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Pat Regnier
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, August 19, 2004 - 09:28 pm: | 
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I have recently acquired a Minox 35 EL. Seller didn't offer many details about condition, but the price was cheap so I took a chance...
I've put in fresh batteries, but neither the light meter nor the battery check seem to be responding.
Since the PX27 mercury battery is unvailable, I'm using 4 stacked 1.5 volt silver oxide cells, wrapped in a sheet of plastic to prevent contact with the metal sides of the battery compartment. I realize this is an imperfect solution if I want accurate light metering, but I figured this would be a quick-and-dirty way to find out if the thing even worked before shelling out for an adapter from Minox. Looks like it doesn't.
Is there anything else I ought to try before I relegate this camera to paperweight duty? Aside from some dust and this battery problem, the camera looks like it is in decent shape.
Thanks,
Pat |
Jackson
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, August 19, 2004 - 11:31 pm: |
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You might try cleaning the contact down in the well with a pencil eraser. Also, I'm sure you tried this, but the meter isn't active until the shutter is fully cocked. |
rick oleson
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, August 20, 2004 - 06:58 am: |
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Does the shutter work? Use of the battery check button in the 35EL quickly disables both the battery check ahd the VF meter display, to the point that in mine I finally got sick of re-re-re-repairing it and removed the battery check button from the camera. I have sketches for this job after having repeated it several times; email me for a copy if you want one.....
A stack of silver cells works just fine, once you've covered the metal sides of the battery box with paper or plastic. I just cut a sheet of paper to form a tube and slipped it into the camera. Zinc/air cells worked okay too.... though one cell always seems to poop out before the others....
 = |
Pat Regnier
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, August 20, 2004 - 08:26 am: |
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Jackson--
Thanks for the tip. Tried it, but it didn't work. good idea, though.
Rick--
how would I find out if the shuuter worked? I've seen online that the shutter on old Minox Els can be flaky; I've gotten the idea that the shuuter is electronically fired, and so wouldn't work if the batteries aren't getting juice to the electronics. Is there some other way to test the shutter?
Or do you think maybe the shutter itself is the problem? Maybe the meter and battery check don't respond if the shutter is broken? (Seems weird if that's true, but this is 30-year engineering we're talking about, after all.) |
Jackson
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, August 20, 2004 - 11:24 am: |
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Pat, I recently purchased a Minox GL and installed a pair of CR1/3N 3V batteries. This provides essentially the same voltage and current capability as the four 1.5V cells you used. I installed a length of 3/8" black heatshrink tubing as an insulator in the camera. It's a snug fit into the battery compartment and provides a permanent solution to electrically insulate the sides of the batteries. Anyway, the battery check and metering work fine at 6V, so the problem you are seeing is not due to the use of replacement batteries.
Rick is right about the need to check the shutter. It's possible the only problem in your camera is the meter itself. Open the back of the camera, aim it at mid-level lighted area, and press the release. You should be able to see the shutter open.
My Minox, unfortunately, does have a shutter problem. The shutter underexposes most shots and doesn't open at all when the indicated speed approaches 1/500. In fact, checking again this morning, the problem appears to be getting worse. Now the shutter won't open even when the meter reading is between 1/125 and 1/250. I'm hoping the seller will take it back, but he's been strangely quiet following the sale. |
Pat Regnier
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, August 20, 2004 - 12:54 pm: |
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The shutter isn't working either. (Sorry, I should have pointed that out in my first post.) So I guess the question is, given that the light meter isn't working either, should I assume the problem is that the electronics aren't getting any power from the battery for some reason, or would a broken shutter explain everything? |
Jackson
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, August 20, 2004 - 01:30 pm: |
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After looking at mine again, I discovered that the two-step advance procedure causes the metering to become live after the first step. That doesn't cock the shutter. So, I would say there must be a reset switch in the advance mechanism that must be latched, as well as getting power from the batteries and having good electronics. Given that firing the shutter (following the second step of advance) turns everything off, I would guess it's also possible for a bad shutter to prevent the reset switch from latching.
There's a lot of guesswork in all this, though. I'm sure someone who has opened one up could provide a more definitive answer. |
Peter Stind Rosendahl
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, August 21, 2004 - 07:41 am: |
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Give me a couple of days, and I might be able to help! My Minox 35GT has exactly the same symptomes as your's Pat, and as I just got a Minox GT-E in for repair two days ago with a non-working aperture, so I will start working on them later today. I will come back here with my findings and I make photos as I go along.
A question - do you like your Minox-cameras? I personally prefer both the Rollei 35 and the Olympus XA-series and I think that of these three cameras the Minox has the lowest construction quality. |
Jackson
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, August 21, 2004 - 04:49 pm: |
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I could use help with this also. Photos of the disassembly process would be VERY helpful. Are those screws in the front of the camera at the top? I'm hoping this is a simple case of dried lubricant in the shutter.
As far as construction quality, the GT does seem more cheaply made than the XA at first glance. However, that may only be due to its lower weight and 100% plastic exterior. Those things may in fact be advantageous in a camera designed for ultra-portable, bang around use.
Good luck with the repair, don't forget that we're waiting to hear more! |
Sergio Sousa
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, November 22, 2005 - 09:19 am: |
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Greetings!
I have bought a Minox 35 GL from ebay, and it is a bit faulty... Since I saw similar posts on this Minox Forum and some with some similar problems i decided to post it here, I hope I dont make too much trouble or take too much of your time
My Minox has 2 different problems:
1st: Shutter doesnt seem to open at high speeds... Until around 200 it shoots well, after that the small levers that command the shutter work, but it doesnt seem to open (I see no light throught the lens). At lower speeds it works alright..
- I opened the camera, and it is quite clean for a used camera, i shoot the camera around 400 times tonight to see if it was a problem of sticking shutter, but it didnt change much...
2nd problem: Meter needle doesnt work if i dont put the "2x" compensation button on.. Without that button on i dont get light reading neither do i get a battery test. If i put it on, the battery test works alright, and the meter too (with the compensation ofc).
Now to trick all of this: If I shoot the camera with 2x off, i get the shutter to work until around 250 speed. If I have 2X on, I dont get shutter to work higher than 125 or maybe less... Doesnt sound logic, does it?
I have opened the camera, so I am not very afraid of trying things, but was just wondering if you got to any real conclusions on yours, and if you can help me repairing my lovely 35GL ...
Thank you very very much, and sorry for disturbing...
Greetings from Portugal,
Sergio |
Jim Miller
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, March 05, 2006 - 02:25 pm: |
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I have a beautiful Minox 35 el camera still in the box with instruction manual. Looks like it has never been used. Strap included. Always wanted to know more about it but you know everything has to go sometime. |
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