How much trouble will I cause myself?

pbromaghin · Aug 25, 2017

My Ikonta 523/16 is locked up. It will not advance the film, and won't operate the shutter. It seems the double-exposure preventer mechanism somehow made the whole thing immoveable. I assume I can take the top cover off and get at it, but am wondering just how many microscopic screws and springs will throw themselves all over the kitchen, never to be found again, the moment I remove it. There's no film in it. This happened while in a camera bag, just a couple days after I had checked it to make sure everything was working.

I do have a reliable guy who can fix it in no time for a reasonable fee and return it in a couple weeks. Or do I chance it, live dangerously? Take the blue pill, or the red pill?

removed account4 · Aug 25, 2017

having taken apart a travel clock and still have it
in a pile to remind me never to do that again, i'd say
bring it to your reliable guy, but that's just me ..

Theo Sulphate · Aug 25, 2017

I know what you're thinking: "were there six springs or only five?". Well, being that this is a Zeiss Ikon Ikonta, one of the finest medium format folders in the world, you've got to ask yourself this question: "Do I feel lucky?"

Well, do ya?

Patrick Robert James · Aug 25, 2017

Not one to shy away from dismantling things, and usually successfully but not always, I would send it to someone who knows what they are doing if you 100% want it working again.

mgb74 · Aug 25, 2017

Patrick Robert James said:
Not one to shy away from dismantling things, and usually successfully but not always, I would send it to someone who knows what they are doing if you 100% want it working again.

I'm virtually always successful at dismantling things. And if that was the end objective, I'd dive right in.

MattKing · Aug 25, 2017

pbromaghin said:
I do have a reliable guy who can fix it in no time for a reasonable fee and return it in a couple weeks.

Here is your answer.

Sirius Glass · Aug 25, 2017

Take a deep breath and then send the camera for a repair.

E. von Hoegh · Aug 26, 2017

Put it this way, when I'm presented with a ziploc bag full of parts smelling of Ronsonol, if I take the job on at all it's double or triple price. If it smells like WD-40 I won't touch it, period.

pbromaghin · Aug 26, 2017

Oh my. Once again Apug, oops, Photrio comes up big. You guys are almost as good as the Paul Harvey bong commercial.

E. von Hoegh · Aug 26, 2017

pbromaghin said:
Oh my. Once again Apug, oops, Photrio comes up big. You guys are almost as good as the Paul Harvey bong commercial.

Bong commercial??

pentaxuser · Aug 26, 2017

It sounds as if this DIY repair will be a first for you with this kind of camera. Unless someone here can give you exact and easy to follow instructions which implies a relatively easy to do job then the key questions are: What are the chances of you being successful? What are the chances that you might makes things worse and still have to use the repairman at possibly extra cost.

Faced with the above I know what I'd do. If repairs were intuitive, requiring only common-sense and only a little skill with a screwdriver I suspect that good repairmen would be cheaper than they are.

pentaxuser

pbromaghin · Aug 26, 2017

E. von Hoegh said:
Bong commercial??

Larry the sailor · Aug 26, 2017

Theo Sulphate said:
I know what you're thinking: "were there six springs or only five?". Well, being that this is a Zeiss Ikon Ikonta, one of the finest medium format folders in the world, you've got to ask yourself this question: "Do I feel lucky?"

Well, do ya?

A mans got to know his limitations.

Larry the sailor · Aug 26, 2017

pbromaghin said:

I still miss listening to him

Theo Sulphate · Aug 26, 2017

E. von Hoegh said:
Bong commercial??

It's a fake advertisement.

http://theabrahamsons.blogspot.com/2007/08/fake-paul-harvey-bong-commercial.html?m=1

pbromaghin · Aug 26, 2017

Theo Sulphate said:
It's a fake advertisement.

http://theabrahamsons.blogspot.com/2007/08/fake-paul-harvey-bong-commercial.html?m=1

That guy has it a bit wrong. It was not an imitation. It was cutting and splicing real snippits from Paul Harvey shows. I heard it the first time Tommy Mischke played it on his nighttime radio show from KSTP in St. Paul, not Milwaukee. I was doing the dishes at the kitchen sink and laughed so hard I had to lay on the floor. What was really cool about it was that it was a Paul Harvey station! He later attributed it to fellow broadcaster Ian Punnett. Whether that was true or not, I don't know, because Mishcke never let the facts get in the way of a good story.

