Aging Shutter Query

montresor · Aug 28, 2005

Of late the shutter on my mid-60s Koni-Omega Rapid (90mm Hexanon) has been acting a bit funny. The shutter itself seems to be behaving a little reluctantly, with blades acting slowish either in opening or closing, resulting in speeds that are pretty slow. Exercising it seems to improve it slightly, and I'll have 3 or 4 fires that appear (to the eye & ear) to be more or less where they ought to be, and then there'll be sluggish ones that are varied and kind of all over the map as to what speed they might actually be. I know that the KO has a two-stage thing, the shutter release first flattens the film plate up and then trips the shutter, but I'm giving it a good strong push and the variability seems constant. Does this sound to anyone like a spring losing its tension, or gunky blades? Bearing in mind the sorry fact that I can't take apart a shutter myself to have a look. I figure I'll have to take it in, but I'd like to know what you all think. (I know, stop buying old cameras!)

Don Simon · Aug 28, 2005

:shock: Don't stop buying old cameras!

My guess would be sticky or rusty blades, but like you said it doesn't really matter because you probably can't do anything about it yourself

. About the only thing I can think might help is to continue exercising the shutter. Sticking it in a box with silica gel is probably pointless (might remove moisture but not stickiness) but it probably won't hurt either.

Whatever you do, don't stop buying old cameras! Unless you're saving them all for me of course

Hope you can get it working without having someone look at it; the cost could be painful.

ksmattfish · Aug 28, 2005

Everything needs a tune-up eventually. Sounds like it's ready for one.

paul rond · Aug 28, 2005

Sounds like the shutter needs to be cleaned and lubed. The old lube gets cacked up and the blades get oily. All this gook has to be washed out.

If you are handy it's not such a hard job and may become a new hobby for you, camera restoration.

montresor · Aug 29, 2005

Well, just had a little workout with Koni and it seems exercise is maybe doing it some good? A whole series of shutter fires that seemed right on. Keeping my fingers crossed, it's such a fun thing to lug around!