Photographic equipment of the 1980s: Projects and topics

Andreas Thaler · Nov 19, 2023

For everyone who also likes to turn screws, here is an overview of the topics that I would like to report on in the near future.

If there are any special requests to shed more light on this or that, I would be happy to respond

Minolta X: Revival after electrolytic replacement - not every X makes it back. Causes and solutions. The Xs are sometimes vulnerable to problems with the shutter.
Minolta Auto Winder D and G, Motor Drive MD-1: Make the gearbox work, repair corrosion damage, restore/replace the leatherette, analyze and resolve contact problems with the camera, explore the electronics.
Minolta XG-M: Electrolytic capacitor check and replacement - probably every copy is affected by now.
Minolta XD-7/XD-11: Investigation of the electronics/circuit, cleaning the pneumatic mirror shock absorber
Minolta XE/XE-1/XE-7: Insights, investigating electronic issues.
Canon AE-1 and AE-1 Program: The classics and their problems from A to Z. A model series where electronics and mechanics still work together in a balanced manner and, in particular, electronic processes can be understood because they are not that highly integrated.
Canon T90: See previous reports. A solution for the non-functioning locking magnets (EEE, HELP) still needs to be found
Canon EF (camera): The battery control LED should light up again at the push of a button.
Canon Power Winder F for the F-1: Two examples with stiff gearboxes await cleaning and new lubrication. Insights into electronics in the 1970s.
Nikon F3: Advance into mechanical depth, continue with the topic of LCD, insights into electronics.
Nikon MD-4, the motor drive to the F3: Continuing the repair of battery acid damage - among other things. Replacing a corroded circuit board, maintenance work, fixing tired shutter buttons and mode dials. Possibly also revitalizing resinous gears (if I have a copy with this problem).
Nikon F4: Expedition to the resinous aperture mechanism which prevents the small apertures from being formed.
Nikon FG with MD-14: insights, function check, possibly service
Nikon EM: A battered specimen awaits treatment.
Nikon MD-E: The motor for the EM, here with corrosion in the battery compartment, probably more of it inside.
Nikon MD-12: See report. A second specimen with an unknown defect is awaiting treatment.
Tamron lenses: Service and repair. Tamron has always made great lenses.
De-oiling of aperture blades, cleaning of cloudy lenses
Miscellaneous: Whatever else comes from the contents of my repair box.

For all of this, I collected more or less devices with issues for over a year in order to practice.

I have already written some reports on these topics previously, which I would like to publish in the coming weeks.

Work purely private, exclusively on my own inventory, no orders, no commercial interest, independent, driven only by my interests

BrianShaw · Nov 19, 2023

Ambitious and exciting!

bernard_L · Nov 19, 2023

Thank you for taking the time to document your repairs. Have you considered having a web site, that would collect your information in an orderly way , rather than having is scattered among other threads on this site. OTOH, I understand it's less hassle for you.

Andreas Thaler · Nov 19, 2023

bernard_L said:
Thank you for taking the time to document your repairs. Have you considered having a web site, that would collect your information in an orderly way , rather than having is scattered among other threads on this site. OTOH, I understand it's less hassle for you.

Thanks for the hint!

For a long time I had my own website with photos and a blog (not on repair topics), but I gave it up. The legal conditions in the EU regarding photo rights and data protection were tightened and on the long term it was too risky for me as a private person.

For me, exchange is important and that works best in a large forum.

At photrio I like the international atmosphere and the collegial and objective interaction.

I promise to publish my reports here systematically and clearly. And not as often as before as sometimes my enthusiasm is too intense and then it becomes too much

My native language is German, my English should be acceptable, anyway Google Translate helps me. I am grateful for any advice, especially when it comes to technical terms. I will stick to the service manuals, where the terms are listed for each component.

Andreas Thaler · Nov 19, 2023

My goal is to learn together and motivate others to try repairs themselves.

Especially with the electronic cameras of the 80s, you can still repair things yourself. This is also necessary because only a few workshops accept these cameras. And when they do that, it costs a lot of money.

