Retina Automatic III

Ed Birch , Aug 20, 2008; 02:33 p.m.

I just found a Kodak retina automatic III amongst some photo stuff that my late brother had collected. It has the original box, manual, and sales reciept from the store in NY.It's really clean, but there is some hazing in the range/veiw finder, and the shutter is making a short "buzz" sound before it fires. It fires really crisply, but there is a slight delay between when the release is pressed, and the shutter actually fires. Any ideas? Oh, and the Gossen selenium meter still works.

Responses

Joe Grodis , Aug 20, 2008; 03:15 p.m.

Mine did the same when I first got it. Try it with a shutter speed of 1/500. Just about all of the cameras lose slow speeds due to dried lube. Usually these shutters with fire well at 1/500 sec even when dirty. I suggest a professional CLA or... you can carefully give the shutter a squirt of lighter fluid and cycle it several times till all the speed come back.

-Joe

Richard Beisigl , Aug 20, 2008; 03:32 p.m.

I am not sure if this camera has a timer on it, if it does, then it may be set on this setting; or mabe on the bulb setting. Again, I do not know this camera, so I am just guessing.

Ed Birch , Aug 20, 2008; 06:53 p.m.

Joe, how do I go about getting to the shutter with out totally screwing it up. And thanks for the info.

Joe Grodis , Aug 20, 2008; 09:48 p.m.

Remove the front lens element. Set the shutter speed to 1/500. Give the shutter a little squirt of lighter fluid. The cock & fire several times. Then try the slower speeds. I'd say this work half the time unless it in really bad shape.

Good Luck

-joe

Michael Hendrickson , Aug 21, 2008; 03:05 a.m.

But if you've never done this sort of thing before, please observe the following "axiom": If you're not sure about what you're about to do, don't.

It could be that exercising the shutter some could clear it up. But a clean and lube is likely necessary.

Ed Birch , Aug 21, 2008; 11:53 a.m.

Thanks guys. I specialy like Michaels "axiom". I've over stepped my abilities before, and ended up with a pile of left over parts. Maybe I'll just list this on "the Bay" , and see what I can get.

Steve Mareno , Aug 21, 2008; 11:50 p.m.

That's a good idea Ed. Just describe the problem clearly, take really good photos, and you might get a good price for it.

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