GW690III arrived with stuck film door...fixable?

L_E_Miller · Dec 29, 2017

Bought a GW690III on eBay from what seemed like a very reputable dealer.

Unfortunately it arrived with the film door release broken. You lift it up and nothing happens.

The frustrating part is I can see marks on the camera where someone clearly tried to pry the door open with a knife.

Is this something I might be able to fix myself? I'd really rather not pay return shipping to Japan if this is something I can deal with...

wyofilm · Dec 29, 2017

Have you asked the seller to make it right? Some sellers work hard to maintain their ratings. For myself I don't buy ebay unless the seller is 99.x%+, and then if it isn't 100% I read the negative feedback.

L_E_Miller · Dec 29, 2017

Yes, I've already inquired about a refund. They had 99.3% feedback on nearly 4000 sales.

joby · Dec 29, 2017

in order to release the film door, the tab needs to be flipped open and then pushed towards the bottom plate. took me a second to figure that out when i received mine today. hopefully that's all that is going on, if not, hopefully the seller makes it right.

good luck!

L_E_Miller · Dec 29, 2017

joby said:
in order to release the film door, the tab needs to be flipped open and then pushed towards the bottom plate. took me a second to figure that out when i received mine today. hopefully that's all that is going on, if not, hopefully the seller makes it right.

good luck!

So that actually worked.

The fact that the door is covered in knife marks convinced me it was broken.

I suppose a previous owner couldn't figure it out either.

And then everyone was embarrassed.

Happy shooting!

joby · Dec 29, 2017

yay!

now let both of our test rolls tomorrow be successful!

sixby45 · Nov 2, 2018

Amazing! I'm glad it turned out to work - that's a great camera

Theo Sulphate · Nov 2, 2018

There are several characteristics of the Fuji medium format rangefinder cameras that may lead someone to think something is broken or not working correctly.

The latch is one, shutter release with an empty camera and the back closed is another. Advance to first frame, like the Canon EF, doesn't require the shutter to be tripped.

Definitely for this camera you should have the manual.

GW690III arrived with stuck film door...fixable?

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