Contax RTS II "stuck" film advance, not firing

Cobalt60 · Joined: 01 Mar 2007 Posts: 544 Location: Central Europe

Hi guys,

when cleaning out my closet yesterday and checking and firing the bodies in there it occurred to me that my RTS II (which in fact is my designated RX backup) is "on strike".
Despite a fresh battery it won't fire ... and the film advance lever is "blocked", too.

Did anyone maybe already have a similar issue and can give me a hint?

Thanks!

ZoneV · Expire: 2011-12-02

I had the same I think with my Contax 159 on the flight to Peru, and with an other camera some time before - and a women in Brazil asked me the same question and could bing her camera back to live:
Probably it also works for you?

Open the bottom / ground cover of your camera. There are a lot of mechanics (I suppose that is also true for your camera). Ther could be one crank that is jumped behind / around his counter-crank. When you find this one, push it back to his counter.
If I recall it right, taht was the hole thing.
I think that crank is a bit hard too move, against a spring, probably the shutter mechanics.

Sorry, hope I could help with this, it is long ago.

Cobalt60 · Joined: 01 Mar 2007 Posts: 544 Location: Central Europe

Thanks for the idea ... unfortunately it seems there is something more wrong with mine Sad

monopix · Joined: 07 Feb 2010 Posts: 32

What ZoneV is suggesting is to manually release the wind lock and to recock the shutter to see if it clears the problem. Sometimes it does but if you've tried this and the shutter still doesn't release, it could be the shutter release switch or maybe the release magnet or a host of other things.

I'm not familiar with the RTSII but I think, electronically, it's similar to the 139. On the 139 I would try a remote release. If this works then the problem is the release switch. If not, then I would check the Data Back LED (not sure if the RTSII has one). It should flash when the shutter release is pressed. If it does, the problem is with the release magnet or it's driver circuit. If it doesn't, most likely cause is the transfer switch which is activated by the wind on to only allow the shutter to be released after the film is wound on.

But this is for a 139 so I don't know to what extent it's going to help.