ralf_j.

A Zenith Sharpshooter with Holga 400 Film

Hello Everyone and Happy New Year. Most of us are familiar with the issues with the battery chamber for this particular unit, Canon AL-1. In my experience, these have been ruined 100% of the time and no longer work according to the original design. I came across a solution from a reddit post and I thought I would share/pass it along. It works like a charm, whether the auto winder is mounted or not. The fix is about the cost of one of Amazon Basics photo frame about 6.99 USD. I purchased the frame and removed the screw and one of the photo backing retaining clips. On the camera body, remove the corner screw that is on the outer border of the battery chamber, and replace this along with the clip from the photo frame. The screw is pressure/self drilling so it fits perfectly provided the plastic is not coming apart. If plastic is a problem, a dab of plastic putty can take care of that, but I personally did not have that issue. Once the batteries are inserted, flip the retaining clip on top, and voila, everything stays in place. Regards, Ralf

Came across this Konica Auto S3 that looks eerily similar to Minolta hi-matic Auto sII. Cleaned contacts but i could get no life out of the meter which is necessary for this camera. Moved in deeper and removed screws holding battery socket and found the culprit, a thoroughly corroded and severed negative wire. Had to remove the old solder bead as it was thoroughly corroded, cleaned contact with sand paper and soldered the connection. I hate soldering and i burned my finger with the iron in the process, but the meter and aperture control came back to life. Had to wind tension on frame counter as well and lock the screws for the hot shoe. Too much trouble for this camera, i hope it’s worth it

A Zenit ET with a takumar. Lens needed cleaning, but camera is surprisingly in good condition and a reasonably bright viewfinder for a commie SLR.

A fleamarket find this weekend, a Bilora Bella complete with matching flashgun. Shutter not working due to a rotary pivot inside held by a c-clip gummed up. A little electronic contact cleaner took care of that. 1/50 still hic-cupping but won’t use that i guess. Lens hazed out due to ancient mineral grease inside. I removed front cell, to clean, and only after removal did i realize that resetting focus would be a b…h. Should have marked infinity after set screw ring removal. The film plane for this camera is curved so i had to approximate using a slightly curved magic scotch tape, ugh . Should be fine now and it is loaded with rerapan 400.

Do not think so, made for one another, must be rarer than hen’s teeth as they say, I did a search online and only 2.8 version shows up

This

Thank you gents. Curtains are a bit sluggish . Will revert back in a week or so.

This TLR came to my door step a couple of weeks ago. It has a focal plane shutter and an interesting appearance. It is of good quality and well made, still going after almost 90 years, a testament of German quality engineering. it needs some further cla and will take it out at some point. Here are a couple of photos of it.

Well just done, as good as it is going to get :), front group completely cemented in a plastic holder. Cleaned exposed surfaces best i could. This has got to be the cheapest lens Canon made during this time. Had to apply nail polish on screws to make sure they stay in place. Should be a decent shooter and my T90s seem to like it.

Looks like Gordon was right, a lightly cemented beauty ring easily pried after some heat

Thanks Gordon, blades are actuating fine so do not intend to mess with them. I will try my heat gun to see if I can dislodge the beauty ring

No need Chuck, plenty in the States :)

John - had similar thoughts and many thanks for pointing that out. This ring is indeed plastic, seems canon started cutting corners with this model, while preserving quality of optics. When I removed rear mounting ring and plate, I was surprised to see that the entire rear group was held in place under pressure with a rubberized plastic sleeve, instead of the threaded retaining rings.

Chuck - you are absolutely right on that as image impact would be minimal if any in 35mm photography, it’s more of a thought of leaving it like that that bothers me :)