Lawrence Sheperd

Sadly, Chuck, most of mine do too! 😉

Isn’t this Gear & Equipment Discussion/DSLR & Film Cameras/Canon FD Mount? This was a technical question so I thought this was the appropriate forum. My apologies. Larry

Well, after much soul-searching it was time to pull out the hammer. The hellicoids of the Contaflex are partially exposed in the mirror box, so a conservative application of naptha at those points and some vigorous twisting finally freed up the focus ring. The residue collected at the bottom of the mirror box where I could wick it up with ear swabs. After about four applications of solvent the pooling naptha was clear. I then sparingly reapplied some watchmaker’s grease to the hellicoid threads. I’ve been racking the focus in and out for several hours in my warm study and it appears that the grease has not migrated into the shutter or aperture mechanisms. Time will tell… Not the ideal solution but at least I can now focus the camera without worrying about a hernia! Larry

Yes, Gary, my EF (1977) is fairing better than either my F or F2. The silicon blue cells were far ahead of the cDs cells used by Nikon. I can continue to enjoy the T90 in manual mode, at least for now. Regards, Larry

Thanks for the reply, Gary. I live in wesstern North Carolina and we do have a good camera store in Asheville that specializes in film photography. They may have some leads as far as techs in the area that might be familiar with the Tank. I did apply a few drops of contact cleaner to the area around the mount where the pin goes through, but it did not help. I probably should pick up a second body, but it seems the chances of finding one in operable condition is getting less and less likely as time goes on. I’ll probably just revert back to my first model F1 and call it a day. 😎👍🏼

My Contaflex Rapid is working wonderfully with the exception of exceptionally stiff focusing. I imagine the grease used on the hellicoids has hardened. I have not found any instructions for removing the lens/shutter assemblage other than a few links to the now-defunct learncamerarepair.com site. If anyone either knows the proper procedure or has a link to the service manual, I would certainly appreciate it. It seems all the former repair folks have either retired or left this mortal coil. Also, I can live with the stiff focusing if I deem the repair beyond my meager abilities. Thanks in advance. Larry

SN: 420890 Date Code: R732 (1977) Split image/microprism

So, a little bit different take on the EEE problem. And no, I’m not talking about sticky shutters, de-magnetized solenoids, or inoperable shutter mechanisms (although my camera has suffered all of the above at various times.) My problem is that when I mount any of my many FD lens in “A” mode the camera immediately throws EEE. This happens when the EE coupling pin on the lens mount engages with the EE sensor on the camera body flange without even rotating the lens to lock it. In fact, with no lens mounted, I can depress the camera flange sensor with a pointed object and immediately cause the EEE error. The stop-down lever is NOT engaged. My question is are there any remedies for this or even ideas on why this may be happening? All other non-Program modes work fine including manual time value, manual aperture value, and manual stop-down aperture priority metering. I’ve searched this site and the Internet in general, but only found one other person who had the same problem and unfortunately, there were no responses to his query. Hoping the FD mount users here might have an idea. Thanks much! Larry.