Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/03/19
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Doug Cooper wrote: > I don't know if any of you have ever had this happen, but it turns out > that the "dead" selenium cell on my new Canon 7 isn't at dead at all. > Today I tapped the meter window, and suddenly it was reading with perfect > accuracy. Seems to work on both high and low settings, no problem. I'm > quite pleased with this, as suddenly my camera's worth a few hundred > dollars more. (The meter in this particular model is near impossible to > fix, I'm told.) > > I suppose something was holding the meter needle in place, and my tap > dislodged it. > > Douglas Cooper > > Btw, I'll be at the camera show tomorrow in Manhattan. Anyone else > coming? Douglas, I owe 2 Cannon 7's. Both of them had the same problem. The metal frame of the selenium cell, is one electrical pole of the cell and is by pressure alone connected to the top housing. The top housing in turn is connected to one pole of the meter. (By pressure, I mean, a few bend lugs coming from the metal frame and are put through the top housing and the bend at right angles). At the start of the camera life this works fine. After some years, the 2 surfaces have a tendency to slightly corrode. Sometime you can see some bits of rust , where the chrome plating came loose. This can be fixed. (preferably by a camera mechanic). Sometime a wiggle or two will also temporarily fix it. But it is better to have it done professionally. Especially, since the model 7 is a very fine camera. Regards, Horst Schmidt