Fixing a bunch of inexpensive cameras has kept me entertained.
Agfa Agfamatic I (Canadian model known elsewhere as Optima I) arrived with loose finder glass, aperture was sticking. Recemented finder window and trim pieces, cleaned and relubed shutter and aperture assemblies: Nicely made, looks like the sort of thing a casual photographer with a bit of money and a desire for good quality photos might have chosen in late 1950s or early 1960s.
Hong Kong-made Halina cameras seem to be a lot more common in the UK than in the USA, but earlier models were also sold as "Micronta 35x" - anyone know there was a Radio Shack connection? Main body casting and back are black plastic, so it's a lightweight camera. The adhesives used have become brittle over the years, and finding a 35x or Paulette without missing pieces of trim can be a challenge. On my particular unit, I recemented the leatherette, and trim and performed general CLA to shutter and focusing helicoid. "Electric" refers to an uncoupled light meter, but unfortunately mine has a faulty meter movement. Selenium photo cell itself appears okay, putting out ~0.4V in bright light.
Quirky appearance of the Samoca 35 Super puts a smile on my face. Was surprised to find that body casting is a Bakelite-like plastic. Arrived in good overall condition but very grimy, and rangefinder vertical alignment was off. While I had it apart, I also discovered that shutter wasn't staying open in the "B" setting, and clickless aperture ring felt loose. Was surprised to find that parts of shutter mechanism appeared to have been adjusted by hand-grinding critical parts. After studying how it worked, I restored the "B" setting by slightly bending a metal tab. Aperture ring actually can't be tightened, and I wonder if the factory originally relied on heavy grease to give it a better feel, or whether it always felt loose. I stuck a couple of small pieces of tape to the inside of the aperture ring to fill the gap and add a little bit of friction, and thought it felt much improved.
And finally, the most sophisticated camera of the bunch, but also the one which arrived in the sorriest condition. As received, the Minoltina-S had a bent cold shoe, door latch, and top cover. Someone had started to disassemble the lens, but slipped and scratched the trim ring surrounding the front lens element, frame lines and rangefinder spot were completely missing, there were crumbs of rotted foam everywhere, and shutter was stuck open. Whew! If I had realized the full extent of the problems, I probably wouldn't have touched it. Working slowly, I was able to unbend the sheet metal. Disassembled, cleaned and relubed lens and shutter, discovered the hard way that self-timer escapement seems designed to run without lubricants. Under the top cover, rangefinder condenser lens was covered in white haze which had to be gently scraped off. Discovered broken shards of a glass window, but for what? Only place I can think of where it might have gone was sandwiched over the frame line mask. As said mask seemed to work fine without it, I left it alone. Spent way too much time on this camera, but am pleased with how it turned out. Only thing not currently working is the uncoupled light meter, but if the meter movement itself is still good, it should be easy enough for me to replace the selenium photo cell with a modern silicon cell.
