# Yashica FX-3 Super, mirror problem.



## mila_olivera

Hello people! 

I recently bought a Yashica FX-3 with its Yashica ML 50mm 1.9 lens and a Kalimar 28mm 2.8 wide angle lens.
The thing is that there's a problem with the mirror, without the lens the mirror works perfectly, but with lens put on and set further away than about seven feet on the focussing scale, the shutter cycle refuses to complete: the mirror flips up, the shutter runs, and then the mirror stays up; but if the lens set closer than seven feet then the shutter cycle completes without problem.
I discovered that this is caused by the mirror, which has shifted slightly downward. I have read that judicious use of a blow dryer may allow you to soften the adhesive enough to allow you to carefully nudge the mirror back into proper position, but I'm not sure about doing that... Have you ever heard of that before? Would it work? 
Because I just can't afford a technical service right now and I'd like to knwo if there's any possibility of fixing it myself.

Thank you!
Mialgros


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## compur

Best to just buy another body that is working.


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## timor

mila_olivera said:


> The thing is that there's a problem with the mirror,


Same here. Mirror goes up, but don't want to go down. Half a twist of the lens releases it. Looks like you've got even worse case. Fixing it will cost probably 3-4 times the price of another body as the whole mirror box has to be disassembled. What is worst you just confirmed for me, that this is a generic problem with Yashica bodies from that era, I have FX-103.


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## mila_olivera

timor said:


> mila_olivera said:
> 
> 
> 
> The thing is that there's a problem with the mirror,
> 
> 
> 
> Same here. Mirror goes up, but don't want to go down. Half a twist of the lens releases it. Looks like you've got even worse case. Fixing it will cost probably 3-4 times the price of another body as the whole mirror box has to be disassembled. What is worst you just confirmed for me, that this is a generic problem with Yashica bodies from that era, I have FX-103.
Click to expand...


It releases too if I give the lens a half twist. I can still use it but I won't be able to focus things farther than 2 meters.


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## timor

That's really bad. In my case the mirror sticks out about 1 mm. I just wonder how far out is your mirror, from what you are saying your camera cannot raise the mirror up when focusing at more, then 2 meters. When you raise the mirror with your finger up (no lens off course) it should be flush with the pentaprism housing, how much yours is protruding forward ? There is one more problem, the foam which is parallel to pentaprism, the mirror damper, is sticky and holds the mirror sometimes to. This is all frustrating as ML lenses by rumor are Carl Zeiss (for Contax) which didn't pass Zeiss QC. At the time of FX cameras Yashica was making them under license for Contax. 
You know, I am looking at this mirror box and indeed, maybe heating would help. The shutter is titanium so 60-70C should be OK. and still it gonna be behind the mirror and it should be done using hair dryer with some narrow nozzle and slow speed of the air. If your case is so bad why not to try before you will get rid of it.


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## mila_olivera

timor said:


> That's really bad. In my case the mirror sticks out about 1 mm. I just wonder how far out is your mirror, from what you are saying your camera cannot raise the mirror up when focusing at more, then 2 meters. When you raise the mirror with your finger up (no lens off course) it should be flush with the pentaprism housing, how much yours is protruding forward ? There is one more problem, the foam which is parallel to pentaprism, the mirror damper, is sticky and holds the mirror sometimes to. This is all frustrating as ML lenses by rumor are Carl Zeiss (for Contax) which didn't pass Zeiss QC. At the time of FX cameras Yashica was making them under license for Contax.
> You know, I am looking at this mirror box and indeed, maybe heating would help. The shutter is titanium so 60-70C should be OK. and still it gonna be behind the mirror and it should be done using hair dryer with some narrow nozzle and slow speed of the air. If your case is so bad why not to try before you will get rid of it.



In my case it's a little more, maybe 3 or 4 mm... but it does always raise, its problem it's going down again. This only happens when focusing at more than 2 meters. From 2 meters to 0.50 everything works perfectly. Another detail to add is that when focusing at more than 2 mts , not only the mirror stays up, but the shutter won't move either. This happens with the Yashica lens. With the Kalimar it's different because sometimes the mirror completes its cycle and sometimes don't, but shutter will always work. Plus, to make the mirror go down I just have to give the lens a half-twist and ta-da! Whatever, I can use both lenses, it'll be a little tricky but I'm okay with that. About the foam, there was that sticky thing but I removed it in order to replace it so it's nothing to do with stickyness. 
Interesting thing about the Carl Zeiss thing by the way.
About the heating, where should I point the hot wind? To the bottom of the mirror or to its very face, because I've heard that its quite delicate to the point of not even touching it.


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## timor

I think the mirror is strong enough, at first I pushed the mirror back into the metal framing. Lot of force and it did not break. I don't know which side should be heated. The underside seems logical, metal is a better conductor of heat. But close by is the shutter, delicate thing, maybe should be kept open by using B time setting ?
3mm is a lot, it's possible, that mirror is not travelling all the way up and because of that shutter is not firing.


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## mila_olivera

timor said:


> I think the mirror is strong enough, at first I pushed the mirror back into the metal framing. Lot of force and it did not break. I don't know which side should be heated. The underside seems logical, metal is a better conductor of heat. But close by is the shutter, delicate thing, maybe should be kept open by using B time setting ?
> 3mm is a lot, it's possible, that mirror is not travelling all the way up and because of that shutter is not firing.



