Hi Mikael, your camera may not be irretrievably "broken". I bought a 135mm UV Topcor lens thinking i may be able to use it for a specific project, but it didn't work out. So I decided to look for a cheap Topcon camera body to use it with, while browsing on Ebay I came across a Topcon Wink S Mirror with a 53mm f2 lens for £15 including postage, it was advertised as for "spares or repair" as the lens had fungus, the selenium meter was defunct, although it claimed that the camera wound on and fired, I bought it. It came very quickly, and was in pretty good condition, I was surprised to find the meter was working, it shutter was very slow or not at all, I could see no fungus in the optics?? So I set to with lighter fluid, a small artists paint brush, a box of Q-Tips and some kitchen roll, dribbled some lighter fluid into an upturned lid, and started "painting" both sides of the leaf shutter. It took quite some time, alternating between the moist paint brush and the Q-tips, the gundge that came off was amazing especially around the perimeter, this is a delicate process it can't be rushed. I think I used both ends of ten Q-tips very gently cleaning away any dampness and debris, left it for a little while for the fluid remaining to evaporate, the shutter was moving freely hooray. Put a film in and went out on a photo shoot, after a 6 or so shots, the shutter started misfiring, sometimes it took 4 or more seconds to fire. Removed the film and cleaned the shutter again, it got better but there was something else that wasn't right, it was not the shutter, it was the actual shutter firing mechanisn, I removed the bottom plate of the camera to expose the mechanism, went through the process of winding and firing the camera, the sliders and cogs were very stiff, the shutter button was also hard to press to activate, so I lightly oiled all moving parts very lightly with watch oil { any light oil would be ok I guess } there was a distinct improvement, put it back together, then wound and fired it multiple times successfully, then a failure 🤪😜, I carried on, another failure, bollocks I thought. In the end I found that unless the wind lever was very precisely wound on, it would misfire, so a case of wear and tear ?? Don't give up on your Topcon, give it another try, patience Mikael, patience 😂😂😂a bit like reading ths comment. Greetings from Wales, cheerio.
Wow what a long comment! 😀 Thanks for the information! Now that you mention it, it makes sense that it's something with the shutter firing mechanism. When the shutter got stuck halfway out I tried to clean it with lighter fluid, the blades went back in but the shutter didn't work again. In fact nothing happens when pressing the shutter button, so probably something has been disconnected (and probably needs oiling as well). Now I feel interested in looking into it again 😂 maybe it's not that difficult to fix it after all!
@@mikaelrphotoThere is an update, don't panic 🤣The shutter no matter how careful I was, was still misfiring badly, so off came the bottom plate again.Then I sat and wound and fired the shutter, watching intently all the working parts moving. I finally noticed that on the end of the shutter button cable ther was a camm and through the camm was a small screwhead ended terminal, watching carefully it appeared that the camm on the end of the shutter button rod was a fraction too short to fire the shutter, I turned the small screw head anti-clockwise as I thought to lengthen the shutter rod, after turning and checking each time with a shutter wind and fire, until the shutter fired every time without fail, what an effort🤪About your camera. The natural resting place for the shutter blades is closed, so the current state of yours means they are jammed and need a lot more cleaning and manipulation, and go from there, but gently does it. Have fun Mikael, nice to make contact, Analogue RULES. Cheers.
I meant to mention that on my Topcon camera, the lens is interchangeable, and once removed, made it a lot easier to clean as i could get at both of the leaf shutter.
Moro! Ostin juuri ekan filmikamerani kirpparilta sen kummemmin kyseisestä kameratyypistä mitään tietämättä. Olin siis etsimässä filmipokkaria, mutta vastaan tuli Yashica 35 YK rangefinderi, jonka päädyin ostamaan melkolailla sokkona. Nyt kameraa tarkemmin tutkiessa tajusin, että tarkennusrengas on aika pahasti jumissa. Rengas liikahti kovalla käännöllä hieman, mutta sitten jumitti taas eri kohtaan. Olisiko mitään hyvää kikkakolmosta heittää jolla tuon mahdollisesti saisi liikkumaan? On niin tyylikäs laite että harmittaa jos joutuu luovuttaa sen suhteen, varsinkin kun on ensimmäinen filmikamerani. 😄
Dating from 1964, the Uni was one of the last cameras in the form of a 35mm SLR using a leaf shutter and interchangeable lenses. This style originated with Zeiss Contaflex, Voigtlander Bessa and Kodak Retina models in the 1950s, but by the time the Uni arrived, its concept was dead on arrival, and the big makers were closing out production of their similar cameras.The camera operation was too mechanically complex. The leaf shutter greatly limited the optical design of lenses which could be used, and lens quality was not that good as a result. Canon launch a similar late-comer model like the Uni, and suffered the same lack of buyer interest. So, why did Topcon make the Uni? They were able to incorporate auto exposure with their trademark TTL metering system, hoping that the innovation would mark the wave of the future. Well, it did. Just not for Topcon. Don't buy a Uni today as anything but a novelty. 60 years later, their unreliable nature when new has ripened into a disappointment waiting to happen..
I just discovered this channel and am amazed at the content quality.
Thank you very much!
