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Please help with Contax 167mt

Y

ygs

Hello All,

A couple of months I bought a used contax 167mt with P5. Great camera
but now I have some complaints. I have had several problems with it.

1) Film was not rewound properly. But I think it's my own fault.
I inserted the same film two times into camera (in the middle I used
another film). The film was jammed a little before inserting. Plus
it was about 0'C that day and film has became very tight.

2) One day the shutter was not closed after exposure. LCD panel was
blinking.
I turned camera off/on and than everything became normal.

3) Another day I switched camera on and LCD started to blink. I switched
it off (!!!)
but it continued to blink. Than I pressed reset button on the bottom
of the camera and everything became normal.

The interesting thing is that second and third problems have
happened after initial switching camera ON after several days of
laying on the shelf !

I start to think that it's a problem of power. I had good Alkaline
batteries but I
inserted another set of new Alkaline photo batteries in P5 after the
second incident.

How about this inner Lithium battery problem ?
May be it's not a battery and it's capacitor problem and I should
recharge it ? Or may be I just should clean electrical contacts ?

Do you know which type of inner battery is used in body ?
How to change it ?


Thanks,
Yuri Shchedov
 
Hi Yuri,

I've been doing some research on the 167MT as mine is also giving some problem. Below is a summary of thing that cause problems/lock-up wit the 167:

* Battery too powerful (eg new litium photo batteries - may be your problem) Try using 'normal' alkeline AA or AAA Batteries * Battery too weak (voltage/&s drops) - cause sieze-up. Usually solved by putting in fresh batteries and pressing the reset button * Internal Battery needs replacement - DOES NOT cause lock-up, but resets ISO and frame counter if you have to change batteries mid-roll * Temperature (eg sub-zero) causes camera to sieze. But this is related to "battery too weak" as battery performance detiorate in cold weather.

Your problem 1, related to rewind, may be due to the internal battery.

I also face the similar problems. My mirror is currently locked in the up position and the film advance motor is 'running but jammed' so the motor gets hot - there is not physical jam bacause it works fine for 1 frame after reset. When I replace the batteries (or use the reset) the mirror comes down, the film advances, then the mirror goes back up and stays there, the advance motor is still 'running but jammed'. It will not reset to a usable state. Any help will be appreciated.
 
Thanks for reply, Nicolas !

>
> * Battery too powerful (eg new litium photo batteries - may be your
> problem) Try using 'normal' alkeline AA or AAA Batteries

No, I don't use Lithium batteries in P5 holder


> * Battery too
> weak (voltage/&s drops) - cause sieze-up. Usually solved by putting
> in fresh batteries and pressing the reset button *

May be, but I inserted almost new batteries in 167mt. These batteries were
used only for several shots in flash. I didn't press RESET button !
After second problem I inserted new Alkaline batteries (" Varta Photo Alkaline").

> Internal Battery
> needs replacement - DOES NOT cause lock-up, but resets ISO and frame
> counter if you have to change batteries mid-roll *

I haven't experienced this problem. Due to all three incidents the frame counter
and ISO were not changed.


> Temperature (eg
> sub-zero) causes camera to sieze. But this is related to "battery too
> weak" as battery performance detiorate in cold weather.
>

May be, but it was not so cold that almost new batteries (after several
shots inside flash and a couple of films in 167mt) were completely discharged.


> Your problem 1, related to rewind, may be due to the internal battery.
>
> I also face the similar problems. My mirror is currently locked in the
> up position and the film advance motor is 'running but jammed' so the
> motor gets hot - there is not physical jam bacause it works fine for 1
> frame after reset. When I replace the batteries (or use the reset) the
> mirror comes down, the film advances, then the mirror goes back up and
> stays there, the advance motor is still 'running but jammed'. It will
> not reset to a usable state. Any help will be appreciated.
>


Take a look at
http://www.cdegroot.com/cgi-bin/photowiki/Contax_20167MT


For me I'm going to clean all visible contacts and give the camera a try again.
If it will develop problems again I will consider to repair it. But I don't
have Contax repair center in my country... Anybody have repair manual in electronic
form ?

regards,
Yuri
 
Hello,
I was having similar problems with my 167Mt last year. After much resetting and changing batteries only to have the problem coming back again and again (two sets of batteries per roll!) I ended up sending the camera to Kyocera. They never explained what they did, but it now works like the first day (it was US $ 125). I am sorry I cannot be of more help.

