Manual film cameras are easier to troubleshoot than their electronic digital counterparts.
Troubleshooting a manual 35mm Ricoh camera is significantly easier than troubleshooting their electronic counterparts. With a manual camera, you can usually easily identify the problem or, at a minimum, know where the problem exists. Whether you are troubleshooting a manual or electronic camera, the process is relatively the same: You want to systematically rule out potential problems one step at a time. The best place to start is when the camera does not have any film in it.
Instructions
1. Hold the camera in one hand, remove the lens from the front of the camera, and open up the rear film door by pulling up on the film rewind knob.
2. With the camera door open, turn the shutter speed dial located on the top of the dial to "B." This setting will keep the shutter open and the mirror lifted for as long as you continue to press the shutter release button. By doing this, you will be able to see if the mirror and shutter are functioning properly.
3. Test fire the camera at each of the shutter speed settings. While it is not an exact science, you should be able to hear a change in the shutter speed as it increases. If the camera has settings for 1 second or ½ second, you can also time the shutter to a stopwatch to see how accurate the shutter is.
4. Attach the lens, and look through the viewfinder. 35mm SLR lenses are designed to allow the most light into the viewfinder for focusing, but when the camera fires, the lens will stop down to its aperture setting. On the front side of the camera, there will be a "depth of field" preview button. Press this, and the scene you are looking at in the viewfinder will become darker as you increase the aperture on the lens. By doing this, you can see if the shutter blades are performing properly.
5. Load a roll of film into the camera, close the rear door and, using the rewind knob on the top of the camera, carefully tighten the film. Press the shutter release button, and advance the film. As you advance the film, the rewind crank should move forward approximately half a turn.
Tags: shutter speed, advance film, doing this, film rewind, release button, rewind knob, shutter release