>Posted by Tom C on Saturday, September 06, 2003 - 3:48 am: > > > Posted by Harald Aust on Friday, September 05, 2003 - 1:00 pm: Hi >Harald, blank frame as in not exposed. Cut off as in that part of the >frame is also not exposed. >>>>>>>>>>> Contax service repaired it by >"fixing the shutter and mirror mechanics" for about > =80170,-. If the >mirror is slow going up, it would cut off the bottom of the negative >(the top of the picture). I imagine that if the mirror goes up very >slowly, it could blank out the frame completely. I have never noticed >anything unusual in sounds, etc. while taking the photos. I have never >been able to see the problem by releasing the shutter and looking >through the lens mount with no film in the camera. But there is a real >problem. I will check with Contax service. Thanks to all for taking >the time to reply with this information. I expect that with things >that are more complex mechanically and electronically, repairs >totalling more $$$ are to be expected. Regards, Tom C
If you have a strobe with a cable connection, you can open the back (and=20 front) of the camera, and shoot without film in a darkened room. The image= =20 which shows when the strobe fires will remain for a short time and you can= =20 probably diagnose what is going on.
I've done this for camera sync design, looking at how coins bounce in a=20 coin acceptor, and for some scientific work. It will do the job for you.
Just as an ex&le, my very first "real" camera was an Argus C-4. I bought= =20 one of the very first strobes in Panama in 1949. When I used it with my=20 C-4 the pictures were under exposed. I kept using larger and larger lens=20 openings but the exposure didn't change. (The C-4 has a behind-the-lens=20 shutter, by the way). Anyhow, I ran that test and found that with the=20 fastest sync available (F I think) the shutter was only partially open,=20 thus acting as a fixed f-stop. I then took the camera apart, added a set=20 of contacts, re-ground a new cam on the shutter drive mechanism, and=20 validated it with the strobe test.
Worked like a charm. I re-wired the F wire to the new contacts and it=20 became an X setting, triggering the strobe when the shutter was fully open.