Please Help Me With My Find!!!

gian133 · Jul 20, 2009

Hey everyone. i was on vacation last week and i picked this up at a flea market. paid $30 for it. it all came in a pretty worn out bag.
Included:
Minolta XG-m
28mm lense
50mm lense
100-300mm zoom lense
2x converter
an assortment of filters
two lense hoods
flash that may or may not work
pocket/table top tripod
some perfume and cough drops lol

the batteries on the camera were dead. i just picked some up and put them in. the meter works fine. the problem is that the film advance lever wont crank. my dad and i cant figure it out and he has had a good amount of experience with film cameras. i might bring it to a shop to see if its and easy fix but it figured i'd ask here first. any ideas what the problem might be?

thanks for the help
Gian

a_spaceman · Jul 20, 2009

not sure what the problem could be but that's one amazing kit you got there, and for such a ridiculous price, too. you should definitely have someone take a look at it.
i'm very, very jealous.
i got my xg-m for £15 and it came with a vivitar flash and a pouch, that's it. mind you, still a good deal, but all that for 30 dollars...!
should it turn out to be some kind of serious problem, just look for another minolta manual focus body.
or sell it all to me for £30. you'd still make a good profit these days

compur · Jul 21, 2009

Did you check if the camera has film in it?

Battou · Jul 21, 2009

compur said:
Did you check if the camera has film in it?

Yeah, that camera looks to be well maintained, I would give the rewind knob a handful of turns and check for film.

dxqcanada · Jul 21, 2009

Small window above the winding lever.

If it has a red bar indicated in it, then there is film loaded (and wound).

Battou · Jul 21, 2009

dxqcanada said:
Small window above the winding lever.

If it has a red bar indicated in it, then there is film loaded (and wound).

...lol I forgot about that, I don't use my XG-M enough :guilty:

gian133 · Jul 21, 2009

no there is no film in it. would putting film in allow me to crank it? i didnt think it would and neither did my dad so i didnt try.

and thanks spaceman. i was at the market but it seemed like i wouldnt find anything. there was nothing good. but then at the last stand i saw it all sitting there lol. needless to say it made my day lol.

thanks for all the help.
gian

dxqcanada · Jul 21, 2009

It is possible that the shutter is stuck ... and needs to be tripped.

Take the lens off.
Open the back of the camera.
Move the mirror up with one finger in the front of the body and make contact with the cloth shutter.
Use the finger on your other hand on the other side to make contact with the cloth shutter where your other finger is.
Then pull back with both fingers in a direction so the shutter will open (horizontally)... don't worry too much if the cloth starts bending a bit ... when you have about a half an inch opening ... let go.

Hopefully the shutter will completely trip and release the winding mechanism ... if it does trip you should hear a mechanism in the body click.

Note: when I used to work at the Camera Store ... I used to do this a lot. It's a lot harder to do with shutter blades ... though I have had to put many shutter blades back in after people poked their finger through them.

gian133 · Jul 21, 2009

ok its deff going to the shop. i just made it worse

thanks for the help tho

beala · Jul 22, 2009

Is that a 50mm SMC Takumar? That alone is worth more than $30. Good find. If you can't get the film body working, I'd get a converter and mount that 50mm on your D40. Google it. It's a great vintage lens.

dxqcanada · Jul 22, 2009

gian133 said:
ok its deff going to the shop. i just made it worse
thanks for the help tho

What happened ?

gian133 · Jul 24, 2009

nope, beala, its actually a 50mm minolta.

and dxqcanada, i was trying to do what i thought you said and i think i dislodged the cloth shutter. its now loose and doesnt spring back.
i feel quite stupid lol

dxqcanada · Jul 24, 2009

If the shutter is not springing back into place ... and it is still within the rails .. then I think that was the original problem.

Sounds like you will have to get the shutter mechanism repaired.

c.cloudwalker · Jul 24, 2009

beala said:
Is that a 50mm SMC Takumar? That alone is worth more than $30. Good find. If you can't get the film body working, I'd get a converter and mount that 50mm on your D40. Google it. It's a great vintage lens.

Every time I'm ready to sell my beautiful Minolta lenses someone else mentions a darn adapter to use them on Canon. Only problem is that so far I haven't been able to find one that I could actually buy :grumpy:

Any ideas?

c.cloudwalker · Jul 24, 2009

gian133 said:
Hey everyone. i was on vacation last week and i picked this up at a flea market. paid $30 for it. it all came in a pretty worn out bag.
Included:
Minolta XG-m
28mm lense
50mm lense
100-300mm zoom lense
2x converter
an assortment of filters
two lense hoods
flash that may or may not work
pocket/table top tripod
some perfume and cough drops lol

Before you get this body fixed, make sure and get an estimate and check out what you can get another body such as a srt202 for... it might be cheaper.

But, even before that, I would check what the quality of those lenses is and make sure you want to spend even more money on this outfit. There were some beautiful Minolta lenses but it is hard to tell from your photo what it is you have. Unless, that is, you just want to have a little fun with film.

In which case, go ahead, spend a few bucks getting this body fixed or getting a different one and have fun