Juan
 
Thank you Juan,

it seems to me that the camera really needs repair.

But the price of repair and shipping will be very high for me. It's $30+$30=$60 for shipping (minimum) plus
repair cost ! I can buy another one for these money from ebay !

Now I think that seller knew about this problem.
I'll contact him and try to hear its explanations.

Regards,
Yuri
 
It's a long time since I had a 167MT but was there a re-set button that could be pressed which might cure problems like that - a bit like rebooting a computer. Sorry if that's hopeless comment.
John
 
It seems you've a bad dream with the 167MT...

First of all, low temp(esp =or<0 degree) may cause some misfunctioning for most electronic cameras. In such case, you've to keep(warm) the camera in the pocket of your clothes dressed when no shooting is required OR use a external battery(not the P5) connected the camera body with a wire. Both can "protect" the functioning of battery under low temp.

Secondly, go to check whether it's the problem of the camera body or the P-5(or both). So, remove the P5 and use fresh AAAx4 for 167MT's body only. It'd be lucky if the body function properly, then, it means P5 was damaged...

If you find out that the P5 was damaged, dont repair it! In my case, remove the "contact-stuff" in the P5(by removing the screw on the contact, take out the "contact-stuff" and cut the 2 thin wires, then use sticker to cover the "hole"), so that I can use an empty P5 attached to my 167Mt.

It seems no mid-roll rewinding feature for 167MT.

Sorry I haven't any idea about the inner battery as I've never replaced it.

Meanwhile, does the shop you bought 167MT provides any "warranty-period" to you? If yes, dont carry out any modified works for P5 I suggested above.

Hope this helps.
 
Many thanks, John Strain !

I've pressed this button after third incident. After that camera started to work fine. But...

I'm not going to wait for next bug, because for me the camera must work properly in any situation. Otherwise I will be scared to press button again !

Thanks,
Yuri
 
Thanks for quick respond John Un !

> First of all, low temp(esp =or<0 degree) may cause some misfunctioning for most electronic cam
eras. In such case, you've to keep(warm) the camera in the pocket of your clothes dressed when no shooting is required OR use a external battery(not the P5) connected the camera body with a wire. Both can "protect" the functioning of battery under low temp.

Use external batteries is good idea, thanks !
I'll buy that module if everything goes well with camera

Use external batteries is good idea, thanks !
I'll buy that module if everything goes well with camera

> Secondly, go to check whether it's the problem of the camera body or the P-5(or both). So, remove the P5 and use fresh AAAx4 for 167MT's body only. It'd be lucky if the body function properly, then, it means P5 was damaged...

I'll try. If P5 is damaged I think I could repair it in local center. It's not so complicated as camera itself.

> If you find out that the P5 was damaged, dont repair it! In my case, remove the "contact-stuff" in the P5(by removing the screw on the contact, take out the "contact-stuff" and cut the 2 thin wires, then use sticker to cover the "hole"), so that I can use an empty P5 attached to my 167Mt.

Oh, it's easy. Thanks. I see a small screw. If I could not manage to repair P5 I'll modify it !

> It seems no mid-roll rewinding feature for 167MT.

I forced the camera to rewind film mid-roll and than I pull film from the cassete and reload it into the camera.

> Meanwhile, does the shop you bought 167MT provides any "warranty-period" to you? If yes, dont carry out any modified works for P5 I suggested above.

I bought it from private person from another contax list (Alexander's). He said that it worked well.

If he is so kind that refund money I will lose a half of a price because of two shipping charges and bank charges (when I send money to him)...

thanks to all of you !
Yuri
 
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