Every other picture blank, do I need to repair?

[sarahfoto]

Two rolls of film came out with half the frames blank, about every other on one and every fourth on the other.
After I opened it and let the shutter go off about a hundred times and it opened every time!
Could it possibly be that it was misty? I can't afford to repair it right now and it is my favourite

 

[Bob-D659]

What camera, were you using a flash? A little more info might help.

 

[sarahfoto]

Sorry, posted too early in the morning...
It is a 35mm Praktica bought second hand but it's worked a charm until now. No flash, set on 1/60-1/125 f8-11 lens 50mm.

 

[Ian Grant]

Unfortunately a repair will be far more than the cost of another Praktica camera, I've seen them selling for less than £10/12.5 euros. I paid £5 for one last year.

Ian

 

[Steve Smith]

I agree with Ian. Certainly cheaper to replace than repair. I gave away a couple of Prakticas earlier this year.


Steve.

 

[sarahfoto]

I bought mine very cheap but it is actually the best camera I've ever had, and the lens 1.4 is fantastic. For some strange reason I reckon that if I find a new one it won't be as good as this one.
But I guess I will just have to buy a new one to find out!
Theoretically though, could the mist/fog cause the shutter to slow down or stop, like what happens sometimes in the cold?

 

[Ian Grant]

Which model is it, they used two types of shutter. It sounds like the older cloth type. I've had similar happen with a Pentax KX which I then stopped using, miraculously when I tried it again a year or two later it worked fine, and is still OK..

Stick the camera in a warm place for a few days it's just possible the cold has affected the lubricants and the shutter curtains dragging, you should be able to see the problem with no film & the back open if you fire the shutter off a few times.

Ian

 

[sarahfoto]

"After I opened it and let the shutter go off about a hundred times and it opened every time! "

What I meant was that I checked with the back open, no film, and it worked fine?! I haven't got it here with me, but the shutter is of metal. Thought it was sand from this summer that caused the hang-up but then it shouldn't have worked with no film in it either. Oh well, maybe I'll try leaving it in a dry warm place.
thanks // Sarah

 

[greybeard]

Not familiar with that camera, but is it possible that the film advance mechanism is failing to stop properly, so that sometimes you wind past the proper point and then stop where the next frame would be? A dying shutter would probably sound a bit odd, but then having to wind two frames' worth of film would probably be noticeable, too.