When depressing the "take picture" button, camera flashes, but no shutter action or film advance. what is the most likely suspect? My problem is similar. The shutter button does not work and the film won't advance. I have a Minolta X-700. Inserted new batteries and can get the LEDs and the beeping to work, but still no shutter button or film advance.
Check and see if the mirror is not moving.
The mirror not moving is not the reason your
SRT is not working. Mirror flip-up and release is one step of the
shutter release sequence that all single len reflex cameras do: the mirror not moving is a symptom that the shutter release sequence was not fully engaged, or is "out-of-sequence".
This problem does happen to older SRT's and is, best case, easy to fix.
Two ways this happens: best case, either the advance lever was not
fully wound (at the "second to last shot") and by depressing the
shutter release button at the shots afterwards you're allowing the
camera to bypass starting this sequence: a shop can "trip" your camera
to its proper sequencing, but it may happen again because of the second
problem described next.
As second-best case, on SRT's the pull-rod in the bottom
of the camera (inside the bottom plate) that connects the advance drum
Y-lever to its cocking lever becomes "stretched" at the end curl: this
is a common weak-link in SRT's. Again, this is a 10 minute fix for a
shop (don't do this yourself) to retension this rod and resequence your
camera to working order.
Alternatively as a worst case, the mirror lock & release levers or
more bottom shutter release mechanisms have become bent, undone or
disconnnected. Since this is harder (near impossible in fact) to have
this happen by just working the camera, hopefully your problem is not
this. Your SRT would be still repairable, but at greater cost.
Call around to find a shop in your area that works and knows what
they're doing on OLDER MANUAL Minoltas, then check the value of your
SRT in your area and have that shop fix your camera at a cost within
its value. Once fixed your SRT is still well within its service life:
on SRT's usually only the meter-to-prism glue clouding, cable
derailments, internal foam pieces gelling, and that pull-rod give
trouble (and all these are still fixable).
Also a simple trick to try to resequence an SRT shutter
yourself. If when your
shutter release button comes back up
(after you wind the camera when pushing down the release button), it
seems lower than normal then try pushing in the rewind release button
(in its U-depression on the bottom of the camera) and try winding the
top advance lever (don't force anything, if this is going to work it
should be all free moving). If the shutter release button pops up, the
camera should be resequenced. It may take a couple of tries.
If it is not the mirror, then it may be the reason below.
The X-700's have a fairly common issue as they age. There is a
capacitor inside, which simply gives out and must be replaced in order
for the camera to function. If I remember correctly, it is directly
related to the shutter release function.
The replacement capacitor is cheap and the repair can be
performed by any reputable camera shop that knows Minoltas. There are
even instructions on the web on how to do it yourself. My 700 gave up
the ghost too, but I just haven't had the confidence to attempt the
repair. I came into another functioning 700, so the repair isn't vital
right now.
Please let me know what you want to do and what you find if you check your mirror. I would be glad to further assist you.
Thank you for using Fixya and Good Luck
Try to used a new film..
Let me know again..
Thanks
This is from the X-700 wikipedia article:
"Motivated by the huge success of the low-priced Canon AE-1 and other, consumer-level cameras, Minolta followed suit in the new camera's design by offering more external camera features. This had the effect of lowering the budget for the camera's internal mechanism. In a step backwards, the new X-700 was not equipped with the modern fast vertical metal shutter of previous XE and XD cameras, and was instead fitted with a less expensive horizontal fabric-shutter curtain shutter operated by simple electromagnets. This resulted in a rather slow flash sync (even for the day) of 1/60th second. No mechanical shutter speed was provided, even in bulb mode. The resultant battery drain and inability to meter at light levels below EV-1 makes the camera a poor choice for long exposures or astrophotography. Minolta further lowered the price of the camera by fabricating certain parts in the film advance and rewind mechanism of less expensive materials, and by the use of less expensive electronic components. Even the rewind lever of the camera is made of plastic."
Look like the shutter and film advance parts were made cheapilly in this camera. Seeing that the camera is about 27 years old it's a suprise it lasted this long.
When you depress the shutter button does the camera react in any way? Is there any noise, lights, or movement at all? If not then your problem is most likely with the shutter button itself or with the electronics. It should be fairly easy and inexpensive to find an identical camera on eBay to use for parts and replace the electronics board and the shutter button. Try to find one that has broken optics but is fully functional otherwise.
Read through this forum posting, may offer some insight:
http://photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-ms...
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Make sure that the self timer mode is off and try to clean battery compartment to eliminate variables but chances are you are having an issue with the cameras capacitor, this is a known issue for minolta x-700.
X700 has a feature
that interlock shutter release button and film advance lever. If the
film is advanced and shutter is not released, then the film advance
lever would not turn the film. If the shutter is released and the film
is not advanced, then pushing the shutter release button cannot release
the shutter . This can create such a problem that if the film advance
lever is not fully rotated to 160 degree, then the shutter and the film
advance lever would lock each other. This is because once the lever is
rotated more than 130 degree but less than 160 degree, the lever cannot
be rotated further unless the shutter is released.
Try this link for: this may help
http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/har...
http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/har...
hope this helps
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