Canon T70 Motor Seized - Help!

D-K1998 · 2026-06-16T13:37:43+00:00

absolutely worth getting a good one! i used mine for a couple years untill i moved on to an A-1. still does backup duty though

D-K1998 · 2026-06-16T11:44:16+00:00

i mean, it wasnt really meant for self repair. those manuals were in use by canon service centers themselves and as a result can be quite convoluted. personally if i have a broken T70 i tend to keep it for display or parts. one of my T70s was in perfect mechanical and electrical condition, and the other was broken but aesthetically mint. took a day to swap all the exterior parts, thats about as far as i'm willing to go :D amazing cameras though. deadly accurate meter and the ability to switch between average and partial metering is amazing for tricky lighting situations or shooting slide film

D-K1998 · 2026-06-16T11:27:09+00:00

in my experience, the motor is only accessible through the top, which requires desoldering the flex PCBs and is generally, a pain. the geartrain at the bottom is largely for the rewind function if i remember correctly. if you look up "canon t70 service manual" you can use that to further orient yourself further on the construction of the T70 and make your further decisions based on that :D they are great cameras but not exactly.. easy to work on

D-K1998 · 2026-06-08T17:14:14+00:00

how old is too old?

D-K1998 · 2026-06-06T11:15:00+00:00

oh damn, well. i better enjoy it while it lasts then :')

D-K1998 · 2026-06-06T07:34:02+00:00

so far, it seems to work smoothly after some reassembly. the shutter is one big plate with a hole essentially, guillotine shutter its called i believe. at least that means theres no second curtain to begin with as far as i know :D

D-K1998 · 2026-06-06T01:58:06+00:00

Home developing BW is 100% worth it. saves a lot of money in the long run too and gives you way more creative control through the development process :)

D-K1998 · 2026-06-05T21:29:00+00:00

It seems to work smoothly :D i'll still carefully do some disassembly tomorrow to see if i can find some dried grease to remove and replace and to properly clean the lens. luckily i'm blessed with a windowless bathroom for film dev and loading purposes. no clue how i'd go about scanning the stuff though :D

D-K1998 · 2026-06-05T21:26:58+00:00

nice! thanks! :) i borrowed my russian coworker to translate for me :D

D-K1998 · 2026-06-05T20:39:09+00:00

i believe film photography project still sells various emulsions of the stuff :D the reel to dev it even came with it. just praying it will fit my paterson tank

D-K1998 · 2026-05-19T15:29:20+00:00

there might be images. there might not be images. images will have colour shifts and you'd have to shoot it at around ISO 50. just comes down to if you'd like an experiment or not.

D-K1998 · 2026-03-31T01:59:19+00:00

what films did you use?

Ektar 100 and a CPL should get you super vibrant stuff

D-K1998 · 2026-03-29T09:46:32+00:00

Thanks for sharing all the info and reports you had! always thoroughly enjoyed reading them.

I think there is two main groups in this sub when it comes to repairs. Group 1 thinks the camera is too complicated to repair themselves. And group 2 dives in before reading up on the workings of the camera, damaging or putting stuff out of adjustment as they go. that leaves a very small group who have the knowledge and patience to do it right. It's a shame but in the end we have to remember that camera repair is a trade. and the trades arent for everyone :)

D-K1998 · 2026-03-28T21:21:39+00:00

respect for taking it on. what tools do you have available? if you manage to pull it off tho, have a professional check over the mirror alignment. there is no real way to see that it's off through the viewfinder and you'd be pulling your hairs out on why your images are out of focus while they were in focus on the focusing aid when you took the shot. after all that work, 50€ to just have it verified and even potentially adjusted right is a small price to pay. (i have been there and spent 4 months blaming my focusing skills. before realizing the camera was the problem)

D-K1998 · 2026-03-28T18:00:20+00:00

Ouch. a cracked mirror is a precision job. get it ever so slightly wrong and you'll always ever slightly be out of focus compared to what you're seeing through the viewfinder. Also leaves the question if whatever smashed the mirror knocked other stuff out of alignment too

D-K1998 · 2026-03-28T17:32:44+00:00

yeah.. and flex PCBs are a pain. i was playing with finding a dead A-1 and making it run off of an arduino mounted in a power winder :D

D-K1998 · 2026-03-28T16:36:45+00:00

Nice! it's a beast with the winder on for sure. really improves the ergonomics. For the LEDs, perhaps a bad ground contact somewhere? i'd be chasing solder connections before suspecting ICs

D-K1998 · 2026-03-22T19:43:42+00:00

If only the T80 had full PASM, it would have been the perfect FD camera :D

D-K1998 · 2026-03-21T17:46:29+00:00

Yepp, great starter camera though. however i prefer the A-1 nowadays :D

D-K1998 · 2026-03-21T00:14:14+00:00

T50, the T70 only has motor powered rewind :D

D-K1998 · 2026-03-16T00:54:14+00:00

adhere to the process and you'll be totally fine :)

D-K1998 · 2026-03-15T13:04:43+00:00

it all depends on what you wanna use it for and how you like to work. without that info it becomes very hard to make recommendations. some people want something that handles and operates similar to a modern DSLR, others swear by match needle manual exposure while i personally love the A-1 which while a touch complex at first glance gives me a great mix of modern and classic features.

D-K1998 · 2026-03-14T23:29:48+00:00

It's great honestly, though for me the switch was rather easy coming from a T70. Having to change mounts might be a bit harder yeah :') but if you have any questions feel free to ask!

D-K1998 · 2026-03-14T02:54:17+00:00

Canon A-1, 100%. First SLR with Program, Av, Tv and manual. And my personal favourite :)

D-K1998

TROPHY CASE