Dug my old SRT101 out the other day, bought it new back in '72. Cocked the shutter and tried to fire it. No dice. Can't get the button to push down. Pushed the button on the bottom that opens the back when the film rewind knob is pulled up. Now the bottom button won't pop back out. Does this sound like a big repair bill and is the old camera worth fixing? Thanks
Likely some simple thing, like not having a lens on the body, having the preview stopped down, or the self timer activated, all things that can preven the shutter from releasing. Put on your thinking cap, do a little research onine about what prevents the shutter from releasing. DO NOT OIL ANYTHING.
You pull up on the rewind lever like on most cameras to open the back. Is there film in the camera? The film release button allows you to rewind the film, but does nothing to open the back. Download a manual for the camera online and find the conditions that prevent the shutter from firing, and go from there. No knee jerk frustrating reactions or stupid moves like lubricating anything.
Most likely is the self timer was activated and failed to complete a timing cycle, so the shutter is locked up awaiting that cycle to finish. If the self timer arm is not strait up and down, this is the problem. You can fix this by fully cocking the self timer, then releasing it by pushing that seperate little button, and then as the arm winds all the way up it may slow down and then stop, so gently push the arm the rest of the way while hearing the gears hum until the cycle finishes. Never use the self timer on these old cameras since this is a common problem due to the complicated timing mechanism locking up near the end of the cycle likely due to oil too stiff to work properly.
These are great cameras, you just forgot how to operate yours. Relax and take it easy before discarding, or throw it over to me if you like. This sounds like a zero repair bill until you learn how to use that camera again. Manual is too big for me to post here.
