Spotmatic Stuck Mirror

[scott]

Hi all -

So, was out with the Spotmatic (original ilk, one of the old ones, Honeywell, with the H-bar logo) and after a shot the viewfinder remained black. Wound and on and shot a few frames and the viewfinder came back. But short-lived, next frame and it went black and stayed that way. Figured my reliable, METER WORKING Spotmatic had finally given up the ghost. Started pondering replacement or selling off all my lenses.

Then I started googling. Seems to be a frequent issue. One culprit, sticky foam. I removed the lens and the mirror doesn't pull back into place. Seems to be something mechanical holding it stuck. Google some more. Find everything from filing off part of the winding lever to just a few drops of oil. Hmm...

So, those of you with history on Spotties, what should I be looking at here? I'm not really interested in replacing this camera, but some of my favorite pictures of all time came from this one, the meter works, and it's always been so much fun to use. If there's a relatively straight-forward fix, I'm in.

Help?

Thanks,
Scott

[titrisol]

Foam in the mirror box is the greatest issue for this
I have a Honeywell as awell and Jon Goodman sent me a kit that fixed the issue
You have to be very careful cleaning the mirror and the focusing screen though

[scott]

Okay, weird. Looking at it again this morning, the mirror was definitely locked up. Something physically blocking its return. I looked at the lens that I was using at the time, an SMC Tak 35/3.5. The rear of that lens looks different than the one I had been using just prior, a 50/1.4 Super Tak. Put the 50/1.4 back on the camera, mirror falls into place and everything works again.

Now, I've used that 35 before, but I'm wondering if there's a trick to it I don't remember. Something odd going on.

In the meantime though, seems my Spotmatic is not quite dead yet.

[titrisol]

Interesting, both should work just fine in the Spottie.
I don;t have the 35 anymore, but I think it protruded less than the Super-tak 50/1.4

[scott]

I just mounted the 35/3.5 again, fired off a bunch of shots at varying apertures and focus distances. No problems. This is weird. Don't get me wrong - very happy my Spotmatic is working. Just don't like not knowing what happened.

[titrisol]

Maybe it's time to send it for a CLA to eric hendrikson?
I sent mine, and came back 3wks later working like a champ
He even changed the lightmeter cells

[scott]

Perhaps it is. It’s been great for my whole time with it (probably 15-18 years). I’d love it if he could replace the dented prism cover.

I’ll shoot it a bit more and see if the problem recurs.

[titrisol]

Yes, he can replace that prism housing
I sent mine after 21yrs of having the H and more than 25 (1993) that the AP got a service back at home

[scott]

I'll run through the rest of this roll and see if it happens again. I almost never shoot 135 but am really enjoying the camera again (now as it's working...) so, if that's going to continue, it would be worth the $$ to have the seals replace, the shutter CLA'd, the dented top replaced. Be like a new camera. I'll have to start selling off gear to afford that.

[GrahamS]

I must get into my LX soon - it has developed the ubiquitous "sticky mirror" syndrome. I have all the info on the procedure to fix it, just haven't had the time.