Voigtlander Bessamatic Shutter Trips Immediately

Hi folks,

At a camera show today I picked up a pretty clean early Voigtlander Bessamatic. It has a problem, though, in that the shutter usually fires immediately when it's wound. After playing around with it a bit, I noticed that, if there is no lens attached, the shutter winds normally, and trips correctly when the release is pressed. If it is wound with the lens off, and then the lens is attached, that will not trip the shutter; it will instead fire correctly when the release is pressed.

I tried with three different lenses, and I also tried those same lenses on another Bessamatic I have. The problem is definitely with the camera, not with the lenses.

I also found that, if I apply pressure to the tab that opens the aperture when the shutter is advanced, that will cause the shutter to trip at the end of the wind stroke; so it seems that the problem has something to do with this tab, or an adjustment to it. I also compared the tabs between the two camera. I didn't see any significant difference between how they look and where they start and end their travel as the mechanism is wound.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Paul

Well I was going to suggest the actuating rings might not be completing fully as I was reading your post, and then I read your comment about the thumb pressure stopping it from staying cocked. A couple of possibilities: the rings may be in need of stripping and cleaning (not so hard compared to some other tasks in this complicated mechanism) or the drag of a lens (or simulated lens in the case of your thumb) combined with some internal wear is preventing the camera winding the shutter enough to cock fully, and the presence of a lens is just a symptom of that, not the direct cause. The Bessamatic is a well made camera but unfortunately the way it is designed it has to be substantially dismantled to reach the shutter. If the shutter sounds OK when it is fired without a lens, I think I would start at the actuating rings and go from there. There is a cocking rack beneath the lower cover, too, and that's pretty easy to get to, so I'd check that out as well (it's more likely to jam things completely, if the cover is dented and stop it winding all together, but you never know).

A very good manual with a lot of images covers the Bessamatic in a great deal of detail. It's usually available on eBay for under $20. If you're intent on working on it yourself and are not familiar with the 35mm lens shutter class of SLRs it's probably well worth getting a copy, it will definitely save you time and may save your camera, possibly.
Cheers,
Brett