutter fires, these are powered for a certain minimum period of time. For fast shutter speeds, shorter than the actuation time of first solenoid, there might be not enough power to release second curtain immediately, as BOTH solenoids need to be energized simultaneously.
The sequence might then go:
1) energize first solenoid, release first curtain.
2) energize second solenoid, power collapses, nothing happens.
3) switch first solenoid off (say, after 10ms). Now there's enough power for the second solenoid to trip second curtain.
4) second curtain starts to travel.
In this scenario shutter runs at constant 1/100s due to power starvation of the system.
I have (admittedly) met this condition only once, but it kept me puzzled for quite a while...
Marek |
Davidwaugh
Tinkerer
Username: Davidwaugh
Post Number: 4
Registered: 06-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 21, 2010 - 04:44 pm: |
|
Yeah slow in all modes. I think I am being optimistic trying to sort it out myself ;-) Will try a few more places here in Australia, or last resort will send it OS. Thanks for your help. |
