I thought this would be a good opportunity to practice my camera fixing skills (which, let’s be clear, had never before been practised). I screwed it apart (easier said than done, all those bit and bobs fit really, really tight!) and poked around in it’s gut for a bit. I managed to almost destroy the mirror by trying to wipe off the dust and wiping of the silver as well. I couldn’t reach the shutter mechanism, and the focusing mechanism wouldn’t budge either. So much for my fixing skills… I did manage to fix the shutter, by removing a little spring that was too tight. The spring belonged to the double exposure prevention. Hard to explain what was exactly wrong with it (you had to see it, I guess), but removing it fixed it. Of course, it also disabled the double exposure prevention, but who needs that, anyway.
Screwing the camera back together was another hellish task. Taking stuff apart is so much easier that putting it back together. You may understand that I was a bit worries that I had ruined the whole camera for good. A second roll proved my worries had been for nothing. It still takes pretty nice pictures. I can live with the rather limited focus and shutter speeds. The handy depth of field table that is screwed to the back of the camera proves thet I can get sharp pictures from as little as 2,5 meters, that’s not too bad actually.
