SX-70 question

[montresor]

Woo-hoo, it works -- first pack of Blend in yesterday, and the cover card came right out. First few snaps were fine, but as I got lower into the pack, there began to manifest the following: upon pressing the shutter, a loud "clack," then a couple seconds delay before the picture ejected. Haven't yet started the second pack to see if this occurs again (sort of an "is it the pack or is it the camera" issue). The ones where there's a delay come out overexposed; but there have also been acceptable shots between the "clackers." Anyone else have this experience? It's an SX-70 II.

 

[terri]

That really sounds like your shutter lagging (hence your overexposures). Strange that it is happening later in the pack after firing correctly for the first few prints.

Just keep flexing its muscles. I recall one of my SX-70 cameras having a similar problem of refusing to fire. I just kept repeating it and, though several prints were wasted, repetitive use was really all it needed.

Unless it's a faulty battery (remember they are in the film pack, not the camera), if you don't use the camera much it's more than likely the camera. Always clean the rollers, too, before you pop in a new film pack. They can get gunky and cause problems with the print ejection, uneven dye distribution, etc.

 

[montresor]

Thanks, Terri! I was thinking exercise might work to some degree too -- but will definitely clean the rollers - what do you like to clean them with? There were a few tiny black speckles on the images that I figured was dirt being kacked out after maybe a decade or more of inactivity. Will post the bad images when I get home for your evaluation -- one of them does look like it was a roller hangup -- the image has a slight elongation to it, it seems.

 

[terri]

Thanks, Terri! I was thinking exercise might work to some degree too -- but will definitely clean the rollers - what do you like to clean them with? There were a few tiny black speckles on the images that I figured was dirt being kacked out after maybe a decade or more of inactivity. Will post the bad images when I get home for your evaluation -- one of them does look like it was a roller hangup -- the image has a slight elongation to it, it seems.

I've pretty much stuck with a product called FilmKleen (pretty sure it has a cute mis-spelling like that) to clean cameras as well as film. It removes all *gunk*, leaves no residue and so far I trust it completely. Gentle touch with those rollers!

 

[montresor]

Did a little experiment and I'm certain it's a sticky shutter. My relatively steady hands (can shoot 15-30 handheld if there's no wind) were keeping me from seeing it, but I decided to move the camera a little next time it hesitated, and bingo. Still going to clean the rollers, though. Thanks for input!