Fuji 645 Advance Problem

[Dave Lusby]

I have a Fuji GS645 whose film advance/counter/double exposure prevention jammed several years ago. I paid to have it repaired only to have it break again. The film advance works and the shutter always cocks, but the counter does not work, and the double exposure prevention sticks. I don't care about the counter but the double exposure prevention's intermittent function means that when I advance the film, it may or may not allow the release to be pressed. Sometimes I get 15 shots on a roll, sometimes I get three or four.
Question: is it possible for a home repair guy to open the top and disconnect the double exposure preventer? The camera repair man I used won't even look at the camera as he can no longer obtain parts.

 

[Andreas Thaler]

Question: is it possible for a home repair guy to open the top and disconnect the double exposure preventer? The camera repair man I used won't even look at the camera as he can no longer obtain parts.

If you are interested in DIY and have the right tools, it should be doable. But if not, I would look for another repairman.

In my experience, „no spare parts" is the usual excuse when a professional does not want to do a job, no matter what the reason.

After all, there are enough spare parts from abandoned cameras, nobody expects new parts for old devices.

 

[BrianShaw]

I really wish that repair shops would go back to using the more direct expression “repair is not economically feasible” rather than the rather passive-aggressive excuse about spare parts. Few customers will pay the price of a repair that involves diagnosis, disassembly, hunting and scavenging parts, and then the rest of the process. Few repair shops would likely be willing to provide warranty on such a repair… or deal with complaints if such a job wasn’t “perfect”.

To keep a lot of old stuff in service, and it’s not just cameras, it takes a lot of “sweat equity”…

And if DIY isn’t an option then it’s not likely to happen unless one has very deep pockets.