Konica Auto S2 Nov 2011 Replaced Parts

The parts needed replacing on this camera were the slow speed governor, battery holder box, and galvanometer.

The repairs needed was the finder glass.
The delay action escapement was cleaned and the light shield replaced and meter adjusted for 1.5 volt battery use.
The camera is for sale now at eBay.
The camera case looks very nice on this camera and the camera looks very nice too.

Konica Auto S2 Nov 2011 Camera Case

I think it is official. The styrofoam used on the top side deteriorates over time on this case. It is now about half a century old. I am amazed the case lasted this long. The leather is still good and the case overall looks better than average.
I am going to be putting "new" styrofoam.  The best recycle material I found in my house was the styroform where you get your eggs from the stores. 2 dozen size is I am going to use. I can make two parts from the top cover. I will be going to Homedepot to buy the Amazing Goo glue. I think that glue should be safe to use on the styroform.

Konica Auto S2 Nov 2011

I am starting on the new project. This time it is going to be Konica Auto S2 with box. The box was bad condition but still functional so I made it more pleasing to the eyes. The green tomatoes are from my last crops. They are just sun bathing outside. Not turning red but going bad :) The camera looks very clean. It needs little service and be going up over the internet for sale after it is finished.

Canon Canonet QL19 Finished

Canon Canonet QL19 is finished and ready to be sold online.

Canon Canonet QL19 Auto Exposure

Canon QL19 and QL25 use trap needle for shutter priority auto exposure. The metered manual can also be used. Konica Auto S2 is another trap needle shutter priority auto exposure camera. Konica Auto S2's trap needle mechanism is more complicated. They are all mechanical which something I like over electronic cameras.The meter needle is used for opening the right f stop opening.
The aperture priority camera from this period used electronics. The most famous one is Yashica Electro 35. I will post this repairs later on.

Canon Canonet QL19 Self-timer

The self timer on this camera was not moving at all. I removed it and replaced it from the self timer from Konica Auto S2. Both cameras use same Copal SV shutter and some parts are interchangeable.

As you can see the wavy one way clutch spring is bent out way too far from the camera owner who forced the self timer lever when the shutter's flash synch was locked on M. You can only use self-timer when the flash synch is set on X. Many self timer are broken like this by careless owner. I will be keeping the broken self-timer for parts. My nephew when he was 4, he put all the gears in the right places and put them back!

Canon Canonet QL19

I bought this camera from a local camera repair shop. The problems I found were: the wind lever was moving sluggish, missing the film counter window, self-timer was not working. The camera looked nice on the outside so I gave it a go ahead sign to start on the repairs.

Canon Canonet QL19 is basically the same camera as Canonoet QL25. They are bigger cameras than the Canonet QL17. The difference between QL19 and QL25 is the self-timer omission and removal of slow speeds on QL25, and the lens speed is little slower on QL25.

During start of the repairs, I run into a problem. The aluminum retainer ring was stuck and did not turn. The repair shop probably gave up at that point. When the ring finally came out, the pin that holds the name plate ring was bent.

I had a feeling that the pin would break if I make it straight and I was right. It broke. I drilled out a hole using a hand drill with a tiny drill bit and using a small tap, I made thread and screwed in a small post I had. Once it is tightened, I cut off the end and used a crazy glue to lock it in place and gave it some black paint. The pin I made was a perfect fit.

Konica Auto 1.6 Shutter in Operation

The slow speed governor ( shutter speed control ) and delay action escapement ( self-timer)  have been put back. These two shutter parts have been cleaned and lubed by using molybdenum power and very tiny amount of grease on the friction points. The self timer was not moving too well when I first received the camera. It just needed cleaning.

The shutter is now in good working condition.

