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.

Wards RF 45 Disassembly

 The body shell is made of plastic. The top and bottom covers are metal. The whole lens assembly sits on the front side with focus helicoid on the front side of the shutter.

 The shutter is a set and release type with slow speed governor and self-timer. It is a bad idea to remove the slow speed assembly as it fell apart in many pieces. The slow-speed came out O.K.

One of the mirrors in the viewfinder was detached and one of the glass too needed glued back on.

Wards RF 450 Konica EE-Matic Deluxe 2 (1967)

Konica EE-Matic Deluxe 2 (1967) Sold also as Wards RF 450.
This camera was sold by Montgomery Ward department store is the late 60's as as WARDS RF450.
It was made by Konica and has 42mm f2.2 lens.
It only has auto programmed exposure and Bulb setting. You only have A or B to set and focus. The focus is done by coupled rangefinder.
Problem: The focus may need adjustment and cleaning. The rangefinder is moving vertically rather than horizontally. Maybe one of the mirror came off.
The shutter works with battery. Without battery, the shutter wil not release. The Bulb, B, will work without the battery.
It is just little smaller than Konica Auto S2.

Minolta SRT-101 Finished

The camera has been repaired and ready for sale.

Minolta SRT-101 Meter String

The meter strings have been put back in proper places. The meter string moves the meter follower needle in the view finder. One is from the shutter dial for shutter speed and film speed information and another from the behind the lens mount for F stop information. The meter cells were still good and giving proper response.

The focus screen and condenser glass cleaned and the infinity focus adjusted.

Minolta SRT 101 Meter

The galvanometer was not working. The meter needle was not returning to the rest position.
I took it apart and tried to clean the meter but there is something is wring with the hair spring and I could not get the meter to work right. I will have to replace the meter from another junked camera body I have.

Minolta SRT 101 Re-assemly

The problem for shutter jamming was the self-timer as I expected. The shutter is now working. After I put all back, I will make adjustment for the shutter speeds.

Minolta SRT 101

The shutter jamming is probably caused by self-timer stopped moving during the release cycle. I will take it out for clean and lube.

The top cover is removed.

 I made mistake and the meter string came off :) I will have fun putting it back on later.

 The bottom side.

 The self-time is out of the camera for clean and lube.

 There is a light shield on the bottom of the mirror cage and I will be replacing it.

 I think Minolta made the first SLR with two meter cells for two segment metering system. They used this so that when you are shooting with sky on the back ground, you will still get reasonably good exposed image if you are shooting a person. I have not tested the meter yet and I hope it is still working. I will be cleaning the shutter bearings and applying the shutter oils at the shutter curtains. The slow speed governor is on the top side so I will do clean and lube and adjustment when I put back the mirror cage.

Minolta MD 50mm f2.0

Before I started to work on the Minolta SRT-101, I wanted to have a standard lens for meter adjustment and focus adjustment at the finder. I looked inside my friend's lenses and luckily I found one. It had oils on the aperture leaves and they were not moving. I took them apart and did cleaning. The lenses and aperture leaves came apart easily. Here I am cleaning the aperture leaves outside and bring them inside for more cleaning.
Minolta SRT series can use either MC or MD lenses. 

The lens is now in good working condition and I am now ready for SRT 101 repairs.

Minolta SRT-101

I will be start doing repairs on a Minolta SRT-101 next. I forgot why I have this camera but maybe it came bundled when I bought a broken Canon Canonet.
The camera is jammed and the wind lever does not move, shutter does not trip, and the meter condition not tested yet. The outside looks fine. I hope someone would be able to use this camera after I restore it.

Pentax M 50mm f2.0 Lens Repairs

I have received bunch of lenses from my friend to see if I can make some working lenses by swapping parts around. They were all in bad condition. Some had focus jammed and others had bad lens coating problems caused by molds or fungus eating away the lens coatings.
It is a bad idea to buy lenses from humid states such as Florida and Hawaii. I bought few old lenses from Florida and most of them had fungus and they did damages to the lens coatings.