These cameras are often thrown away when they break down because a new used one costs less than a professional repair. It's a shame for every piece that could perhaps have been saved.

Kino · Nov 19, 2023

Thank you for your tutorials! I appreciate them and the hard work it takes to do the work and document it at the same time.

Do pace yourself and don't burn out!

Andreas Thaler · Nov 19, 2023

Kino said:
Thank you for your tutorials! I appreciate them and the hard work it takes to do the work and document it at the same time.

Do pace yourself and don't burn out!

Thank you

Documentation with photos helps me because, on the one hand, after a few days I forget what I did on which camera and, on the other hand, the photos show details that I may not have seen before. The iPhone has good close-up qualities and it doesn't need much post-processing.

I've already had my burnout, which is why I now have time for my cameras during the day But I learned from it.

Enthusiasm can be a dangerous drug. You have to guard it like fire

But without any enthusiasm you can't get very far with crazy things like this.

mshchem · Nov 19, 2023

Fascinating for sure

Flighter · Nov 19, 2023

Looking forward to this, sounds a good list!

As others have said, I appreciate the hard work that goes into your repair threads. I always get carried away and forget to take photos of the full repair. Although my cameras are Olympus OMs (I haven't ventured further than changing prisms on the OM1 and OM2) and Asahi Pentax screw mounts (which of course is why I'm currently working on an ME Super with the K mount) I enjoy all the repair threads and it's nice seeing the techniques and methods used.

Helge · Nov 19, 2023

Looking forward to the MD-4. I have a basically mint one with a missing rewind switch. And I have a battered donor with the switch.

Neofito · Nov 19, 2023

looking forward to any information!

Andreas Thaler · Nov 20, 2023

Thank you all for your feedback!

I'm excited to see where our journey will lead

jimjm · Nov 20, 2023

Andreas, your previous service posts and videos were exceptional so I look forward to seeing additional content from you!
A few notes I have based on personal experience:
Minolta XE-7: a weak spot appears to be the ring resistor under the top plate. I had a near-mint example of this camera that worked perfectly except for erratic and inaccurate meter readings. Some internet searches helped to try cleaning the resistor, but I never got it to meter reliably.
Canon AE-1: the dreaded squeal. There's a fairly simple fix to this common problem, but I've seen some bad repair attempts for this.
Nikon F3: I've had an LCD fade on me, and another common complaint is how to correctly use the viewfinder illuminator button.

Thanks again!

Andreas Thaler · Nov 20, 2023

jimjm said:
Nikon F3: I've had an LCD fade on me, and another common complaint is how to correctly use the viewfinder illuminator button.

Thank you for your kind words

There is hope for the Nikon F3's display.

From what I've been able to determine, the LCDs fail due to oxidation/corrosion of their contacts. Although very small, there should be a chance to clean it. If not, an LCD can always be transplanted. This saved my otherwise flawless F3/T.

The red button for lighting the LCD and aperture number (ADR) works via a piezoelectric element. When the button is pressed, an element is activated that generates voltage. If the lighting no longer works or flickers - as with most F3s - it is usually a contact problem. This can be fixed by cleaning. I think I wrote something about that in the post.

Thread 'Nikon F3/T: LCD replaced'
https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/nikon-f3-t-lcd-replaced.197696/

Helge · Nov 20, 2023

Andreas Thaler said:
Thank you for your kind words

There is hope for the Nikon F3's display.

From what I've been able to determine, the LCDs fail due to oxidation/corrosion of their contacts. Although very small, there should be a chance to clean it. If not, an LCD can always be transplanted. This saved my otherwise flawless F3/T.

The red button for lighting the LCD and aperture number (ADR) works via a piezoelectric element. When the button is pressed, an element is activated that generates voltage. If the lighting no longer works or flickers - as with most F3s - it is usually a contact problem. This can be fixed by cleaning. I think I wrote something about that in the post.