Hi Mikael, your camera may not be irretrievably "broken". I bought a 135mm UV Topcor lens thinking i may be able to use it for a specific project, but it didn't work out. So I decided to look for a cheap Topcon camera body to use it with, while browsing on Ebay I came across a Topcon Wink S Mirror with a 53mm f2 lens for £15 including postage, it was advertised as for "spares or repair" as the lens had fungus, the selenium meter was defunct, although it claimed that the camera wound on and fired, I bought it. It came very quickly, and was in pretty good condition, I was surprised to find the meter was working, it shutter was very slow or not at all, I could see no fungus in the optics?? So I set to with lighter fluid, a small artists paint brush, a box of Q-Tips and some kitchen roll, dribbled some lighter fluid into an upturned lid, and started
"painting" both sides of the leaf shutter. It took quite some time, alternating between the moist paint brush and the Q-tips, the gundge that came off was amazing especially around the perimeter, this is a delicate process it can't be rushed. I think I used both ends of ten Q-tips very gently cleaning away any dampness and debris, left it for a little while for the fluid remaining to evaporate, the shutter was moving freely hooray. Put a film in and went out on a photo shoot, after a 6 or so shots, the shutter started misfiring, sometimes it took 4 or more seconds to fire. Removed the film and cleaned the shutter again, it got better but there was something else that wasn't right, it was not the shutter, it was the actual shutter firing mechanisn, I removed the bottom plate of the camera to expose the mechanism, went through the process of winding and firing the camera, the sliders and cogs were very stiff, the shutter button was also hard to press to activate, so I lightly oiled all moving parts very lightly with watch oil { any light oil would be ok I guess } there was a distinct improvement, put it back together, then wound and fired it multiple times successfully, then a failure 🤪😜, I carried on, another failure, bollocks I thought. In the end I found that unless the wind lever was very precisely wound on, it would misfire, so a case of wear and tear ?? Don't give up on your Topcon, give it another try, patience Mikael, patience 😂😂😂a bit like reading ths comment. Greetings from Wales, cheerio.
Wow what a long comment! 😀 Thanks for the information! Now that you mention it, it makes sense that it's something with the shutter firing mechanism. When the shutter got stuck halfway out I tried to clean it with lighter fluid, the blades went back in but the shutter didn't work again. In fact nothing happens when pressing the shutter button, so probably something has been disconnected (and probably needs oiling as well). Now I feel interested in looking into it again 😂 maybe it's not that difficult to fix it after all!
@@mikaelrphotoThere is an update, don't panic 🤣The shutter no matter how careful I was, was still misfiring badly, so off came the bottom plate again.Then I sat and wound and fired the shutter, watching intently all the working parts moving. I finally noticed that on the end of the shutter button cable ther was a camm and through the camm was a small screwhead ended terminal, watching carefully it appeared that the camm on the end of the shutter button rod was a fraction too short to fire the shutter, I turned the small screw head anti-clockwise as I thought to lengthen the
shutter rod, after turning and checking each time with a shutter wind and fire, until the shutter fired every time without fail, what an effort🤪About your camera. The natural resting place for the shutter blades is closed, so
the current state of yours means they are jammed and need a lot more cleaning and manipulation, and go from there, but gently does it.
Have fun Mikael, nice to make contact, Analogue RULES. Cheers.
I meant to mention that on my Topcon camera, the lens is interchangeable, and once removed, made it a lot easier to clean as i could get at both of the leaf shutter.
@@ianwilkinson4602 Thanks again for the information! I definitely want to give it a try to at least see what the problem could be!
Moro! Ostin juuri ekan filmikamerani kirpparilta sen kummemmin kyseisestä kameratyypistä mitään tietämättä.
Olin siis etsimässä filmipokkaria, mutta vastaan tuli Yashica 35 YK rangefinderi, jonka päädyin ostamaan melkolailla sokkona.
Nyt kameraa tarkemmin tutkiessa tajusin, että tarkennusrengas on aika pahasti jumissa. Rengas liikahti kovalla käännöllä hieman, mutta sitten jumitti taas eri kohtaan.
Olisiko mitään hyvää kikkakolmosta heittää jolla tuon mahdollisesti saisi liikkumaan? On niin tyylikäs laite että harmittaa jos joutuu luovuttaa sen suhteen, varsinkin kun on ensimmäinen filmikamerani. 😄
Dating from 1964, the Uni was one of the last cameras in the form of a 35mm SLR using a leaf shutter and interchangeable lenses. This style originated with Zeiss Contaflex, Voigtlander Bessa and Kodak Retina models in the 1950s, but by the time the Uni arrived, its concept was dead on arrival, and the big makers were closing out production of their similar cameras.The camera operation was too mechanically complex. The leaf shutter greatly limited the optical design of lenses which could be used, and lens quality was not that good as a result. Canon launch a similar late-comer model like the Uni, and suffered the same lack of buyer interest. So, why did Topcon make the Uni? They were able to incorporate auto exposure with their trademark TTL metering system, hoping that the innovation would mark the wave of the future. Well, it did. Just not for Topcon. Don't buy a Uni today as anything but a novelty. 60 years later, their unreliable nature when new has ripened into a disappointment waiting to happen..