I have 2 Praktica MTL3 cameras which now have the same problem. After going halfway into the film, the picture is taken as normal, but the film wont wind on (the wind arm wont move more than 10 degrees or so). Pulling at the little lever top left of t
There seems to be an epidemic of jammed Prakticas on this forum at the moment! I had a jammed MTL3 myself a few weeks ago. I spent ages peering and prodding in the mechanism. Eventually I noticed a screw-head deep inside where I was pretty sure no screw s
Thanks very much -yes Id love to try and have a go (the camera is as good as dead as it is now so theres nothing to lose). I cant see anything obviously loose, but it made a noise further down inside the works today -maybe nearer the button underneath-w
The first thing to say is that on models with TTL metering like the MTL3 the shutter speed and film speed controls are linked to a variable resistance under the bottom cover. In the hole in the middle of the speed control is a taper headed screw which exp
Ok, Ive got the frame counter disc & hairspring off. But the shutter still wont cock, as the same old jamming problem occurs. Is there another way I can cock the shutter without using the lever column?
Also you say 'undo the delay mechanism
Yes, the upper brass plate and the one below it and the gears between them will come off as a unit. This should enable you to see much more of the shutter-cocking and film-transport mechanism, which I hope might be useful. The shutter itself is cocked
To answer your last comment first, perhaps it is unlucky, though these identical faults actually occurred a over year apart. The only other trouble Ive ever had with them in 20+ years has been shutters sticking closed when the camera accidentally got
Correction: that should be 9 0'clock that the lever interlocks with the disc, not 3 O'clock. l_n_h.
The lever you are referring to at 9 o'clock is the wind lock, which of course should not be in its notch unless the shutter is cocked. Is yours in the notch with the shutter un-cocked? I have a picture I took of the mechanism, and it looks as though
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Yes the wind lock is in the notch with shutter uncocked. By uncocked you mean the film has not been wound on after taking the pic? Yes I confirm: the wind arm never allowed the film to wind far enough I believe. The triangular 'flag' visible in the vi
Since my last posting I decided it was time I tried to work out for myself just how these Prakticas work. They seem to have far more levers and interlocks than can be good for them! I took the delay mech. off my scrap PLC3 which had already had the front
Thanks for a super set of instuctions -even if I cant cure my camera problem there will be lots of others who will find these notes useful!
Your suggestion to check out film transport gears first would be my first thoughts too, as winding on was whe
The gear above the sprocket-spindle should not be as stiff as you describe. Even if there was a jam elsewhere in the gears, I think you should be able to move it a little. On a working camera, if you open the back and rock the sprocket spindle to and
Yes, front plate came off completely after desoldering a blue wire top left of prism -this must be another 'flash' connection. No vacant screwholes visible apart from one in the mirror chamber (bottom left, in the wall behind the mirror). But my o
If the take-up spool moved when you turned the sprocket spindle, then the gear above it must be free. It is not too easy to turn from above. I was pushing it with a screwdriver - I'm not sure you could turn it with a needle. There is not a lot of clea
The 2 screws you mention holding the mechanism are present and tight, but thanks for the suggestion.
Incidentally, the loose screw has only a slightly thicker head than the 2 back brass top plate screws. The difference is so small youd probably no
First, regarding the mystery screw and your front-plate assembly. The scrap camera I am working with is a PLC3 which had electric lens and a totally different metering system. Immediately below the 3 springs is a bracket holding a pair of electric conta
I find you can just see the 3rd screw for the release meechanism without taking off the self-timer if you get the light in the right direction, so have a look first. It is just above a shiny spring. If you can't see it, it is probably not there!
Youve done it (twice)!
(I'll be brief as my mouse froze and I just lost a longer message.)
Firstly, the mystery screw fits into the 3rd hole -it only goed in crooked -even after 2 attempts and loosening the other 2 screws to give the whole mech
Ps One other question: on reassembling the bottom push button. Theres a sliding lever which holds it in place, and the button has to be pressed in for that to happen - otherwise the button just falls out when the bottom plate is off. When replacing the
Glad you got there!
I will reassemble my scrap camera now, so if you run into problems during assembly, post the question and I will try to answer while the procedure is fresh in my mind. I don't know if you took off all the frame-counter lev
Something I missed last time round: When you are putting back the timing delay, the lever that fits on the split shaft in the timing control has to be in position in the delay mechanism as you do it. You can't get it on after the delay is fitted.
Ok thanks for these details -will watch out for them as we get on. And yes, I did take off the frame counter levers you mentioned.
However, theres a spot of bother at the moment. The film mechanism wound on ok and the camera shutter fired at th
I hope I don't have to try to figure out exactly how the release and mirror mechanism work! With the front plate off, if you push lever D to its forward, cocked position, pushing the long vertical lever forward (or pressing the release button) fli
Good news: You dont have to figure out exactly how the mirror/release mech works!