Thread 'Nikon F3/T: LCD replaced'
https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/nikon-f3-t-lcd-replaced.197696/

The trouble with the F3 LCD is that you have to dismantle a whole bunch of stuff and de-solder (AFAIR) some wires to lessen the tension on the flexi PCB to get to clean the contacts. A job that should have been a whole lot easier.
Especially since Nikon obviously anticipated this.

Andreas Thaler · Nov 23, 2023

Are there any requests for this list?

I'm still finishing up Minolta X repairs/repair attempts and will let you know if there's anything new to report

To me all topics are equally interesting, but maybe someone would like to prefer a topic or is currently working on a specific device?

I think Canon A will be the biggest challenge because there are even more mechanics and the cameras can be tricky to work with. But the Nikon F4 won't be easy to disassemble either. I'm not even talking about assembling

Otherwise, I'll see where it takes me when I'm finished with Minolta X.

Of course I prefer the Leica R3 from @miha when doing repair attempts as discussed. That will be the next report. Whatever will happen once I start opening it

xkaes · Nov 23, 2023

Andreas Thaler said:
Minolta XG-M: Electrolytic capacitor check and replacement - probably every copy is affected by now.

I've got to assume that this will be useful info for all of the other Minolta XG cameras -- there were at least 11 of them:

http://www.subclub.org/minman/slrtable.php

Chan Tran · Nov 23, 2023

Andreas, I have a Nikon F4s it's OK but it doesn't rewind. I think the clutch or something at the rewind crank is slipping. I wonder how hard to fix it?

Andreas Thaler · Nov 23, 2023

xkaes said:
I've got to assume that this will be useful info for all of the other Minolta XG cameras -- there were at least 11 of them:

http://www.subclub.org/minman/slrtable.php

Coincidentally I wrote a report about this some time ago, but in German and quite comprehensive, see

Minolta XG-M: den eitrigen Zahn gezogen (Elko ausgelötet)

Nicht nur die Minolta X-700/500/300 haben Kondensatoren verbaut, sondern auch die - etwas ältere - XG-M. Dabei kann es sich entweder um Elektrolyt-(Elkos) oder Tantalkondensatoren handeln. Kritisch sind die Elkos, denn die können über die Jahrzehnte auslaufen. Der freigewordene Elektrolyt...

www.digicamclub.de

If you would like, I can post a shorter summary here?

I have now checked three Minolta XG-Ms and all of them had at least one electrolytic capacitor leaking. Many XG-M are probably affected by this problem.

Andreas Thaler · Nov 23, 2023

Chan Tran said:
Andreas, I have a Nikon F4s it's OK but it doesn't rewind. I think the clutch or something at the rewind crank is slipping. I wonder how hard to fix it?

Thank you for pointing this out.

I have no idea if there's anything I can do on the F4, but let's take a look when I open mine?

Andreas Thaler · Nov 23, 2023

xkaes said:
http://www.subclub.org/minman/slrtable.php

This is a great site about Minolta! Are you the operator?

xkaes · Nov 23, 2023

I guess the XG-M problem is not surprising, given that the XG-M was one of the last XG camera models. Too bad the replacement is not as easy as on the later X-xxx cameras.

Andreas Thaler · Nov 23, 2023

xkaes said:
I guess the XG-M problem is not surprising, given that the XG-M was one of the last XG camera models. Too bad the replacement is not as easy as on the later X-xxx cameras.

But an excellent exercise for disassembling and soldering

xkaes · Nov 23, 2023

Andreas Thaler said:
This is a great site about Minolta! Are you the operator?

That I am -- for 30 years. I contacted you about permanently having your work added to it.

Andreas Thaler · Nov 23, 2023

The electrolytic capacitors and tantalum capacitors installed in the Minolta X cameras are relatively small. There are still the matching 220 uF/4 V capacitors in my supply at least for the X-700.

Anyway I haven't found an identical replacement recently, but slightly larger versions at least fit the X-700. The capacity must be the same, the nominal voltage can be higher. I also got SMD versions that are even smaller. A first attempt was successful.

Photographic equipment of the 1980s: Projects and topics

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