Minolta XG-1?? Having problems.

[therustytracks]

I spent christmas with my grandparents this year. it was nice to visit them. While I was there I noticed a very vintage looking slr on top of my grandfather's desk. It was a minolta xg-1. I picked it up and It still felt brand new, even though he bought it in the late 70's. There's something wrong with it though. When you take a picture, no matter what shutter speed it's set on the shutter sticks and sometimes doesn't trigger at all? My grandfather thinks it just needs to be cleaned thoroughly. Has anyone ever had any experience with these type of problems? Maybe some insight on what could be wrong. It would be a shame to lose this beautiful camera. He has a ton of accessories and lenses also.

 

[chris]

The XG-1 has an electronic shutter - did you put fresh batteries in it - if there is no power then the shutter will not operate at all and if there is insuffient power then the shutter may open but not close.

If you had put fresh batteries then then possibly the lubricant for the shutter mechanism has dried up causing the shutter to operate erratically.

 

[therustytracks]

I'm not sure if he put new batteries in it. I doubt he did but I'm still unsure. It could definitely be a problem with lubricant. I haven't seen this camera since i was about 5 and i'm 19 going on 20 now so it's probably been 15 years or close to it since this camera has seen any action. thanks for the help. I'll check the batteries and if that doesn't fix the problem the next suspect will be lubricant. Would we have to take the camera in for new lubricant or would we be able to do that ourselves?