There were 2 problems at work. Firstly with the back half of the camera, the catch was indeed not hooking onto the lever C -thats why it fired upon winding. Dont kn
Just to explain the workings of the frame counter: Immediately below the counter disc is the ratchet-wheel, with the 2 thin metal pawls engaged with it. The lower pawl is the one that pushes the frame-counter disc forward (clockwise) when you wind on. T
Its done. The camera is back together and all looks to be in order. The only thing to do now is test it with a film to see if its lightproof -which will take some time to use up the remaining 34 out of 36 exp of the film thats currently in the other jamme
Well done! The next one will be a lot easier. Re. light-seals: ALL old Prakticas need the light seal at the hinge replacing, apart from some later cameras (1980s?) which use a higher density foam and some which use a velvety material. Everything else is
OK, will check that out. The double-sided 'tape' in my drawer turned out to be d.s.-mounting tape, which is a bit like foam draught-excluder. It looked far too thick to stick the plastic backing onto the camera body as it would stick out too much;
You want the sort of double-sided tape that has just a very thin transparent sheet between the layers of adhesive.
For the foam light-seal your best bet is one of Jon Goodman's $6 kits as endorsed in dozens of threads on this forum! He sells on e
OK, thanks.
Today I had a go at the second faulty MTL3. Though the same model, there are some differences -eg its got imitation leather backing on the outside instead of the 'plastic with squares' kind. (Theres also a clamp inside by the pr
You are right about the location of the slotted nut. I think the problem tightening the taper-screw and locking the L-shaped screw may have been that you had lifted the delay mechanism enough to disengage the gears at the top of the long spindle that link
Ok thanks.
When I said that the L-shaped screw was in a different position to the other camera's when I opened it, it could be that the shutter speed had been altered by then.
Today I think the 2 MTL3s, at least, might indeed have the same
I assume you don't mean there is slack when you turn the L-shaped lever. Do you mean it moves up and down, or side to side? Side to side clearance would definitely be wrong, but I can't see how it would occur. There will be a bit of up and down pl
The slack is present when you push the spindle/L-shaped lever as a unit. (Ie the L-lever is tightly attached to the spindle and isnt independent of it anymore, but they both together have the play). Perhaps I should have said the spindle has the slack b
There is a fair bit of slack at the L-shaped lever but it shouldn't be excessive. I've just taken the delay mech. off my scrap camera and the top shaft (with the split end) is held by a circlip at the point where there is an open hole on the LB2 mecha
More good news. I managed to take off the delay mech -at last! Confirmed, the circlip is there; its only tiny, and on top of a small raised column, if thats the one you mean. Then the gear must have disengaged again as it took nearly another hour of
When you push the LH lever to the right, you are just getting it on the correct side of the vertical pin on Lever C (the pin that engages with the release catch) so that it doesn't stop the delay fitting properly. Once the delay is on, and if the co
Ok, Ive put front plate back on and it seems to be cocking/firing properly. Yes, the lever at the back always goes left of the pin, I do make sure. I do note though that the timer mech often makes a slight buzzing noise when the camera is BEING cock
I have just checked the slow speeds on my MTL 3 and I can confirm that there is a buzzing or gear whirring noise on speeds from 1/15 - 1sec as the film advance lever is moved to cock the shutter. So this is normal.
Regards - Alf
Thanks Alf. Thats good to know anyway!
It sounds as though the escapement rocker is not engaging with the star-wheel in the delay on camera 1. I had the same thing on my scrap PLC3. When you get the top off have a look at the RH end below the frame-counter. Between the brass plates is a spring
I've just located some pictures of another camera in a previous thread: -
This shows a
Yes, BOTH springs in these cameras seemed to be in the wrong place. (I hope we are talking about the same springs here, but both springs are the type you appear to have -ie the ends are simply long and straight with no bends at the end).
Intere
I think I may have steered you wrong here. The fact that your 2nd camera had its spring in the same place as pictured in the other thread got me worried, and I had another look at the spring on the PLC3, and in fact it does have the bend, as in the
Yes, the top was back on, but Ive put the spring back. (It was a really good idea NOT to resolder the flash wires-its saved a lot of work!).
I was going in there anyway to check if the timer was actually screwed down far enough (one reason why
Surprised you managed to get the wind-lever screw off without taking off the black disc, circlip and shim/s! It does mean that you didn't follow the sometimes recommended procedure of picking the disc off with a needle, which unless you are very car
Thanks. And well done to you too for your help -as Ive said before, without your guidance this task would never have been attempted, let alone completed!
One last question, a very minor one, as its long been a feature on both cameras that I
The wind levers always do stop a few degrees before the clockwise stop. I think it is probably just to make the lever handier if you are doing action photography and want to take another shot very quickly.
OK. Thanks once again for all your kind help!
l_n_h.
Just in case anyone tries to use this thread as a guide to stripping their Praktica, I thought I had better add some amendments for the record: -
1. Removal and replacement of the delay mechanism are NOT easier with the shutter cocked. In fact b
anyone has photo it is hard to understand only words
I have been putting together some descriptions. They are not really ready for public consumption yet - some pictures are missing and some could be improved - but you can have a look and see if they help. At least they are shorter than this thread!
it is very difficult, I guess i will giveup