If you browse the web looking for repair reports on electronic SLRs with AF, you'll find very little.
However, you'll often find the statement that it's not worth it to have „plastic cameras“ like the Minolta Dynax 7000i or Minolta 7000/9000 AF repaired, as the costs would significantly exceed the cost of buying a new, used one.
The electronics of an AF SLR - here a Minolta Dynax 7000i from 1988 - are concentrated in integrated circuits, which are connected to the camera's functional units via flexible printed circuit boards. How the circuit works isn't important for a DIY repair. Faults are usually found in the contacts and their connections as well as the mechanics where it's (not always) easy to work.
DIY is certainly out of the question
as „everything in these cameras is electronic“ and therefore „complicated“.
What is forgotten is that the electronics in these cameras control the mechanics, without which no SLR can function.
And that it is about fixing errors, not about understanding the circuit in all its intricacies.
No electronic SLR is complete without mechanics. These can be studied and checked for malfunctions. This often requires disassembling the camera, which is doable with good instructions. Here's the aperture control of a Minolta 9000 AF with the positions of two magnets that can be the cause of problems.
As a result, countless defective AF SLRs end up in the trash or forgotten in closets, their fate being leaking batteries.
This all looks complicated, and it is. But DIY repairs aren't about understanding the designers' and engineers’ work in detail. Incidentally, such flexible circuit boards have the helpful property of almost self-assembling, shown here in a Minolta Dynax 7000i under the main LCD.
Don't believe all this and go your own way
Based on my recent first hand experience with DIY repair of such cameras (reported here on PHOTRIO), I would like to make the following recommendations:
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All information provided without guarantee and use at your own risk.
However, you'll often find the statement that it's not worth it to have „plastic cameras“ like the Minolta Dynax 7000i or Minolta 7000/9000 AF repaired, as the costs would significantly exceed the cost of buying a new, used one.
The electronics of an AF SLR - here a Minolta Dynax 7000i from 1988 - are concentrated in integrated circuits, which are connected to the camera's functional units via flexible printed circuit boards. How the circuit works isn't important for a DIY repair. Faults are usually found in the contacts and their connections as well as the mechanics where it's (not always) easy to work.
DIY is certainly out of the question
as „everything in these cameras is electronic“ and therefore „complicated“.
What is forgotten is that the electronics in these cameras control the mechanics, without which no SLR can function.
And that it is about fixing errors, not about understanding the circuit in all its intricacies.
No electronic SLR is complete without mechanics. These can be studied and checked for malfunctions. This often requires disassembling the camera, which is doable with good instructions. Here's the aperture control of a Minolta 9000 AF with the positions of two magnets that can be the cause of problems.
As a result, countless defective AF SLRs end up in the trash or forgotten in closets, their fate being leaking batteries.
This all looks complicated, and it is. But DIY repairs aren't about understanding the designers' and engineers’ work in detail. Incidentally, such flexible circuit boards have the helpful property of almost self-assembling, shown here in a Minolta Dynax 7000i under the main LCD.
Don't believe all this and go your own way
Based on my recent first hand experience with DIY repair of such cameras (reported here on PHOTRIO), I would like to make the following recommendations:
- Don't believe what everyone says online; it's a different story; personal experience is the exception.
- Don't believe repair shops that tell you there are „no more spare parts“ for such cameras. They're rarely needed, and when they are, they're usually found in discontinued cameras of the same type. The repair shop's way of telling you is that this job isn't worth it, or that they don't want to deal with it, or that they don't have the expertise.
- Let go of the assumption that plastic is synonymous with cheap and inferior quality. Plastic enables new construction forms, saves weight and absorbs impact and falling energy.
- Don't be intimidated by the electronics in AF SLRs; they're robust, and their most common faults are trivial and therefore easily repairable.
- Seek expert advice and guidance, and don't disassemble your AF SLR at random; it will save you many hours of searching. The SPT Journal edition (most articles written by genious camera tech expert and teacher Larry Lyells) is an excellent companion for repairs.
- Trust your DIY repair skills. You can do more than you think. You just have to do it.
- As always, there is no guarantee of success, but there can always be a second attempt
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All information provided without guarantee and use at your own risk.
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