Faulty Bronica SQ-ai needs help

I bought this 2nd hand SQ-ai with the standard 80mm lens, 120 back

and AE2 prism from a shop yesterday, while testing the camera at the

shop using the double exposure mode with no film inserted, everything

functioned perfectly and I couldn�t find even one single thing that

is not working as it should.

 

After shooting and developed 2 tests rolls. I noticed the following

problems:

 

when the camera is shooting with film loaded, the problem with the

shutter starts, sometimes it fires and sounds like at correct shutter

speed and photo came out OK , sometimes it sounds like it has the

shutter stayed open for longer than it should. for example: few sec

rather than ?sec as indicated by the AE prism (photo came out very

overexposed) or it might be firing much later (i guess) then when the

shutter is released perhaps 5 sec after I depressed the shutter

release, (photo came out very blurry, possible because I didn�t

anticipated it to fire at that moment (few sec after the mirror has

fliped open) and hence moving the camera). The mirror will flip open

immediately like normal whenever the shutter release is depressed.

 

To investigate into the problem further , I tested the camera again

and again and again with no film loaded using the double exposure

mode. No one single time has the shutter fired at incorrect speed as

far as my eyes can tell. from 1/500 to 16 secs at AE mode or a manual

mode , and all sounded perfect to me.

 

Also there are some film spacing problem in the developed rolls, but

nothing major, no overlapping just uneven spacing between frames.

 

Could someone suggest how could I test to see which part of the

camera is in fault?

 

(please note that the camera seems perfect when no film is loaded,

the only way to make it go wrong is when a roll of film is loaded)

kind of driving me crazy !!

At first glance I thought the photos came out ok, but it is just the shutter delay that is worrying you (so I thought the lens shutter is ok, but the back curtain in the body just closes when the trigger is released, creating the sound, as it does with Hasselblad; some years ago I owned a SQ-Ai, but I do not remember exactly) - but reading the second time und understanding your problem, I think you should bring the whole set back to your dealer. In my opinion there is no use in wasting film and time to do a job the dealer is supposed to do. The market is full with used Bronica standard sets after production stop and everyone shifting to digital, so if it really is faulty, just look for another one. If you have to look for another set, shoot a roll of film in the shop and have it developed before buying the set. Do not forget to expose the slot for the dark slide to sunlight for e.g. 30 min with a film in the camera, to check if the sealing is ok. Repair of a sealing isn`t that costly, but you should know before wasting valuable photos.