Help! Beginner and lens keeps falling off

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samiy

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hello, I bought this camera at a market and need help figuring out how to put back 2 things that keep falling out.
1. lens
2. Shutter lens? I think

it’s a paxette electromatic. 40 mm

Please help.

( no need now. It’s just a matter of waiting to see if it worked )
 
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It sounds as if the camera is broken, and probably not worth repairing. But HERE is a link to the manual. Oh, and welcome to the forum.
 
ask why it was for sale at a market? maybe because of that fault and not worth repairing. Sorry but I think you may has b een "Had". looked it up and one claimed to be near mint used was only £45. Why go for a 70yr old film camera anyway? getting film nowadays is not that easy as everything is now digital

A brief history of the early Braun Paxettes

A brief history of the early Braun Paxettes by Chris Sherlock
retinarescue.com retinarescue.com
 
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realspeed said:
ask why it was for sale at a market? maybe because of that fault and not worth repairing. Sorry but I think you may has b een "Had". looked it up and one claimed to be near mint used was only £45. Why go for a 70yr old film camera anyway? getting film nowadays is not that easy as everything is now digital

A brief history of the early Braun Paxettes

A brief history of the early Braun Paxettes by Chris Sherlock
retinarescue.com retinarescue.com
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I really loved how it looked and everything else seemed fine so really sad honest
 
simon ess said:
It does seem you may have bought a dud.

BTW, film and film developing is widely available and easily sourced if you want to use a film camera.
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I do!! But want a affordable option which is why I bought this one
 
samiy said:
hello, I bought this camera at a market and need help figuring out how to put back 2 things that keep falling out.
1. lens
2. Shutter lens? I think

it’s a paxette electromatic. 40 mm

Please help
Click to expand...
 

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samiy said:
I do!! But want a affordable option which is why I bought this one
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Pop in to the Film and Conventional section of the forum and ask about film cameras. They will be delighted to help, if help is what you need.
 
thank you soooo much. you all are so sweet I might cry
 
hello, newbie here that idiotically got a camera at the market for like £25. But itwas very cute and I was drawn to it. Anyways,
It’s a paxette electromatic, 40mm and two things keep falling off.
1- camera lens
2- shutter lens ?(I think)

I’ve been told that it’s probably a dud but I wanna try to fix it and finish off the exposures before anything else.

(no need now. It’s just a matter of waiting)
 

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Don't be put off by a broken camera. I too love the 50's and 60's cameras and seem to have a growing collection.
A few that don't work, some that work on some settings and only couple that work well... but they have been worth the chase.
Film is pretty easy to get hold of, it's the processing that can cost more than you might like, or do your own.

Here's one of my current favourites..... Welcome to the club!

Baldina2.jpg
 
Cluster said:
Don't be put off by a broken camera. I too love the 50's and 60's cameras and seem to have a growing collection.
A few that don't work, some that work on some settings and only couple that work well... but they have been worth the chase.
Film is pretty easy to get hold of, it's the processing that can cost more than you might like, or do your own.

Here's one of my current favourites..... Welcome to the club!

View attachment 328027
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Thank you :(
i already have the film just have to use it now. might even show you guys if it works out well :))
I love that one. How’d you get that camera.
 
It still might be fixable by anybody good at tinkering - the black / silver ring might just be lacking a couple of tiny screws, for instance - I can't tell without seeing it.

Does anything seem to work - can you do a dummy wind-on with no film in, and then press the shutter button & hear the shutter click?

If all else fails, it's quite nice to have an old thing like that on the shelf to look at, & take photos with something else. But it can be tricky to find an oldish machine with nothing wrong with it!
 
droj said:
It still might be fixable by anybody good at tinkering - the black / silver ring might just be lacking a couple of tiny screws, for instance - I can't tell without seeing it.

Does anything seem to work - can you do a dummy wind-on with no film in, and then press the shutter button & hear the shutter click?

If all else fails, it's quite nice to have an old thing like that on the shelf to look at, & take photos with something else. But it can be tricky to find an oldish machine with nothing wrong with it!
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I don’t know what the first thing is but with and without film I can hear the shutter click and wind it up.
 
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samiy said:
without film I can hear the shutter click and wind it up
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You just might have a fighting chance then! I wonder if it's the plain Electromatic (first model) because it seems that there were several (i, ii etc), & the later ones got more sophisticated.

Does the black ring still on the camera, where the zebra ring goes to cover it, turn by finger pressure or does it seem non-rotatable?

Don't get your hopes up yet, there can be more obstacles!
 
If the photo above isn’t clear, I can take some more.
Black ring isn’t sticking when it rotates.
It has these two holes that I think is supposed to make it stick but idk I’ll show you.
 

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We might be mis-communicating here. What I'm calling the black ring is what's in your photo 2. Does that turn easily by you gripping it with your finger & thumb, or does it seem fixed? That's what I meant.
 
Looking at the manual linked earlier the pointer on that ring indicates the film speed it is set to which can only be 10, 32 or 64 ASA. I guess if you put the ring on the camera it will only fit at whatever speed is currently set so you could use that speed. (sensitivity).

