Olympus XA Service Guide

• Provides step by step direction on how to do repairs and trouble shoot on Olympus XA.
• Wiring diagram is also included.
• 8 pages. Scanned from 1983 SPT Journal & Service guide.
• Digital pdf file download.

   

Hasselblad 120 Film Back Service Note

• 2 Pages.
• Digital pdf file download.
• Step by step direction of disassembly, reassemly, adjustment locations, and adjustment values of Hasselblad 120 film back that was used for Hasselblad 500 and 500 C/M.
• Scanned from 1984 SPT Journal & Service Notes.

Hasselblad 500 C/M Service Guide

• Scanned from 1984 SPT Journal & Service notes.
• Step by step direction on dis-assembly, trouble shooting, and re-assembly of Hasselblad 500 C/M body.
• Digital pdf file download. 7 pages.

CONTAX 137 MD Quartz Service Guide

• Scanned from SPT Journal Service Notes, 1982.
• Provides step by direction of dis-assembly, trouble shooting, re-assembly, and wiring diagram.
• 9 pages.
• Digital pdf file download.

CONTAX Quartz 139 Service Guide

• Scanned from the SPT Journal &  Service Notes. 1982.
• Step by step direction of disassembly, trouble shooting, and reassembly. With wiring diagrams. 7 pages.
• Digital pdf file download.

Canon Canonet QL 17, 19, 25 Instruction manual

• 12 pages color instruction manual on how to use Canon Canonet QL17, 19, and 25 cameras ( full size model and not smaller GIII )

• This is not a copy of the factory instruction manual but manual written by me, sycamera.
• Digital pdf file download.
  

Konica Auto S2 instruction manual.
Updated using new photos.
Pdf file12 pages digital download.

UV Topcor 53mm f2.0 Aperture Leaves Cleaning Instruction Manual

• Digital download of PDF file.
• Written by me, sycamera.

Instruction Manual for GE Exposure Meter Type PR-1

How to use your GE Type PR-1 Exposure Meter Instruction Manual.

• Scanned from the original manual in pdf format.
• Digital download only.

Voigtlander Vito Automatic I

I believe this camera was made in 1964 according to a sticker I found inside the camera.
It is a trap needle type auto exposure camera using a selenium meter. It also has manual shutter selectin and I am not sure yet how it will work as the meter is not working.

This is the very first time I saw this camera and first attempt on this repairs.

The shutter speeds are erratic and meter is not working at all.
The shutter just needed cleaning for the slow speeds.  I have no repair manual for this camera and I have to study how it is made for disassembly. Late on I will try to make a manual on how to repair this camera.

 For the meter, I have to take the finder section apart to get to the galvanometer.

Here the galvanometer is separated from the meter trap mechanism.

I found the problem. The magnet was unglued from the upper plate from old age. The trouble was putting it back because the magnet will stick to the wall :)

After some trials and errors, I put the magnet back in the center and I used the crazy glue :) because  it is instant. 

Here the meter has been return to the finder assembly. I did not have to take out the finder but it is too late now. I put some white paint at the bottom and glue it back.

I still do not know if the meter works or not and crossing my fingers.

Also, film rewind knob was not suppose to disassemble but I did it and put it back :)

Ansco Regent with Compur MXV

I took apart the Compur MXV shutter that is used on Ansco Regent. It had grease all over the shutter.
My repair manual said not to work on the aperture leaves. They were right. It had 11 aperture leaves. They are just too many but not as many as Canon Serenar lens I worked on one time. That one had 13 leaves and took me half a day to put them back. I will never work on the Serenar lens again :) 11 leaves on this Compur shutter was not so bad. The trouble was the grease on the slow speeds and the self timer. I had degreased them many times but failed to clean them. I gave up fixing on this camera.

I know one repair place told me they will remove the aperture leaves on the shutters with too many aperture leaves. I will not tell you which repair shop :) You have to make sure you have to count how many leaves are on your shutter and when it comes back :)

Pentacon 50mm f1.8 Screw Mount Lens

Pentacon 50mm f1.8 was used on Praktica MTL series of SLR cameras. I used to repair these cameras for a repair shop long time ago.
MTL's weak spot was the shutter wind ribbon and the plastic meter gears used for the meter movement.
The shutter ribbon has adjustment but even if you set at shortest length, the shutter still did not charge. They used to supply different lengths of this charge ribbon ( made of spring metal.)
I did not like to work on these models as they usually stopped working right after the repair was done and usually I had to re-work on the camera at least two times.
The lens, however, was excellent.

UV Topcor 58mm f2.0 Aperture Leaves Cleaning

UV Topcor 58mm f2.0 was made by Tokyo Kogaku for its Topcon Uni and Auto 100  SLR cameras.
Topcon Uni and Auto 100 has leaf shutter and its main selling point at that time was that you can use the flash all the way up to 1/500 seconds. It had different interchangeable lenses.
You can buy this camera cheap now but most of them are broken. the weak point was the shutter cocking cam post. It break off and shutter no longer winds. Also, the prism goes black from the deteriorated sponge used in the prism. I have made a downloadable pdf instruction manual on how to do aperture cleaning on this lens.

 
Download

Konica Auto S2 Instruction Manual

Konica Auto S2 Instruction Manual Updated

• Updated version of the Konica Auto S2 instruction manual (how to use the camera) in English.
• 12 pages PDF file can be downloaded from here for $5.
• New color photos with the original illustrations.

Konica Auto S2 instruction manual.
Updated using new photos.
Pdf 12 pages download.

