Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

The secret of the mechanical camera many of our friends are excited and excited as soon as they hear the best part of the machine, especially some novice, who have not yet got the camera and have begun to boast. To tell you the truth, a lot of this is caused by the lack of understanding of mechanical cameras, especially small mechanical cameras.

On the Internet, listen to some big god talk a few words, hearsay a few times, formed some ideas. Once an idea is formed, it is difficult to change it quickly unless something happens.

So today we're going to talk about what's going on with mechanical cameras and what's going to happen to these 20th-century mechanical cameras in the third decade of the 21st century.

The so-called mechanical camera, if described in the simplest words, is that it does not need the participation of electricity in the whole exposure process (but photometry can be done by electricity), but is done by mechanical mechanism. The power comes from manpower and is stored with clockwork.

In fact, even if it is an all-electric camera, its shutter is also a machine, and it is exposed through mechanical movement, that is, the shutter is closed. It was not until after the digital camera that the exposure action of non-mechanical motion, that is, directly captured by the sensor, appeared.

The so-called mechanical cameras we use today are often small mechanical cameras, which were gradually developed at the beginning of the last century, mainly skin cavity cameras, using 120 specifications, and then after the emergence of Leica cameras. A large number of all-metal 135 cameras began to emerge.

This kind of all-mechanical camera, full-mechanical operation has been popular until the late 1960s, after that, the electronic speed shutter became popular.

Different types of mechanical cameras have different mechanical components, and there are several parts as a whole.

Shutter part: this part of the inter-mirror shutter camera is relatively simple, integrated on the lens, generally drag some simple structure to connect the shutter button to release. The focal plane shutter part is more complex, it needs to consider the overall design of the fuselage to install the speed control panel. Moreover, this structure needs to be linked with the over-film structure in the later stage of the camera.

Film rewind part: mechanical camera film and rewind are manual operation, in which the film is very particular, must be uniform every time, in fact, through the number of teeth each time to maintain. The film passing mechanism and the shutter mechanism are basically linked on most cameras after the 1950s.

Scene-taking part: whether it is side-axis view or SLR view, both sets are mechanical structures and are very complex. The side axis is optical machinery, which is a rangefinder. The SLR has an additional mechanical structure in addition to the optical pentagram and the reflector.

Other parts: in addition to these, many old mechanical cameras have a delayed exposure system, which is also mechanical. Some paraxial cameras can switch frame lines manually, which is also an additional mechanical structure.

Mechanical camera can be said to be a precision machine made up of organs. although it is not as precise as an advanced mechanical watch, it really needs a lot of parts.

The Nikon S3 side axle has 816 parts, while the SP has 895. Nikon SP's 895 parts are divided into 13 assembly modules. Different versions of the Leica M3 have different parts, with more than 1000 in the earlier version and more than 930 in the scheduled version.

Mechanical camera is a kind of camera with many parts and complex structure. Even if you take apart the cheapest mechanical camera, you will find it very complicated.

Because there are more organs, there are more places prone to failure.

The first problem of mechanical camera is mechanical failure.

All parts of the mechanical camera are mechanical, so there may be something wrong with each part. However, the utilization rate of each mechanical part is different, so it will go bad if it is used too much, and it will go bad if it is not used.

Many of us now regard Leica M cameras as the standard of mechanical cameras, thinking that mechanical cameras are the same as Leica M cameras, which is obviously absurd. Most mechanical cameras are not as strong as Leica M cameras.

Bumping, bumping, mildew, dampness, and rust can all lead to damage or cracking of parts. The manufacturing requirements of many cameras are not high, and the quality of the parts is not good, so there are many natural problems.

Even the Leica M camera itself will have all kinds of malfunctions. The new M6 has just been copied, and it was called back to adjust because the pressure plate scratched the negative.

Then this topic: as many mechanical cameras have gone through the years and are in disrepair, mechanical failures will be more frequent.

In fact, many novice mechanical cameras have some minor problems, especially the shutter is not allowed, the passing force is too strong, and so on.

Many problems cannot be tested by a simple test. Because I have been playing with mechanical cameras, I know a lot of faults that ordinary people may not have heard of. I will give you a few at random:

The shutter is released directly, and the gear dislocation between the wrench and the shutter causes the shutter to be released directly, or sometimes it will be released, sometimes it will not be released.

Insufficient bounce, sticky mirror, this is not only on the Pentax LX, all SLR cameras that use rubber and sponge buffers will not bounce up or stick down. In addition, due to the problem of the support rod, many reflectors can only play half, which is also very common.

Misalignment of the reflector means that the support column of the reflector of the SLR camera is loose, resulting in a slight change in the angle of the reflector, which can lead to focus errors.

The rewind linkage is stuck. To put it simply, the rewind shaft can be moved, but the grab hook inside can not be moved. When the film is over, the film here will be stuck by this hook. Many people don't know. If you try too hard on the film, the film will be broken.