Konica Auto 1.6 Light Shield

Almost all classic cameras need light shields replaced. They are made from sponge- like materials and deteriorate over time. Some are used on the pentaprism on SLR cameras and they damages the silver coatings. You will find problems with Canon Pelix. Minolta XG series, and Olympus OM 2 and 1.
On Konica Auto 1.6 and Auto S2, they are used on usual places and do not damage anything. The main light shields are on the back cover area. The old sticky light shields are hard to remove. I just scrape them off little by little or sometimes use paint thinner to remove but still it is a slow process to remove.

I cut the light shield from large piece and apply. Most of them have self-stick adhesive on the back side.

Konica Auto 1.6 Basic Tools

These are basic tools I use to repair cameras.
Konica Auto 1.6 uses slotted screws. The best slotted screw driver I used was Moody screw drivers. I bought them from Sears but I lost them. It had interchangeable heads and I lost my best slotted tip driver. The black drivers you see are Craftsman. They are too long but works O.K. until I buy another set of Moody Screw drivers.

The blue screw drivers in the middle are JIS style screw drivers. I use them to repair the cameras with phillips screw heads. They are Moody drivers and made in U.S.A.  I recommend Moody tools because they stand behind their product by offering lifetime warranty. The one on the right's tip broke when I was taking out very tight screws on a lens. It has been replaced free by kind eBay seller who sells Moody tools . I also have Niwa screw drivers but if I break the tips, I have to buy new tips as they have no warranty.

Different subject but I bought strong arm rear hatch rods on my car from Advanced Auto. They said they have life time warranty. My car needed a new battery so I went to Advance Auto to buy the battery and at the same time asked them about the lift gate strong arm rods which started to leak. The counter sales rep looked at my account and saw nothing. I asked them what happened to the life time warranty. He laughed and said they are limited life time. What is limited warranty?  They do not know I drive my car life time. It is now 24 years old. I hate companies that say anything to make a buck. In this case I paid close $100. It is better to buy parts from the junk yard than buy new junks from you know where country.

The Moody tools, on the other hand, have life time warranty. No limited is used by them. I will continue to support this rare American company. It it now almost impossible to find such a nice company.
I bought my Moody tools from this eBay seller's store and I recommend buying from them.

Konica Auto 1.6 Battery Holder

Most of the time the battery contacts have battery corrosion. This one is exception. It looks clean already.

Konica Auto 1.6 Film Speed Ring

The film speed rings are ready to be cleaned.

Konica Auto 1.6 Finder

Konica Auto 1.6's finder is almost the same except it has a flash contact on the back side.
When I received the camera, the finder's front glass had a small chip at the bottom. When I was removing the front glass, I broke it.
I took the front glass out from another finder I have and replaced the lens. Also, the small mirror was unglued from the old age and it was found inside the finder undamaged. I glued it back. The finder has been cleaned and adjusted. The finder works as good as new.

Konica Auto 1.6 Lens and Shutter

Here you can see the difference between Auto S2 and Auto 1.6 front lens. The left side is Auto 1.6 and right side is Auto S2.

The shutter blades and aperture leaves look fine and working properly but the self timer or delay action escapement is having hard time moving. I will be cleaning these two parts. Both will come back to life after cleaning.

Konica Auto 1.6 Case

When I opened the camera case, there were powders all over the camera. I thought maybe the leather lining inside was "shedding" skin. I discovered that there is a cloth liner at the upper area and that area was glued on and the glue got dry and that is where the powder was coming from.
I cleaned the glued area and glued back the cloth with Amazing Goo.

Looks good now.

Konica Auto 1.6

Konica Auto 1.6 came in last week. Outside looks beautiful. The finder and shutter needs little work and the lens hood was missing. I have these parts so no problem. I am happy with the condition. It is now getting hard to find old cameras in clean shape.
Auto 1.6 is the same camera as Auto S2 except it has faster f1.6 lens.
Konica Auto S2 has f1.8 lens and that is already fast but extra .2 brightness adds very small different look to the camera. I will be be updating on this progress.

I am uploading some items to my eCrater store today. They are mostly filters that I needed organizing.