Buckling of Shutter Mechanism on Elan II E

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Is it possible for a buckling of the shutter mechanism on an Elan II E to be caused by something other than an "inadvertant touching of the shutter?" When the buckling occurred in my camera the first time, the repair facility replaced the shutter mechanism. After only 3 rolls of film, the buckling occurred again. The repair was under warranty so I took the camera back. The repair facility said the only possible cause was that I must be "inadvertantly touching the shutter mechanism." However, both times it occurred only while rewinding the film, not when loading it. Both times I noticed the buckling when I opened the camera after rewinding. Both times the freshly rewound film was processed with no damage to any of the pictures. I use the custom option of rewinding so that the leader does not get all the way wound into the film canister. Could this have something to do with the buckling? I'm saying that the second buckling occurring after only three rolls of film after the first repair shows that whatever is causing the buckling was not fixed right the first time. The repair facility claims the buckling is due to my carelessness. Is it possible for the Elan II E's shutter to buckle for a reason other than "inadvertant touching?"

-- Kathy Hooper (yokathy@earthlink.net), April 09, 2002

Answers

Kathy,

"Inadvertant touching" (sounds bad) is the most common way to cause shutter damage. Another much less common cause is sticky substances on the blades. Older EOS models--650, 630, 620, 10S, Elan--have a shutter bumper or seal (not sure what to call it) that breaks down with age into a goo that eventually causes the shutter to jam and buckle. Are there any oil-like substances on your shutter blades?

With that said, the shutter curtain is extremely delicate and may be damaged by a light touch of the finger or a short blast of compressed air. There is no way the end of the film can damage the shutter curtain during rewind. The normal fix for damaged shutter blades is complete replacement of the shutter.

Aloha,

-- Puppy Face (doggieface@aol.com), April 09, 2002.


Just like on my Elan 7E if you use CF-2 (film leader out rewind), it is possible that the protruding film leader can curl up and lightly touch the shutter blades when you open the film chamber.

If you then let the camera back fall against the curled up film leader, force CAN be transferred to the shutter mechanism.

You should probably turn off CF-2 and see if the shutter buckles again. If you need to access the film leader (e.g. to reload partially exposed rolls of film), you could buy a $20 film-leader retrieval tool. This is probably cheaper than a shutter repair not covered by your warranty.

-- Julian Loke (elan7e-owner@yahoogroups.com), April 09, 2002.


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