Instruction Manual for Canon Canonet QL17/QL19/QL19

12 pages color instruction manual on how to
use Canon Canonet QL17, 19, and 25 cameras.

This is not a copy of the factory instruction manual but I wrote
it myself.

It is $5.00 pdf download. The web site only accepts PayPal.

How to remove Canon QL17/QL19/QL25 Top Cover / Infinity Adjustment

I have several request for how to take apart the cameras.  I decided to write how to do simple repairs manual to make some money :)


If the infinity focus on your Canon QL17, QL19,or QL25, is off and asked a repair shop about it and was told that since the camera was not Leica or Nikon SP, you can not get
perfect focus. That is not true. Sure expensive rangefinder are bright and precise but you can try two simple adjustment to get the best focus out of your camera.

This will only work on the full size Canonet QL series and not for smaller QL17 GIII.

It is $5 pdf download. I wrote step by step direction on how to remove the top cover and do infinity focus adjustment.

It accepts PayPal only ( I don't know why.)

My computer is toasted

My main desktop computer broke. Two capacitors near the CPU bulged at the top. I replaced them but did not solve the problem instead it went worse. The CPU was no longer working and the power was also not going to the motherboard. I ended buying the same motherboard and CPU from eBay and used the power supply from the other case I kept. It is now running so I can update on my camera repairs in a day or two.

Petri 7S Circle-Eye 45mm f2.8

Petri 7S Circle-Eye 45mm f2.8


Petri 7S Circle-Eye 45mm f2.8 is an economy version of the same model with faster lens.

I bought this camera from eBay. Almost all eBay used cameras from this vintage era need repairs. You just can not believe what you will get from eBay.
Problem: The shutter dial ring does not move all the way. The slow speed not working. Self-timer not working.

The camera has been disassembled and the shutter will come out next.

 I had sprayed some chemicals outside  for degreasing. I have to be careful because last time when I went back the whole thing was gone. They were blown away by the wind :(  Today it is sunny so this will not be the problem unless a squirrel comes and knock it off. I better take it inside and do further cleaning.

Canon Canonet QL19 #2

Here is another Canon Canonet QL19 I bought from eBay for my restoration project.

Problem: The meter is not working. The shutter is not working at slow speeds and self timer is not working.

The meter's indicator was unhooked. I took out the galvanometer and cleaned and adjusted the hair spring and the meter came back to life.

The shutter just needed good cleaning.

The camera has been restored and now in good working condition.

Konica EE-Matic Delux F
Konica EE-Matic Delux F is similar to Wards RF 450 or Konica EE-Matic Delux 2 that I worked on before.
The difference is that it used magi-cube flash and looks kind of neat when you lift up the reflector.
The problem: The focus ring is not moving. The Auto/B ring is not moving properly.
The camera looks very clean so I hope I can get this camera repaired.

The focus was not moving because the grease used on the focusing helicoid got too old and gummy and turned into glue. It took me a while using pluming tools to get the lens out from the helicoids :) I did not damaged the lens.

The contacts have battery corrosion. I will clean the posts and may have to replace the spring contacts.

The shutter blades were running fine but the aperture leaves had oils on them so I decided to take them all apart to do cleaning. The shutter is made by Citizen and it uses only two blades for the shutter but the aperture leaves are 5 just like a serious rangefinder camera like its brother, Konica Auto S2.

It will be fun putting them back tomorrow.

One of the spring battery contact was replaced. It is little bigger than the original but should be O.K. The right side is the old part and the left side is the new contact.

The battery contacts for the meter battery holder is made of stainless steel. The wire could not be soldered. I used a silver electric conducting epoxy. I think this good material was not available back then.

The camera is now working fine and it is for sale and this model and similar is now available from me to repair.

Petri 7S Circle Eye 45mm f1.8

I have finished on Wards RF45 but the battery holder's contact fell inside after I put back everything. I want to cry.
I will not touch that camera again until I have nothing else to do.

Petri 7S

I have started on Petri 7S Circle Eye with 45mm f1.8. Petri 7S comes with the faster lens or with the slower, 45mm f2.8, lens. Both are the same cameras except the lens.

The problem to solve: The shutter. The shutter winds but releases itself. The shutter cleaning should solve the problem.

The shutter is Petri's own design but looks similar to Copal SV shutter.

Cleaning the shutter. The shutter blades and aperture leaves will be cleaned one by one. The slow speed and self timer will be cleaned and lubed.

The shutter is good running condition after it received cleaning.

The finder adjusted and the meter checked but the finder's rangefinder image was too faint. I thought maybe Petri did not do a good job with the finder. I looked at one of the mirrors with two surfaces and it was faded at the middle. No wonder it was too faint :) I took out the mirror from a junked Petri 7S I have and replaced it.

Petri 7S finished and ready for sale.

Petri 7S feature:

* 35mm film rangefinder.

* Made in the 60's.

* Fixed lens. Petri C.C. 45mm f1.8.

* Shutter- Petri made. B, 1 sec to 1/500 sec with self-timer.

* Built in meter using selenium meter cell-requires no battery.

Wards RF 450 Re-assembly

I put back all the gears on the slow speed. It was better to remove the shutter/self-timer ring first before
removing the slow speed. This way the slow speed would not fall apart. The trouble now it is hard to put back the self timer assembly :(

The shutter is now good working condition.

The auto exposure mechanism was not working properly. I took it out to clean and adjust. The meter and trap needle auto exposure mechanism is on the front left side. Looks like this idea was carried on to Konica C-35.