A lot of my eBay purchases are listed as ‘untested’, which in eBay slang often means “it doesn’t work, but I will pretend I don’t know”! This is not always the case and I have snagged some real bargains buying this way. I have managed to fix many that were not functional, but some I just cannot get going again. All of these camera have been in pieces multiple times, but still have issues.

This gorgeous early Etareta arrived not working, so I set about investigating. The shutter was stripped and cleaned and starting firing well. Thinking that was the only problem I stuck a roll of film through..

Oh dear! the focus is way out. Assuming it was the way I reassembled the lens, it came apart again. I wisely opted to check the focus before testing again, and sure enough the focus is still out. It will only focus very close up, and the front lens element will not screw in enough to achieve infinity. It has me really stumped as the only way I can get infinity is by releasing the collapsible lens barrel and moving back a few millimetres - obviously not a practical solution as the lens is not locked in place.

Another camera that refuses to work even after several attempt is the incredibly simple and incredibly small Elop Elca. The shutter is very simple, and I got it working. Strangely when it is reassembled it doesn’t work! So frustrating!

The shutter mechanism is literally just two metal components and a spring, so how can it not just do as it is told and work for me!

In a similar way the Samoca 35’s shutter has been fixed (a simple case of the aperture lever being out of place), but it is not cocking once everything is put back together unless you twist the rewind release lever! Weird! It is as if the lever that cocks the shutter when you advance the film is not travelling far enough. Hopefully there is some kind of adjustment to be made when the top cover comes off.

The most annoying thing is all of these cameras are gorgeous things, and I would love to shoot with them. I keep plugging away at them until they give up the fight and start working again.

Lastly in the repair box is the Edixa Prismat CDS, which when I bought it seemed to be working well, but after a proper examination didn’t.

During inspection I found the second curtain was very slow, especially below 1/250th second. A bit of lubrication on the rollers seemed to free things up, but now the speeds are rather inconsistent. It looks ok at 1/1000 and 1/500 - 1/250 is sometimes a bit slow, and below that act like Bulb most of the time. I think a deeper clean and lube should sort it all out, but is a bit more involved, so will have to wait for a free afternoon to get stuck in.

If you buy cameras as ornaments then it is fine, but I like to use them as they are intended.

Buying ‘untested’ cameras!…

The Severn Bridges…

Lucky SHD400 review…