dead Dynax 7

[backroad wanderer]

Darndest thing...I had just reset my tripod for an overhead shot of some

parasol mushrooms, after successfully completing some ground-level shots, when

my 3-year old Dynax 7 just died. No sound, no indication of anything about to

go wrong, fresh batteries (replacing them has not fixed the problem), just

quit. I can get it to display the "open the film door" message by following

the manual's directions, and when the shutter is depressed there is a faint but

unreadable display in the viewfinder. I've tried everything in the manual and a

few things from online postings, but with no success. I'm about to leave for a

trip to Mississippi for some relief work and had hoped to bring it with me.

Anyone have a solution? Thanks in advance.

 

Jeff

[bill_thorlin]

Ouch ! Have had 2 duff ones lately but they did at least show something.

 

A few thoughts :- have you cleaned all the terminals in the battery chamber ( both ends ) with say the rubber on the end of a pencil and made sure all debris is removed ? Have you checked and cleaned the flash shoe just in case it has something on it ? Have you tried it with another lens on ? Have you cleaned the 8 connectors in the lens mount and on the lens ( very, very carefully ) ? Have you got one of the controls stuck halfway between settings ? Have you actually double checked that the batteries are in fact working ( it is not impossible to get a set of duff batteries ) ? Have you given the on/off switch a number of hardish operations ?

 

If all else fails have you tried offering up a prayer ?

 

Ultimately you may have to test out how good the customer support from Sony is !

 

Good luck.

[weatherman]

Any motor noise? Like a short scream? Mine was damaged because I've mounted my lens without care in a loud concert and screwed the lever that lifts aperture. And it fails to do a lens check and i see a faint display(with motor scream) and it dies. This happens only with fast primes. So I think when the camera does a self check and if it does not succeed, you see that "faint but unreadable display in the viewfinder". I hope yours is not damaged somehow. Eventually I had decided to buy a brand new Dynax 7 which was cheaper than getting it fixed!!!

[backroad wanderer]

Thanks for your responses. Tried all of your suggestions, Bill & it's still not responding. I did get the roll of film out, so the doorlock failsafe worked. Cleaned everything, confirmed good batteries with another camera, even worked the on/off switch roughly a few times. Tried it with the flash on & flash off and a lot of button combinations while working the switch. And all controls are solidly on their marks. No noise at all was evident, Ersagun. Took one picture, reset tripod, focused manually and pressed the DOF preview to check focus. When I pressed the shutter to make the exposure...nothing. No noise, no display, just as if the power supply had been disconnected. I guess it's up to Sony or the local camera store to try to help, unless anyone else has another way out. I'm really fighting the temptation to take it apart and see if something is disconnected, but I suspect it's in a control board somewhere. Worse comes to worst, I've been wanting to go digital for some time. Just not too sure about Minolta now that they're basically defunct. I really don't care for other brand models. After you've had the best...for the money, that is. Where did you get your replacement? Thanks again.

[bill_thorlin]

Jeff - sorry it did not help but always worth a try. Some points about the future :-

 

Minolta may be defunct per se but it all lives on through Sony now.

 

I am in UK so any sources I give would not help you. It is all second hand now - B&H and a few others may have some in stock and there is always fleabay with some listed most days at reasonable prices.

 

You need to check out the cost of repairs before you make any decision as they may well exceed the cost of buying second hand.

 

Good luck.

[weatherman]

It looks like my problem a bit. My aperture motor gear doesn't engage with the lever and lift it if up and only if the aperture lever is a heavy one (like a fast prime). I know what is wrong with it. It realises that aperture didn't move(after a grinding noise) and shuts down. Yours might be a stupidly simple electronic problem as you can start the camera at least(passes the lens check right?). So I have no idea but opening it is scary(yes I did it). Lucky have put it back in and it still works albeit only with the max aperture.

In Britain if you are lucky you can still find it brand new. I bought from a local Dixons shop for a stupidly low price(with 24-105 lens)

Yes I loved this camera so much and it still has guarantee if something happens to mine. My failure was my fault not Minota's. I have 5D(fantastic and cheap) but still use Dynax 7 for my landscapes on slides.

Good luck

[backroad wanderer]

After re-reading your posts, I took the lens off, moved the aperture control lever halfway and turned the camera on. Worked great. Seems that either the aperture lever isn't engaging or a sensor in the lens lock isn't working correctly. I must occasionally release the lens lock, twist the lens partway off and snap it back to engage all functions. With my 70-300 macro it resets after every shot. Haven't tried it in continuous AF and advance modes to see if it interrupts the process. It's funky, but functional. I suspect that I'll have to send it in for diagnostics & repair, but now it can wait until winter. Thanks for all your concern and help.

 

Jeff