Kodak retina identification and shutter issue

Picked up a non working Kodak retina for a few dollars recently, and am trying to decide if it ends up in my collection of working cameras that get used, or if it becomes part of my girlfriend's collection of decorative pieces.

So far it appears to have two key faults.

1. The shutter linkage on the body appears to be solidly jammed, but I've not been able to sort out safe disassembly to the point I can see the problem.

2. The more critical issue is that the shutter jams when cocking. And I've not found a manual that matches my specific model so I'm unclear if it is a missing spring or down to worn parts.

In the upper right, by the cocking lever, is a part that is supposed to follow a b- shaped channel. While cocking it should follow the longer right hand route of the channel, which keeps the part from acting on the shutter blades. However it wants to go down the left hand route instead when cocked, opening the shutter slightly and jamming part way down.

I can get the shutter to run nicely when opened and nudging the part with a tooth pick, and suspect a light spring is missing or out of place.


Haven't had the camera long and I'm still reading up on the series. (I typically go for 120 cameras, not 35mm, so this is kind of new ground for me.)

Phone isn't playing nice with resizing the images so I'll likely have to come back to that this evening when I'm at an actual computer.

Thanks for any input.

Go here: https://retinarescue.com/

Lots of information on various models and DIY repair info.

The shutter, a Compur 00, needs a CLA. that piece has a react that it slides in and when the grease is dried out or enough dirt has accumulated, the weak spring cannot flip the lever in the tract as it should. Some shade tree camera techs on this site will tell you to flush it with lighter fluid but 90% Isopropyl Alcohol or CRC Quick Dry Electrical Contact Cleaner are much better choices. No factory authorized repair facility had lighter fluid on its shelf.
For a first time person this shutter is a 8 on a scale of 1 to 10 in difficultly with a 1 the easiest. For the experienced its a 5.5.

Had a few minutes tonight to pull it apart a little more to get the main cocking/drive ring off for a better look at that part that seems to be jamming.

Track and parts are clean and I did find an untensioned spring on the part that runs in the track, however when tension was applied back it is actually pulling the piece in the opposite direction I need it to go to not jam... So I'm suspecting that might be why it didn't get tension applied by whoever had it opened last. [Haven't found details on the exact same model of compur-rapid shutter, but the ones I did find had a similar light inward spring tension for the same sort of part, so I would assume that spring is correctly tensioned. Screw appears to have been riveted in place, so it isn't coming off to get flipped anyway.]

Will need to find the time to study it more, and get better photos posted, but so far looking like either a part that should kick the track-follower towards the outside when the cocking/drive ring is at the top of its stroke is missing, or that follower has worn just enough to no longer catch the top edge of that track to kick over on its own.

Luckless said:

Haven't found details on the exact same model of compur-rapid shutter

Click to expand...

Its a CN-1110-000.
https://docslide.net/documents/compur-shutter-repair-manual.html

EDIT:
The CN-1110-000 is a Synchro Compur, your camera has a Compur Rapid. The Rapid is the predecessor of the Synchro, there are some Rapids with the Synchro design before the name change. The basic build up is the same. There were production changes throughout the run under a Rapid or Synchro so the diagrams are not always exact.

I have repaired some Compur shutters by using the under side of the main plate of one shutter number and the top of the main plate from a different number as that is what matched the shutter on hand.

That part should float and require little spring action to get it to follow the track properly. The spring should push it in toward the center of the shutter if I remember correctly.

shutterfinger said:

Its a CN-1110-000.
https://docslide.net/documents/compur-shutter-repair-manual.html

EDIT:
The CN-1110-000 is a Synchro Compur, your camera has a Compur Rapid. The Rapid is the predecessor of the Synchro, there are some Rapids with the Synchro design before the name change. The basic build up is the same. There were production changes throughout the run under a Rapid or Synchro so the diagrams are not always exact.

I have repaired some Compur shutters by using the under side of the main plate of one shutter number and the top of the main plate from a different number as that is what matched the shutter on hand.

That part should float and require little spring action to get it to follow the track properly. The spring should push it in toward the center of the shutter if I remember correctly.

Click to expand...

Excellent leads. Thank you very much for pointing out that manual.

Will hopefully sit down over the weekend and try to figure out what's up with that shutter.

After more than half a century it is possible that its become a franken-shutter without all the parts actually matching enough to function anymore. Which might explain why reapplying that spring tension is pulling it even farther away from the track it is supposed to go down...