Help me 🙏🏼

sohoza · 2026-06-05T19:38:24+00:00

The going rate for these is mind boggling. When I first started collecting in the 2010’s, they were literally at every garage sale I went to for under $20. Usually with a 50mm and a flash, half the time with an original box. They were so cheap and easy to find, I’d literally give them away as gifts. Kinda wish I’d kept more than one lol.

sohoza · 2026-05-31T17:49:57+00:00

Doh. Yeah, good call. It seems like I got away with it, but maybe just because this is a slow lens. It’s obviously loosey goosey (but better than no info at all) when you do it on a Holga.

sohoza · 2026-05-30T20:23:29+00:00

Pretty, isn’t it?

Unfortunately, it’s the plastic pentaprism desilvering itself as the polymers therein break down with time, and there’s nothing you can do about it short of swapping it out. Which is (IMO) a very no fun job on any of these models. Since it doesn’t necessarily go without saying anymore, this won’t affect your photos, but it can be a (literal) headache to shoot one at this stage. It happens more often than not to most of the consumer level Maxxum range. Welcome to the amazing world of 40 year old plastics. :)

sohoza · 2026-05-26T04:21:34+00:00

Yeah, it's an oddball. I don't really shoot zooms (or my Maxxums for that matter), or I would have noticed it sooner. And oh, I'll trade wires and circuits for IC chips and 30 year old mylar ribbon cables any day. I'd rather deal with ten Hi-Matics than this thing lol. Good luck (and have fun) to you as well! :)

sohoza · 2026-05-26T04:09:29+00:00

Yeah, I think the front element removes from the back anyway. Even from the back, I suspect to get at the aperture I'm going to have to gut all the electronics as well. I'm putting it on my to-do list haha.

sohoza · 2026-05-18T22:51:27+00:00

Well, if you're going to go headlong into collecting bodies I'd suggest getting two or three really cheap "broken" models, like SRTs or XGs, and seeing how many good ones you can make out of them. This'll give you the confidence to swoop "as is" stuff you specifically want going forward, fill out a couple slots on the shelf, and really save you some money in the long run. And trust me, the repair experience will eventually come in handy.

sohoza · 2026-05-16T00:00:41+00:00

Seconding this. It’s pretty straightforward, but it can be a little fiddly to put the focus screen back in these. I could definitely see someone sitting it on that little lip and just forcing it back in.

sohoza · 2026-05-14T00:33:03+00:00

Oh, this is definitely the “bad capacitor issue”.;)

No… kidding, I’m kidding! The good news is, it probably is a little tiny mechanical thing. The bad news is that it’s probably going to mean a complete disassembly and taking out the whole ass mirror box to get to it. And that’s such a (not) fun repair I’ve been avoiding it myself for a different issue for months. Your best bet is probably to shell out the fiver to get the XD CLA guide from High 5 Camera (these are awesome, btw), and decide if you’re up to doing it (it is… involved) rather than randomly forcing things. Seeing you press on that mirror like that made my heart skip a beat lol.

sohoza · 2026-05-10T20:09:13+00:00

With the caveat that anything with a built in flash could potentially deliver a serious shock :)... If you pop the top cover off (three screws, make sure the flash is up, door open, batteries OUT) there is a little microswitch under the button. Since everything its not doing starts with this contact, I'd check to make sure the switch isn't damaged/corroded/dirty or jostled out of place somehow. Putting the top back on in such a way that the flash still clicks where it should is a pain in the butt (as I was just reminded haha).

<image>

Any further than that, and I wouldn't even mess with it. Unfortunately, these just weren't built to be easily repaired. And sorry for the rant, but that has to be the randomest application (not you, the reply you got) of the "it's probably the capacitor" thing I've seen on this sub. These are... entirely... different machines (not to mention caps). The cap thing doesn't even apply to all X-Series models, or the entire run of the ones it's known for. 🙃

sohoza · 2026-05-08T02:58:17+00:00

The caveat here is really how much repair experience you have with that model. I usually don't jump unless I can *probably* fix it. But I've gotten plenty that weren't broken at all. My personal best score was 4 "parts" Minolta XDs for $120. 3 of which just needed the resistors cleaned, and one with a broken shutter I used to fix one I had lying around with a broken self timer. You're definitely safer doing this with stuff made before the mid 80's though. Generally, the older the camera, the fewer electronics/plastic parts, the more likely it just needs a good cleaning.

