Help: Retina IIa advance lever never stops?

Retina gurus,

 

I have a nice Kodak Retina IIa (50/2 Xenon lens) which is a fine

shooter. However, when I was going to load it this morning, I

accidentally pushed the film advance lever's release button (aft of

the shutter release) and now the lever advances repeatedly without

stopping! What did I do wrong? Is something jammed?

 

This isn't a fatal problem, but it could make me potentially waste

film if I forget film is advanced and advance it again before taking

each shot. I mean, if I take a shot, advance, put camera away, pick

it up and advance again to take a shot, then I might waste film.

Other functions seem okay, except for frame counter (does not advance-

-I must manually click it once after each shot to keep track of film

use).

 

I don't know if this helps diagnosis any, but the rewind button will

engage sprocket freewheeling for rewind and it does disengage

correctly when you operate the advance lever. So that's not a problem.

 

Any tips/suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

 

--Micah in NC

Take a look at <a href="http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~Srawhiti/">Chris Sherlocks site</a>. He has good illustrations of all aspects of servicing the Retinas. Even with that good resource, however, working on the Retina can be tricky. It does not sound like a disabled double exposure prevention feature is probably very serious, but getting the camera apart and back together in workable condition is something else.<br>    I haven't had the problem you describe with my Retinas, but using Chris's illustrations I was able to replace the counter spring which had a broken tip. In that case I was lucky to have a junker IIa from which I could harvest the part. You can buy replacements from Micro-Tools, but they will set you back $45.<br>    It is kind of rare to find a IIa with a good lens, shutter and focusing. My own inclination with a camera like you describe would be to turn it over to an expert like Chris before you take a third strike.

Mike,

 

I was hoping there was a button sequence I could perform and get it operating correctly...guess not. (That'd be too easy!)

 

I had the camera apart last year when I tried to repair the counter (didn't work). I'll bet my counter spring has a broken tip and I didn't notice it!

 

Thanks,

Micah in NC

I have the same problem with my two Retinettes. I can wind through a whole roll of film without ever tripping the shutter. I'm afraid to dig into it, so I just put up with the odd blank frame. Sorry Micah, but this is just a sympathetic note. I don't know how to fix it.

Dean,

 

That's okay. Thanks for the empathy!

 

I also noticed that the advance lever doesn't ratchet anymore (it won't stop in mid-travel if released before a full stroke) like it used to. That's another clue. Sounds like a faulty return spring or something in the rachet pawl thing. Yeah, that's technical, ain't it?

 

I might get brave and tear into it soon.

 

--Micah in NC