Can you spot the defect?

[BradS]

Here's a little exercise for y'all...can you spot the defect with this eBay item ? I've cropped the image to make it a little easier....

 

[BAC1967]

Is the prism housing crooked or is that just the lighting. The area under the H and above Honeywell looks lower on the left.

 

[Theo Sulphate]

Yeah, the pentaprism looks crooked to me, also.

Where is shutter release?

 

[BradS]

Is the prism housing crooked or is that just the lighting. The area under the H and above Honeywell looks lower on the left.

Good eye. The hot shoe is a little bent...but that's not the most serious defect with this body.

 

[BradS]

......Where is shutter release?

now you're on to something....the shutter release button...it is there but stuck down. This camera is locked up.

 

[Theo Sulphate]

Thought so. If the problem is what I think it is, I can fix it in under two minutes.

 

[BradS]

Took me a little more than two minutes (more like two hours) and it's still not quite right. The issue seems to be that someone spilled something sticky (Coke?) on it some years ago, and just let it sit. The poor thing is in pretty sad condition. It is an SPIIa so kinda cool but...it really needs some work.

 

[Gerald C Koch]

The problem may go further than just a stuck shutter button. Coke is quite acidic and may have caused some corrosion inside the body. It will dissolve rust and the corrosion on lead-acid battery terminals. Good for cars but not cameras.

 

[shutterfinger]

http://www.pentax-manuals.com/manuals/service/servicemanuals.htm
have fun!

 

[E. von Hoegh]

View attachment 191500


now you're on to something....the shutter release button...it is there but stuck down. This camera is locked up.

I wasn't sure until I saw this picture.
A few years ago I bought a SpF and a Weaver K8 scope with mounts, $4 at a yardsale. The Spotmatic was the filthiest camera I've ever had, it looked like it had been sprayed with something sticky, then left to gather dust for years, including the front glass of the 55 f1.8 lens; the cell compartment was so bad that the contact was just a green smudge. After three hours or so, soaking the top and bottom covers, shutter speed dial, advance lever etc. in hot soapy water, cleaning around the back with q-tips, wiping the rest with soapy water and "rinsing" with isopropyl (and giving the innards a cla) the thing was working well. I replaced the damaged cell compartment, tweaked the shutter speeds and it's as good as new, the meter is accurate and even the lens cleaned up with no damage. Under the crud, it was very nice, only a couple light marks on the baseplate and the rest virtually as new. Mercifully nothing got inside, so luck was working for me. The scope needed the front achromat recemented.