In a jam with a Pentax SV.

I'd actually forgotten I owned this black finish SV, and must at one time have done some cosmetic restoration work on it.

 

I recently dug it out of storage and put the shutter through its paces - on an optical timer. There was no variation of speed between the 1/30th, X and 1/60th settings. With all the higher speeds being slow but in the correct proportion. I was about to earmark it as a project for later(!) when the thing jammed up on me altogether.

 

Symptoms are: The shutter is cocked, but the release button is jammed solid. Everything looks normal in the mirror box, and the self-timer won't release the shutter either.

 

So before I go wading in with no repair manual; where to start? Top plate? Bottom plate? Anyone had a similar issue?

I know these old SVs are temperamental and very long in the tooth now, but if it's a reasonably straightforward fix I'll get it back on its feet again. Otherwise.....

I've no specific knowledge of these, except I know that on similar era Pentaxes if you remove the four screws at the front, the whole lens mount on its metal plate can be lifted off to reveal at least some of the workings. Watch out for loose shims if you do this. Otherwise I would take off the base plate as a first attempt to see if I could free it up..

See if this article helps. It's about the Spotmatic, but should apply to the earlier models as well.

 

Jammed Spotmatic?

I thought I'd found the solution with this Youtube video. Unfortunately, a simple removal of the baseplate revealed that the latch for the mirror return (which is what's shown in the video) was in place and working properly.

 

Camera with baseplate removed:

The shutter release remained firmly jammed in place. So the top plate had to come off - darn it!

 

This entails removal of the rewind and self-timer knob (simple), removal of the shutter speed knob (simple) and removal of the lever-wind after dismantling the frame counter (a right pain). The two-part (why?) Shutter release fell out, and still nothing would move..... until I poked about with the mirror lift mechanism. A lever moved, the self-timer buzzed and the shutter tripped. Complete mystery what had caused the jam though.

 

Anyhow, I thought it was sorted and began re-assembly, only to find that now the lever-wind jammed about halfway into its advance. And I was back to square one, with a jammed SV. Bah!

 

I've had enough for one day, so that one's back on the 'pending' pile, and I'm still hoping someone might suggest where to look. - Don't say on Ebay for a replacement!

The Learn Camera Repair site also has a free PDF service manual for the SV.

 

Pentax | Service Manuals | Learn Camera Repair

The Learn Camera Repair site also has a free PDF service manual for the SV.

 

Pentax | Service Manuals | Learn Camera Repair

Eugene pate over at learn camera repair on fb is a host of info.