Svenedin · Aug 31, 2017

I hope you got your camera fixed. I don't have exactly the same camera as you but I do have quite a few pre-war and post-war Super Ikontas. I also have the original manuals for some of them. I'm sure one of them mentions a sequence to carry out if the double exposure prevention jams but I can't for the life of me remember what one is supposed to do or whether it would be relevant to your particular camera (it might be to do with the frame counter which your camera doesn't have). I really wouldn't recommend taking the top off but confess that I have done this with some of my cameras and I have even (shock horror) successfully cleaned the rangefinder half-mirrors without ruining them. I'm sure your chap can sort it. Probably gummed up with crud and ancient grease. I found a lot of muck in my cameras, they are not at all dust proof.

TheRook · Sep 1, 2017

If you do decide to repair yourself, I strongly suggest taking close-up pictures and drawing sketches at every step in the repair process. It is easy to forget how the components are supposed to fit together at time of re-assembly. Take your time and perhaps most importantly, stay organized. Have all the tools you may possibly need ready at your side.

klownshed · Sep 1, 2017

It all depends on how badly you need spare springs, screws and cogs...

Down Under · Sep 1, 2017

Having read through this thread, I recalled an old saying: "He who represents himself in a court of law, has a fool for a client."

The same applies to home-repairing fiddly cameras. Take it from someone who has had much, much experience (all bad) in this area.

Sirius Glass · Sep 1, 2017

ozmoose said:
Having read through this thread, I recalled an old saying: "He who represents himself in a court of law, has a fool for a client."

The same applies to home-repairing fiddly cameras. Take it from someone who has had much, much experience (all bad) in this area.

+1

Svenedin · Sep 1, 2017

+1 my wreck to fix ratio is quite low

jim10219 · Sep 1, 2017

I've repaired around 20 cameras so far. I've only came across one that I couldn't repair, and that was a Pentax ZX-50. And the problem with that camera wasn't that I couldn't repair it, but that the cost of a new motor was higher than the cost of buying another working camera, so I salvaged some parts and threw the rest away. In this week alone I've repaired a Nikon N2000, a small Fuji digital P&S, and a computer monitor (which isn't a camera, but is still something most people throw away rather than repair). You have the internet. Finding the information you need to repair virtually anything is possible these days. I assume you have a digital camera and notepad to document what you do along the way so you can get everything put back together properly. All you have to do now is find the patience and self discipline to tackle this job and see it through.

I'm not the kind of person who was put on this earth just to kill time waiting for the day time kills me. I'm gonna spend my time learning as many new things as this world will let me before I go. I chose to live life as the driver of my own destiny, and not just as a passenger of my own fears and insecurities. Failure is a trophy only the courageous own.

Svenedin · Sep 1, 2017

jim10219 said:
I've repaired around 20 cameras so far. I've only came across one that I couldn't repair, and that was a Pentax ZX-50. And the problem with that camera wasn't that I couldn't repair it, but that the cost of a new motor was higher than the cost of buying another working camera, so I salvaged some parts and threw the rest away. In this week alone I've repaired a Nikon N2000, a small Fuji digital P&S, and a computer monitor (which isn't a camera, but is still something most people throw away rather than repair). You have the internet. Finding the information you need to repair virtually anything is possible these days. I assume you have a digital camera and notepad to document what you do along the way so you can get everything put back together properly. All you have to do now is find the patience and self discipline to tackle this job and see it through.

I'm not the kind of person who was put on this earth just to kill time waiting for the day time kills me. I'm gonna spend my time learning as many new things as this world will let me before I go. I chose to live life as the driver of my own destiny, and not just as a passenger of my own fears and insecurities. Failure is a trophy only the courageous own.

I would agree with you that sometimes it is worth having a go but it depends what one is trying to fix. Trying to fix a cheap camera that is going to be thrown out otherwise is one thing but trying to fix one of these lovely Zeiss folders is another. If decent instructions, parts diagrams and tools are available then it is possible. I have fixed cars, lawnmowers, pressure washers, dishwashers, refrigerators,televisions, locks, clocks, watches, you name it but sometimes discretion is the better part of valour and the job is best dealt with by a professional.

pbromaghin · Sep 1, 2017

OK, I'm convinced! I'll send it in.

As far as gunk, etc., When I bought this camera it was the finest example of a folder I have ever seen. Since a CLA just 2 years ago it has had only a dozen or so rolls put through it. The problem popped up after travelling by plane with it in my carry-on bag full of camera gear. So it could have been shaken up during the flight.

How much trouble will I cause myself?

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