Minox 35 GT-E aperture blades not moving?

<p>Hello,<br /> So I just bought an almost mint condition Minox 35 GT-E in original case and cardbox. Even the original batteries seem to work correctly. Everything seems to work and is intact.<br /> Except when I tried f2.8 and f16 and don't see the blades open and closing :(. This should be the case, right? <br />When I take off the back and make a test shoot I see the shutter is working. With 2.8 the shutter is quicker and with f16 the shutter takes longer, but the blades seem to stay the same.<br /> Any advice? Can I fix this by opening the lens? If so how?<br /> Happpy shooting and a great weekend!<br /> regards,</p>

<p>You cannot take the lens apart, and you don't need to<br>

There is no separate shutter, the aperture doubles up as shutter in GTE.</p>

<p>Put a film thru, process it , if the images are ok, nothing to worry about</p>

<p>Hi !<br>

I have a Minox35 EL since 1979 (their first model bought with discount when they changed for the GL), and it never failed me. When they stopped this line of products I decided : why not buy their last model (the GT-S ; new but with discount too)?<br>

I had a lot of problems with it :<br>

First, the same one as Barry ; the diaph would not move. My experience : you cannot use the camera as it is, because moving the diaph ring you will adjust the cell to the selected opening, but if the diaph remains open you will grossly overexpose. So to solve this problem I had to open the lens, it is possible, but very perilous. Inside, the diaph blades are opened by a cam but closed by a little spring. When the spring is not tensed enough, the diaph remains open.<br>

Then, I had another problem with the shutter : sometimes it did not close, so, I had to open the inside too.<br>

At the end, it worked OK, but I noticed that the film advance was very irregular (and I could do nothing about this). The frames were not overlapping, but quite ; not a real issue with negs but not very cool for slides.<br>

So I put it on a shelf and took my faithful EL back to use :-)<br>

My opinion (based on my sample of two) is that their first models were built on a higher standard than the later.<br>

Paul</p>