Sorry about this, but help needed with a 139 Winder

[Davejt]

Hi all.

I picked up one of these today, as in another thread I started we sort of concluded that this attachment would help with holding a 139 when an 85 Planar is attached. The answer is, yes, it very much does help.

Pressing the shutter release does activate the meter, it does fire the shutter, and when pressing the test button, it does fire the winder. But it won't wind when it is attached to the body.

When I turn the power off on the winder, it still activates the meter and fires the shutter when you press the shutter release. Even when there are no batteries in the winder, it will still fire the shutter and activate the meter. How cool is that!!

Any ideas? What do I need to do to get it to wind while attached to the camera? It is possible that my AA's are weak though, they are about a year old. Could that be the only problem?

I am doing this without any film in the camera if that makes a difference.

I actually don't mind it, I don't mind winding myself, as the winder is pretty loud. It really is excellent having the extra shutter button for verticals, I wish there was a grip for the RX, that thing would be perfect if there was one.

[Davejt]

I forgot to mention that I believe it is winder 1, not the one called Winder II. Not sure if that makes a difference, but every bit of info helps I guess.

[cooltouch]

Whenever problems are experienced with an electrical device, the first thing you ALWAYS do, is check the power supply. In your case, load fresh batteries into winder. Then if it still doesn't work, on to plan B.

How many electrical contacts are there between the winder and the camera? If there are only two, you can use a coin to short across these contacts, and with most winders, this will cause the motor to spin. Chances are that, if the motor spins, the winder is functional.

The reason why your camera's meter responds and the shutter is tripped when there are no batteries in the winder is because the winder is completing the camera's electrical circuit mechanically. That is, when a button is depressed, contacts are brought together, completing a circuit, allowing current to flow. Obviously, however, the camera will still need its own battery for this function to remain.

[Davejt]

Thanks for you reply. I had tried cleaning the contacts before, just to make sure they were clean. I guess I didn't do a good enough job. I tried the coin trick, and that did connect the circuit. Therefore it definitely works. After giving the contacts a much more thorough cleaning, it works exactly as it should when attached to the camera. Thanks

[cooltouch]

Yeah, contacts is usually number 2 Even when they look fine, I'll still hit them with a pencil eraser and this will usually take care of the problem.

Glad to read it's working now. Cool. Be sure to post some pics from your 138/85 Planar combo, 'kay?