Repair Help -- Kodak Retina IIA Film Advance

David · Expire: 2013-01-25

So I hit this estate sale today and in the camera bag was a very solid Kodak Retina IIA from between 1952 and 1958. It worked great mechanically. No oil on the shutter or aperture, all mechanisms worked, and so I took it out for some shots.

It ran a whole role PERFECTLY. I held the release to rewind it and the film rewound fine, but now the shutter button is stuck and the film advance lever won't budge at all. The lever is stuck far left, so it's tucked away and not at risk of getting caught on stuff.

Any ideas? I'm hoping to avoid taking the camera apart.

David · Expire: 2013-01-25

Fixed it. I am a numpty nuts. I didn't realize the counter had to be manually reset.

Nesster · Expire: 2014-02-20

That's the first thing I would have suggested. Guess why Laughing

The IIa is a lovely camera, one of my all time favorites. Unfortunately after a few years use mine locked up mid stroke... Haven't had the time to investigate how to unlock it. Once a Compur shutter locked up on me, on the Bessa 66, but after some months in the cupboard it decided to work again, flawlessly. So far that repair method hasn't worked on the Retina, I've even put the two next to each other so the Retina might learn from the Bessa Laughing

David · Expire: 2013-01-25

As soon as mine locked, I went to some repair forums. One thing I read was that the Bessa has a sturdier spool movement spring than the Retinas (though the Retinas are better than the Retinettes.) A number of topics cited the same problem -- lever lock in mid-wind -- as an indication that the spring had broken. It's possible to fix, but is tricky. I read the storied of the fixes with abject horror, afraid I'd have to try that.

I grabbed a bunch of photos of the Retina last night, but I may have to re-take them since I spent about 30 minutes this morning cleaning 55+ years of grime off the top. This is a slick looking little camera, and the glass is superb. Germans make good cameras.