Fujinon/Seiko Lens -- Made a stupid mistake, what to do?!

[jeanpauljh]

Hello all,

I stumbled across your great forum today while searching for a solution to the rather stupid mistake I made earlier today.

To keep things short: basically, I committed the cardinal sin of changing shutter speed on my 150mm Fujinon-Seiko Lens while the shutter was still cocked. It has been a while since I was last shooting large format, so I have become a little rusty

Anyhow, it seems I have damaged the mechanism that holds the shutter-cock in place when placed into the "armed" position. Although I have found a temporary solution — using the self-timer — that lets me make photos (and focus!), I'm quite certain that I will need to get my mechanism fixed.

Below is a picture (and video) of the lens in question... hopeful that this might shed some light on my predicament as well.

If, indeed, you think the lens needs to be repaired by a professional/shop, I would welcome to hearing any/all suggestions for reputable locations. My preference is for Western Europe (especially Switzerland, UK, Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands), but I am also open to considering reputable stores in the US or Canada (as I am over there quite often).

If you have any questions for me, happy to answer them!

-- jeanpauljh

[xkaes]

I can't be of much help because all I have are Copal shutters and none of them suffer from the affliction you describe.

I'm sure that other Seiko shutter users will step up to the plate. Don't lose hope -- yet!

[jeanpauljh]

Thanks for your encouraging words, xkaes... hopeful that I will resolve this without having to see the doc!

[Steven Tribe]

As many large format usera are addicted to Ground Glass viewing, it won't be a surprise that many have (have used) Mamiya TLR sets which are all Seiko based. So advice will be coming about whether it is a simple fix or?

Economywise, it often turns out that a replacement shutter is a more sensible solution than arranging a repair which often includes waiting time and an unknown number of technician hours.

Do these LF seikos have the same threads/distance as Copal/Compur etc?

[Mick Fagan]

I have two of these 150mm f/6.3 lens/shutter combinations, your description of the cardinal sin made me think a bit.

I then went to one of the lenses in question, cocked the shutter, then tripped it a few times to get it warm, so to speak.

I then cocked the shutter and moved the speed from 1/15 to 1/8 then tripped the shutter, not an issue.

I played around a bit doing down shifting of shutter speeds as well as upshifting of shutter speeds after cocking the shutter, nothing unusual happened at all, things just worked as they should.

Some time ago I did have an issue with a Compur 1 shutter, doing exactly what your Seiko shutter is doing. I did have it repaired and serviced. Turns out that there was a wear issue with the metal that holds the firing mechanism from releasing, something I was told happens to many shutters if used extensively or abused from heavy fingers.

The Seiko shutters I have, four of them, are exemplary, as is my quite old Seiko watch.

My personal experience with seiko shutters is that they work very well.

It may be that your shutter needs looking at. Perhaps you may be able to pick up a spare Seiko shutter.

Mick.

[Peter Collins]

Sorry for the 'stupid mistake.' I can't offer advice, I am just empathizing. (I have called myself 'stupid'--silently--after doing obviously wrong things.)

[Andrew Plume]

Hi Jean Paul

sorry to hear about your shutter

suggest you pm Kumar though this Forum, he regularly posts Japanese made items in the 'fs section', he's a top guy and very helpful

best of luck

Andrew

[xkaes]

This is just a guess, as I am not a Seiko user.

On the Copals that I have, there is a shutter release tab, a shutter cock lever, and an OPEN/CLOSED switch. If the OPEN/CLOSED switch is set to OPEN, the shutter cock lever will work, but the shutter release tab just moves -- without releasing the shutter. The shutter cock lever will work again and again and again, but the shutter release tab will not do anything -- even though it moves.

IF the OPEN/CLOSED switch is moved back to the CLOSED position -- the shutter release will work correctly.

Have you tried this?

[tonyowen]

Another guess, based on a different but similar problem, is that the vxm lever has been slightly moved. When 'my problem' has occurred moving the vxm lever remedies the situation.
regards
TOny

[jeanpauljh]

Hi all,

Thanks for your suggestions so far. I will test them out and report back.

Regards,

JP


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