The bright wireframe is misplaced and falls off, mainly the paraxial camera, which is high after the Leica M camera is bumped. Once the side axis bright wireframe is misplaced, there is no way to get an accurate view.

Pressure plate failure, mainly due to the aging of the pressure gauge spring, will leave scratches on the film.

In addition, there are many messy failures, such as counter jam, overturned gear jam, shutter disk failure, and so on.

And it doesn't include the biggest malfunction of mechanical cameras: shutter failure. There are more than a dozen forms of shutter failure or shutter damage, some are completely bad, some are half bad, some are sometimes bad, some are not bad, and some look good but actually bad.

Of course, this is not to say that the electronic machine is not malfunctioning, there are many electronic problems with the aging of the electronic electromechanical circuit board.

Because many people have the illusion that the machine is eternal and the machine is solid, in fact, the mechanical camera is not as strong as imagined, it has many practical problems, not only many, but also very common.

Another problem that mechanical cameras are prone to malfunction in our time is lack of maintenance and long-term disuse.

The action of a mechanical camera is actually hard wear and tear on the parts, similar to a watch. Although the working time of the camera is not as long as that of the watch, it is much more powerful than the watch, so maintenance is quite necessary.

However, most mechanical cameras are not well maintained. I even saw some Canon, Leica and Nikon cameras from the 1950s and 1960s that were never opened and even the screws rusted to death.

The second problem is not to use it for a long time. Many camera repairmen turn on the camera and it stinks because it has been useless for a long time and it is rotten inside. Long-term use will seriously accelerate the aging of parts, especially when the oil dries up and solidifies, which will stick to the parts. If a camera that has not been used for a long time is used fiercely, the parts are easy to break.

Here is the problem of shutter accuracy.

The shutter of the mechanical camera is definitely not as accurate as the electronic shutter. In the past, it is necessary to test the gap to evaluate the new mechanical shutter products. There is little difference between different types of mechanical shutters, but this is under the logic of the new product. We now have these shutters for more than 20 years, or even more than 50 years, basically can only be maintained, troubleshooting, accuracy can not require too much.

In general, the mechanical shutter accuracy is easy to have problems with the winding speed-controlled slow-door part, while the distance from the speed-controlled shutter part is generally not a big problem.

The biggest problem with the shutter is that only when there is a big problem can we feel that the exposure is obviously wrong.

Even if we have the awareness of regular maintenance and repair, not all cameras can be maintained. As a matter of fact, most mechanical cameras cannot be maintained.

Now we can generally find maintenance, mainly Hasu, Lulai, Leica cameras, and the craftsmanship of each master is different, sometimes even the old master will be unsatisfactory.

Because Hasu, Lulai and Leica are originally more expensive, so the maintenance price is expensive. However, if you take a $2000 Nikon FM2, you may not be willing to maintain it for you. From the maintenance process and process, the maintenance of a FM2 will not be much easier than the maintenance of an M3, but the price can not be high, after all, maintenance of M3, a time to more than 1000 yuan, you a FM2 a total of only more than 2000.

Therefore, even if they have the ability, many technicians are not willing to maintain mechanical cameras such as FM2.

For very unpopular cameras like MAKINA67, many technicians dare not maintain them even if they can, because they are too rare.

The actual service life of many mechanical cameras is actually about the same as that of electronic machines, ranging from 10 years to 20 years, to 30 years and 40 years, unless you buy a Leica, Lulai, Hasu, you can expect to use it for more than 50 years.

In addition, many of our film fans do not play all the time, so very often, after we are happy for a while, the camera will fall into a new round of disrepair.

Here are some of my experiences.

(1) if you play with a mechanical camera, you have to play Lulai DSLR, Hasu DSLR, Leica M, the best and the most exciting. Although the price is a little high, the value of these cameras does not mean that China and Japan recognize them all over the world, and the quantity is only so small. As long as you do not use them as battlefield colors as I do, they are basically preserved in value, and you will not lose money if you do not like to sell them.

(2) pay attention to the maintenance and use of the mechanical camera, if you do not take pictures often, then operate the camera and do all kinds of actions to prevent the internal oil from solidifying or breeding mold and greasy. If it is often used, it is found that the action is not smooth, when it is wrong, we should pay attention to maintenance and repair.

(3) beginners do not need to pay special attention to whether it is mechanical or electronic, in fact, mechanical or electronic, if the manual focus camera, the actual operation experience will not be much different, the electronic machine has some A file, probably the difference is here.

(4) Don't buy very old mechanical cameras cheaply, such as the 1950s, the 1960s, or even the 30s and 40s. Collection can be sure, but taking pictures is actually inconvenient to operate, and there are many faults.

This article is from the official Wechat account: film fan club (ID:jiaojuanmi), author: Shanghai Old dirty Turtle

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