Minolta XK

Les Sarile said:

I don't believe I have ever heard of wrinkled titanium curtains on an XK or any other similarly equipped camera like the Canon F-1, Nikon F, F2, F3 and Pentax LX.

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Titanium curtains can wrinkle. A friend of mine, while trying to remove a roll of partially-exposed film from his Nikon F in the dark, stuck his thumb right into the shutter. The second curtain took the brunt and was big-time wrinkled. He had a repair tech check it out, and while the shutter looked like hell, it still operated within tolerances.

Take a look at the KEH website. There are a few wrinkled curtain Nikon F's on there right now.

Jim B.

That was one of the hallmarks of the titanium foil shutter; it could really take a whacking before it being broken to the point of being totally unusable, so a few small creases or 'wrinkles' is not any cause for alarm, a deeper crease could cause a tiny light leak but that would look Obviously Damaged. The Nikon F seems particularly vulnerable due to its one piece removable back.


I recall when the F3/MD-4 combo was released the sales rep would come to the camera shop where I was a young buck and open the back of the F3, set a slow shutter speed, stick his thumb thru the film gate while the shutter was open; then run the shutter/motor at continuous with the shutter bouncing off his thumb, then pull out his thumb and keep motoring to demo the toughness of the shutter and motor combo (the jamming F2 MD-2/3 was a topic of conversation in this shop).

Nathan Riehl said:

I did notice that the circle in the middle of the focusing screen was dark when I had the F-stop at 22. It went away when I held down the button right of the lens mount that moves the mirror..

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That circle is the microprism focusing aid. It diffuses out-of-focus shapes to make it easier to determine focus. The darkening is normal with small f-stops.

Oh, then my worries aren't to be had. The camera is now for sure in seemingly perfect condition. 9/10 for sure, but I'd say it looks almost brand spanking new.