Kowa SeT SLR

I got this camera for $25, along with a newer-but-still-old Konica SLR.  It was is sorry shape.  The winder, shutter, and aperture were all stuck.

The Kowa seT is a leaf-shutter SLR.  Some companies dabbled with the idea, returning to curtain-style focal plane shutters... but Kowa never gave up.  To fire the camera, the Kowa must:

1. Close the shutter
2. Close the aperture leaves to the correct f-stop
3. Raise the mirror
4. Raise the light shield 
5. Open the shutter to expose the film
6. Close the shutter
7. Drop the light shield
8. Drop the mirror
9. Re-open the aperture leaves
10. Re-open the shutter

(See http://www.taunusreiter.de/Cameras/Kowa_SETR_eng.html - with handy drawings by Rick Oleson!)

Most SLRs have the primary mechanics behind the shutter, optics and controls under the top cover, and a bit of wiring under the bottom cover.  However, given the sequence above, there's no surprise at what lurks under the covers here:

Poking and prodding at the linkages under the bottom cover did not fire the shutter, although it did let me wind the winder again.  So, digging deeper, the lens had to come off, exposing the shutter.  Once I was that deep I could wind and fire the shutter manually, which was progress!

Yashica YK

Ages ago my father gave me a Yashica YK rangefinder camera to fix.  At the time I didn't think much of it and stashed it in a camera box with all my other when-I-get-to-it projects.

I recently got to it!  And then some.  Now I can't be stopped.

This blog aims to document some of the experiences and (hopefully) success stories as I repair this and other cameras.

The Yashica's symptom was pretty innocent: you could not wind the camera without slightly depressing the shutter; also, the shutter did not fire.  I was pretty sure it would be something simple in the top.

The range-finder also wasn't working right - the yellow blob was there but the image never moved.  Must be a broken linkage or dirty prism, right?