Canon T90 won't fire at all.

[Karl K]

I just bought a really mint condition Canon T90 with a bunch of Canon FD lenses. The lenses work properly on my AE-1, so I know they are OK. But the T90 won't shoot at all. The film loads, the counter shows number 1, the battery check is OK, the LCD window shows all the functions, etc. Each time the back door is opened and closed the film advances to number 1.

I pushed the rewind switch inside the control panel; nothing. The shutter curtains appear perfect. The depth-of-field works. The mirror remains down and the shutter release button seems to make contact ok, but the mirror doesn't fly up and the shutter remains closed. The self-timer counts down OK, but still no shutter release. The mirror is not stuck, because I can gently lift it from the bottom with my fingertip.

Oh, one more thing: the film sprocket/roller near the take-up side is freewheeling all the time.

Any suggestions before I send it to a repair service?

 

[Remi]

The T-90 is notorious for dying when not used. There are lots of motors and electronics in there and it seems prone to dying when neglected. Search on photo.net or APUG for T-90 and you'll have lots of possible issues/remedies.

 

[drakeo1]

Have you tried slapping the camera against your hand while holding the shutter button down, make sure you do it with out a lense on so there's less resistence on the motors. Does the LCD display anything when you press the shutter? like eee or something?

 

[Brian Jeffery]

I've taken this from the Newton Ellis's site:

"Canon T90 - Shutter not firing: - Quite common, the release mechanism requires repair and adjustments."

Looks like you might need to put the camera in the shop.


Brian

 

[salt]

I have a couple T90's and this type of thing has happened a couple times to me including this past Monday. I load the film and I can hear it advance and the counter goes to "1" but the shutter won't fire. When I open and close the back and it does it again.

I have found that sometimes I need to pull the leader out so it goes beyond the orange line and then it will take up the film. Btw, when this happens, at the bottom of the lcd, the image that represent the canister and film keeps flashing. It stops flashing when the film is loaded right.

I have had these for 4 or 5 years and a couple hundred rolls and I always think "wtf" when it happens. Add to that it sounds like the film loaded. Sometimes it takes a few times opening and pulling more film out and closing the door to fix it. I know it sounds simple but the first time it happened to me I thought the worst too. Hope this is what is going on with yours.

Mike

 

[benjiboy]

I don't know if this has any bearing on you're problem, but I remember from the days I used to sell the T90 that the cameras have an internal lithium battery that is not user replaceable that was supposed to have a ten year life, unfortunately I cant recall what it powered.

 

[Alanys]

To drakeo1, Thank you for the advice which, even though over 8 years old, enabled me to recover my latest T90 ebay purchase.
Much appreciated.

 

[benjiboy]

Hi Karl the shutter magnates on the T90 become magnetized and stick together with lack of use the basic fix as daft as it sounds is to press the shutter release and bang the camera on the carpet.The best thing you can do with a T90 is give it plenty of use I've owned one for more than 20 years and it's a wonderful camera that has never given me any trouble.

 

[AgX]

I don't know if this has any bearing on you're problem, but I remember from the days I used to sell the T90 that the cameras have an internal lithium battery that is not user replaceable that was supposed to have a ten year life, unfortunately I cant recall what it powered.

Out of all my T-cameras not one had yet a failure of the back-up for the settings, nor a failure of the LCD display.

 

[cuthbert]

Stupid answer: have you tried fresh batteries? And does the camera dry fires?

 

[ChrisLLUK]

Hi Karl the shutter magnates on the T90 become magnetized and stick together with lack of use the basic fix as daft as it sounds is to press the shutter release and bang the camera on the carpet.The best thing you can do with a T90 is give it plenty of use I've owned one for more than 20 years and it's a wonderful camera that has never given me any trouble.

7 years on and I stumbled on this. Nothing to lose so gave it a go. Scared the hell out of the dog but now have a working T90. I'll make sure I fire the shutter a few times on a regular basis.
Many thanks!

 

[Trask]

Ain't it fun?! I've had to do the same, thinking I've got to be breaking something, but the T90 just ate it up and got going again. Quite a camera, with that wonderful multiple-reading spot metering system.

 

[benjiboy]

I'm glad I was able to help Chris , sometimes the "brute force and ignorance" solutions are the best, but since the camera was inoperable you had nothing to loose, and I'm glad you can now look forward to more years of service.
It may interest you to know my T 90 was a gift from a neighbour with an FD 50 mm f1.4 lens about 25 years ago who it had ceased up on and couldn't make it work, I put it in a draw at home and forgot about it until a few years later when the neighbour had moved away , I retrieved it from my sock draw, took the lens off, replaced the batteries, and banged it on the bedroom carpet until it worked .
The T 90 worked faultlessly for me for more than twenty years until last year when I part exchanged it for a mint Canon F1n body.