I made one working Pentax M 50mm f2.0. Yesterday I made two working Canon FD 50mm f1.8.

Bell and Howell Canonet 19 Finished

Everything is now put back and camera is now good running condition.
I have discovered  that this model's meter is mechanically prevents the meter indicator to move while galvanometer's needle is moving properly. On Auto exposure, the meter display starts moving and stops down f stops automatically. To use this model on manual, you have to use the external meter.

I now have a Bell & Howell Canon Canonet 19 and Canon Canonet QL19 for sale. Please write me through eCrater contact page or through eBay ( I do not like too much.)

Bell & Howell Canon Canonet 19 Shutter Re-assembly #2

Here is the shutter assembly put back to the front plate for testing.

Bell & Howell Canon Canonet 19 Shutter Re-assembly

The shutter assembly is now ready to go back into the camera. The shutter and the aperture leaves are now excellent running condition.

The galvanometer is O.K. and the meter cell has been replaced.

Bell & Howell Canon Canonet 19 Shutter Cleaning

 The rear side of the shutter on top and front side of the shutter with slow speed and self-timer assemblies removed on the bottom.

Here the shutter blades and ring removed for cleaning.

 Here are the aperture leaves and ring being cleaned outside. I have to clean the shutter blades and aperture leaves one by one on my work bench. The shutter assembly will get through cleaning after all this camera is 50 years old. I want it to work good for next 50 years even I am gone.

Bell & Howell Canon Canonet 19

Bell & Howell used to import and distribute Canon cameras in the U.S. and sold under Bell & Howell name.
Canononet 19 is earlier model of Canonet QL19. Canonet 19 has a shutter priority auto exposure. I am not sure if the meter operates in manual mode as this camera's meter is not working. I will find this out later. I am not sure when it was made but I think maybe it was sold in the 60's.
I bought this camera from eBay and I hate buying things from eBay. I have to take chances.
This Canonet 19 when I received has two problems: the shutter not running and the meter not moving.
I am hoping I can get this camera working. The shutter is probably same as other Canonet QL 19 and QL17 ( not the small QL 17 GIII. ) so it won't be causing problems for me.

 

My lens spanner wrench does not have proper shape to turn the retainer ring over the meter cell cover. I had ordered a new set of spanner wrenches but they are coming from Hong Kong and I could not wait for a month so I decided to make the spanner ends myself. I used a door hinge and cut them up in shape using the Dremel tool. My tool worked and the retainer ring came out O.K. without causing damage.

The spanner wrench tips on top is my home made ones, The bottom two are the original tips.

 

The front lens group did not turn easily but eventually it turned. My spanner wrench is not well made. I can not wait to get the new spanner wrench. I hope they are not junks.

 This camera has sprocket and film take up reel on the left side, The film wind lever on the bottom side and the film rewind knob is also at the bottom side and it is on the right side.

 The wind mechanisms at the bottom look well made.

The inside front assembly has clean back side.

This lever was on the back side and held in place on a shaft with two small set screws. They did not want to turn but I managed to remove two set screws eventually.


I will be taking out the shutter and do complete cleaning tomorrow.

Canon Canonet QL19 #2

I bought a Canon Canonet QL19 with Bell & Howell name on the top cover. I thought that this camera is the same as regular QL19 but it was not. The Bell and Howell model was earlier model and has different depth to the battery holder. I am going to swap parts with QL19 and make it into a regular QL19. The rest of the parts look the same.
 As usual, the shutter needed clean and lube, the galvanometer was sluggish so I will replace that.
The main problem is the wind lever does not return quickly. It returns but does it slowly. I cleaned the wind parts on the top and bottom and still did not cure the problem so I had to disassemble the camera to find the culprit.

The slow wind return lever was caused by these three parts. They needed cleaning.

Here I am giving new grease to the focusing helicoid.

Here is the video of the shutter in operation.

As you can see, the wind lever return with a snap.

The meter is moving fine after I had replaced the galvanometer.