When is a camera worth investing money to fix?
My father found a camera he used in my childhood and before. An old Topcon Unirex. The battery still has a 60% charge! In theory it should still work. The shutter seems to be stuck closed and the mirror is for now, retracted. I unscrewed the parts I felt I could get off without major hassle and found there were some loose screws in a few parts. I put them all back in and now the various rings on the front move very well. Aperture seems to work and when I select a new iso there’s a mechanical “whirr”.
Looking through his old albums, I don’t see any real advantage to this rig that I can’t replicate with my current hardware.
For now, it sits on the shelf. Mocking me. Having gotten my hopes up.
2 comments
dinospork
Your current setup gives you through-the-lens spot metering?
That's a cool camera, man. You should get it so it's shooting again and run a roll through to see what it's like. Think in terms of character as much as capability. Sometimes, switching to new equipment a) is fun, b) might teach you something, and c) can be a source of sudden and/or unexplained inspiration.
fartstorm
@dinospork Thanks for the input. I want to get it working too. I just hope it doesn't cost more than the value of the camera to get it functional. There's a significant dent in the lens housing (which could be a hint to the nature of the shutter malfunction) and a small scratch in the lens itself. All that being said, I think back to my dad's face hidden behind the camera and get a warm fuzzy feeling, thinking back to a more innocent time in my life.