Any good reason for Yashica 124 focus knob to not move lens standard?

Greetings all. I've just bought a Yashica 124 (not G) off eBay. Most things work

well, except the focusing knob. When turned, the knob moves between 3.3 ft and

infinity and stops at those extremes (i.e., does not spin round and round

freely) but while I turn it, I feel no friction at all and the standard does not

move at all. The standard is sitting all the way in, infinity-like. Is there any

conceivable good reason for this -- any interlock, switch, or similar that I've

missed, or the fact that I haven't got film in it at the moment? Or -- as I

suspect -- is it just broken? (And if so, any suggestions of in what way?)

 

Thanks to all in this forum by the way; I bought the Yashica based mostly on

years worth of recommendations that I've trawled through herein.

 

Thanks/Dave

I don't recall how it's done in the Yashica: in some cameras there is a nut on a threaded shaft inside the focus knob. If this gets loose, the knob will just freewheel and not move the focus panel. The infinity stops are on the knob itself, so it will still stop at those limits even though the focus function is not working. If you can remove the end cap off of your focus knob, I'm guessing you'll find the answer inside.

This is a common problem with the Walzflex (also'50s Japanese) TLR's as the lubricants used in the focusing system congealed and froze the parts together. Also, they used a brass shaft in an aluminum housing, not a good thing to do.

Search for "Walzflex" on this forum and you will find considerable discussion on how to solve this problem.

Hopefully, you will be lucky and only need to tighten the coupling between the knob and shaft.

That's kind of what I thought. However, I have <strong>no</strong> expertise in disassembly and repair, and no such Microtools spanner as would be needed to get the knob cover off, so I'll not go there. I'm going to bundle this off back to the seller and try to get another example from elsewhere. If anyone knows of a trustworthy 124 on offer anywhere, let me know! (I'm avoiding the 124G per past discussion here about its dodgy winding gears.) Thanks/Dave

The Mat 124-G is not too bad but the winding gear is indeed the weakest point but easily for a check. But a lot of those cameras are hardly used in the past. Better is a Rollei (especially the mechanics) but much more expensive.

For all those cameras with mercury battery cells here is the best solution:

http://www.buhla.de/Foto/batt-adapt-US.pdf