Since this:
camerapedia.fandom.com

Paxette electromatic

In 1959 the Braun Paxette electromatic was advertised as the world's first fully automatic 35mm camera. Its selenium meter controlled the aperture and gave a red/green light sufficiency signal in the viewfinder. But other automatic functions were missing. Instead, the focusing of the Ennagon...
camerapedia.fandom.com camerapedia.fandom.com
says the camera has an f 5,6 aperture lens and 1/40 shutter with fixed focus then as long as the shutter fires you should be good to go without the zebra ring.

Only my guesses though!
 
droj said:
We might be mis-communicating here. What I'm calling the black ring is what's in your photo 2. Does that turn easily by you gripping it with your finger & thumb, or does it seem fixed? That's what I meant.
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Crossed post, it’s fixed focus, see my link.
 
From that link to the manual it looks like the zebra ring does nothing more than hold the ASA ring in place (and look pretty) since you have to poke the pointer to set the film speed.
 
sphexx said:
Looking at the manual linked earlier the pointer on that ring indicates the film speed it is set to which can only be 10, 32 or 64 ASA. I guess if you put the ring on the camera it will only fit at whatever speed is currently set so you could use that speed. (sensitivity).

Since this:
camerapedia.fandom.com

Paxette electromatic

In 1959 the Braun Paxette electromatic was advertised as the world's first fully automatic 35mm camera. Its selenium meter controlled the aperture and gave a red/green light sufficiency signal in the viewfinder. But other automatic functions were missing. Instead, the focusing of the Ennagon...
camerapedia.fandom.com camerapedia.fandom.com
says the camera has an f 5,6 aperture lens and 1/40 shutter with fixed focus then as long as the shutter fires you should be good to go without the zebra ring.

Only my guesses though!
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I’ll look through them now! One question before I try to find it I’ll ask here. Is the shutter supposed to fall out ? Like should I panic ?
 
Good old Richard.

Sam, which bit are you calling the shutter?
 
My advice is finish the roll of film you have in it as if nothing is wrong (those pieces don't look vital from what I can see from images on the net).

When you get the film developed you will then have an idea if the camera is operable as it is. If not then there could be a lot of reasons why the images didn't come out right, in particular as this is a fixed focus and probably aperture camera a user error is very easy (not enough light or too much light for example).

If it doesn't work out then come back and perhaps we can provide some advice on your next purchase.
 
moggi1964 said:
My advice is finish the roll of film you have in it as if nothing is wrong (those pieces don't look vital from what I can see from images on the net).

When you get the film developed you will then have an idea if the camera is operable as it is. If not then there could be a lot of reasons why the images didn't come out right, in particular as this is a fixed focus and probably aperture camera a user error is very easy (not enough light or too much light for example).

If it doesn't work out then come back and perhaps we can provide some advice on your next purchase.
Click to expand...
that was a plan. yea it doesn’t seem that important really. dumb question(s) what makes the camera fixed focus, is it the not moving black ring? and what do you mean about the aperture camera bit?
Hopefully, it does work so I come back with good news instead or more questions!
 
The ring with the pointer is not the shutter but just the indicator for the film sensitivity.. I presume the zebra ring is empty -- there’s no glass in it?

The pointer should line up with the 10, 32, or 64 numbers.
 
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ahh okay. Yea it’s empty. I took it out today for some photos and it stays on a bit ,at least for the photo part, but if the camera is in a downward position it falls. But only at 10 ig that’s okay.
 
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No that's not the shutter - the shutter is the mechanism inside the lens that opens / closes momentarily to take the exposure when you press the button on top of the camera. Richard seems to be saying that the silver ring is to do with acknowledging the film speed rating, and via that, the lens aperture - varying the size of the hole that lets the light through to the film.

But it's a very simple camera with few settings. So you could just wing it! Try a film out & see what happens.

Seems like the ZEBRA ring, the stripey one, is just a cosmetic add-on, & the camera will work the same without it. If you want to, you could glue it back on. Or just forget about it?
 
think I will just go about it that way no much I can do and not much you guys can do although i am grateful for all of you answering my questions and will hopefully come back with only good news.

see you all soon :)))))
 
droj said:
Richard seems to be saying that the silver ring is to do with acknowledging the film speed rating, and via that, the lens aperture - varying the size of the hole that lets the light through to the film.
Click to expand...

This is what the manual shows. The pointer on the ring is clearly that in the picture. Is Asan can’t work out what ASA (ISO) it’s currently set to I should assume it on 32 and hope the film latitude will take care of it as it won’t be more than a stop over or under exposed. Assuming everything else is working :(.


1629755769136.jpeg
 
samiy said:
I’ve seen this link before but it doesn’t tell me how to fix it if it falls off only what it does and how to change between settings.
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Had not seen your earlier thread. https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/t...nd-lens-keeps-falling-off.728845/post-9000941 Looks like from the photos you have that there should be two screws or pegs holding that black ring in place so that it holds the ASA adjuster in place. Are there holes in the outside of the black ring or only on the inside?
 
On the outside of the black ring
 

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Any screws or holes for them in the zebra ring that could match position of those divots?
 
yea it does but it doesn’t hold as well as it should only for a bit. I was told the zebra ring may not be as important as it looks right now my focus is trying to make the pointer part stay.
 
that’s really helpful, sphexx. I mean fingers crossed it is working. Since I don’t see the manual showing me how to make the pointer stay. I’ll just adjust the pointer with my hands until I can figure out how to make it hold with/without the zebra ring and use up the film.
 
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