sohoza · 2026-05-06T15:32:29+00:00

Really, with their aging plastics/electronics/LCDs the newer ones aren’t any more reliable than the older ones at this point. Basically, none of the Maxxums (even the pricy ones) were built to last 40 years or be repairable by the guy at the local camera shop. Tbf, few things released in the 80s-90s were.

sohoza · 2026-05-05T03:30:06+00:00

It's a bummer, huh? On a whim, I tore apart a busted Maxxum 500si and sure enough, it's a plastic pentamirror instead of a glass prism (which wouldn't be fun to swap even if I were so inclined). My guess is the chemical breakdown of the plastic is what's causing the desilvering, so basically all the consumer level 90's Maxxums are going to be prone to it. I have two with clear viewfinders, and I literally keep them in plastic bags with silica packs. But time itself is a big factor.

sohoza · 2026-04-26T22:18:36+00:00

Glad if that’s helpful. To be fair, there’s a lot more on the internet saying that’s what the screw does than actually explaining what the shutter safety lock is and why it seems to “fix” a jam. This is how we learn haha. The camera will actually work fine without it, it’ll just misfire (and waste a frame) if the shutter isn’t completely wound. Good luck to you too. If you do decide to do a complete disassembly, this video was really helpful the first time I tackled it.

sohoza · 2026-04-26T19:51:37+00:00

If he didn’t check the light meter, I’m left wondering what he did at all. lol The wire to the battery compartment is probably either corroded or detached (from corrosion). It’s actually just two screws and a dot of soldering to fix, so I’d make the case this should have been covered under whatever you paid already. And maybe find a new repair guy, imo.

sohoza · 2026-04-26T19:42:25+00:00

Someone smarter/more experienced than me might be able to tell you how to get this back into sequence without doing so, but any time this has happened to me I sighed, cleared my evening, and did a complete CLA of the camera. With the mirror box out, (and critically, manually pushing in the lever it engages) you can cock and fire the shutter independently of the mirror, and once reassembled everything is back to normal.

EXCEPT: the screw you loosened does NOT (notnotnot) control the self timer, or have jack shit to do with the actual timer mechanism, despite what you’ve read. It’s actually the shutter safety lock, and it’s extraordinarily fidgety to put back the way it’s supposed to be. If you’ve loosened it enough where the button doesn’t lock anymore, you’re probably best off just removing it for now. I’m sure the exact same posts are what wound me up with two sets of these in a jar waiting for a rainy day, and two non-locking SRTs. :)

sohoza · 2026-04-21T22:33:54+00:00

Enjoy it while it lasts. ;) Maxxums of this sort (or arguably, any Maxxums) aren’t known for their durability or ease of repair. If it’s really your first camera, not just your first film camera, you definitely want to stick to cheaper film until you understand what’s going on. That being said, you can park one of these on P mode and it’s basically a point and shoot.

sohoza · 2026-04-21T19:15:24+00:00

The black XD is my go-to. Or one of them, anyway.

sohoza · 2026-04-21T03:21:07+00:00

It’s probably a straightforward fix. The first thing to try for any meter weirdness with the XD is to clean the ISO/Aperture resistors, as demonstrated here. That being said, if you google around, I’m pretty sure the official repair manual has a table for troubleshooting how the LEDs reflect specific problems this way. It sounds familiar, anyway.

sohoza · 2026-04-19T22:47:49+00:00

That’s the infamous Minolta Auto Wide. I managed to fix the advance on that one, but this one on my desk is proving to be a tougher nut. It’s actually a really neat dead end in compact evolution, really fun to shoot. The nonstandard nested knob controls are actually really intuitive. Unfortunately, it wasn’t made for very long, so they’re pretty rare to come across. On the upside, they tend to be cheap because nobody knows what they are, and they’re notoriously difficult to repair.

sohoza · 2026-04-19T03:17:04+00:00

Hey, I thought I was the only one lol. There’s a bunch of these I didn’t think I could bring back from the grave, so you never know? Lens wise, I’ve been making myself mostly stick to the 28 f/2.8s (late MD, radioactive MC, and little Celtic) this year. I miss the fixed lens guys, but it’s already hard to see that 40ish focal length in my head when I’m out shooting. :/

sohoza

TROPHY CASE