Yes, anyway the underside it's covered by some kind of black rough fabric. But well, just fabric, it won't get burned. Using B time setting it's a great idea.
Whatever, I will try it right now, I'm so eager to use this lovely camera! 
Thank you for all your answers Timor!


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## timor

This rough surface underside is antiglare covering. The other surfaces in the mirror box are also matt.
Keep me posted how it went. Good luck.


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## mila_olivera

timor said:


> This rough surface underside is antiglare covering. The other surfaces in the mirror box are also matt.
> Keep me posted how it went. Good luck.


I'm almost jumping from joy!! I just did it and it worked perfectly! You don't need much heating, applying it for around one minute or to will be enough to push the mirror back to its place! I now waiting for it to get cool so I can try how it works with the lens.


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## timor

Hey hey ! :thumbup:. I gonna do the same after I'll be back home.


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## mila_olivera

timor said:


> Hey hey ! :thumbup:. I gonna do the same after I'll be back home.



Well, now it's proved that this problem can be fixed at home  At least with cameras that have glued mirrors.
Hope you can do it too!


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## timor

Hi Mila. I am back home and want to fix my Yashica. How is doing yours ? Mirror is holding OK ? Also, what did you used as the heat source ? Hair dryer ?


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## mila_olivera

timor said:


> Hi Mila. I am back home and want to fix my Yashica. How is doing yours ? Mirror is holding OK ? Also, what did you used as the heat source ? Hair dryer ?


Since I fixed it last week it's doing perfectly, I shot one roll and I got really nice prints! The mirror haven't moved again. I used a hair dryer, and as you suggested I used B time setting whilst applying heat for about 1 minute then push it, then apply heat again and push it one more time. I used a glove (made of fabric) in order not to burn my fingers in case it was too hot.


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## timor

Thank's for pointers.


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## IsleofWighter

I had the same problem, and was astonished that I could find a solution, and that I could fix it myself. You are a SAINT for publishing this !!!!!!


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## randomray

Wow!!! You people are life savers!!!  
I just got a Yashica FX-3 Super 2000 from ebay.  It came in New-New Condition. Everything was dust free, clean, beautiful.  Put batteries in, cycled camera, everything was good.
focused out to infinity, and something sounded off.  Same problem.
It looks like there is at least 1-1.5 mm of space the mirror could slide back.
Thanks for the fix!!!


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## Mrbassee

I tried this with a FX 3 Super that i bought off of eBay and it worked like a charm, although i only heated the back side of the mirror for probably 10 seconds and was able to push the mirror back up into place. Really great work, very much appreciate you sharing this.


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## PAwan_sh

I had the same problem. I had bought used , fungus infected Yashica 50mm ML F2.0 lens from eBay. Thoroughly cleaned it and encountered this issue on the first roll itself. Since I was using an old self serviced Yashica Fx3 camera, the suspicion first went to camera and then to the lens. I do not know how much time I spent in trying to set the lens so that it did not protrude out on the back side of the lens when focused to infinity. When it did not succeed, I started looking out for others facing the same problems and voila, I find this life saving forum. I indeed had the same problem of mirror protruding out. Used hair drier for heating the back side of the mirror while in B mode and pushed it back slowly in 2-3 iterations. Fixed the issue and now all seems to working great. Thanks guys.


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## halu

PAwan_sh said:


> I had the same problem. I had bought used , fungus infected Yashica 50mm ML F2.0 lens from eBay. Thoroughly cleaned it and encountered this issue on the first roll itself. Since I was using an old self serviced Yashica Fx3 camera, the suspicion first went to camera and then to the lens. I do not know how much time I spent in trying to set the lens so that it did not protrude out on the back side of the lens when focused to infinity. When it did not succeed, I started looking out for others facing the same problems and voila, I find this life saving forum. I indeed had the same problem of mirror protruding out. Used hair drier for heating the back side of the mirror while in B mode and pushed it back slowly in 2-3 iterations. Fixed the issue and now all seems to working great. Thanks guys.


 
Do we have the same problem? Mine looks like this. The mirror is completely stuck upwards. It goes down whenever I pull the little lever (the one that looks like an arrow, located below. idk what it is called). It gets stuck sometimes, sometimes not at all. Any suggestion? Thank you!


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## PAwan_sh

It seems it is a different problem. Mine was that the mirror had gotten displaced from its intended position and so it was getting stuck with lens while taking photo. Since the camera operation proceeds only when the mirror is fully up, it was not taking the picture in my case. The operation would complete if I took out the lens or focused on a nearer object(The back of the lens protrudes out a bit when focused to infinity).

Your case seems to be a sticky mirror or misaligned/bent metal getting lightly stuck. Fix could be to blow pressurized air etc and hope to remove any dust etc stopping the operation or may be completely open the camera, take the mirror box out, clean it with lighter fluid thoroughly. 

I had done this completely some days back but unfortunately I have deleted all the pictures I took in the process. If you want to attempt it yourself, I can help where possible. It is not too difficult if you have the knack for it. Just remember to keep taking photos at each stage so you know how to re-assemble.


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## halu

I got it repaired before, well not totally repaired they just replaced the battery cap with a new cap, since the old cap was destroyed and can no longer be opened by a coin. Then after some time the mirror keeps on getting stuck, it wasn't a problem before I went to the shop. Do you think there is a connection why the mirror is getting stuck? Thanks


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## PAwan_sh

halu said:


> I got it repaired before, well not totally repaired they just replaced the battery cap with a new cap, since the old cap was destroyed and can no longer be opened by a coin. Then after some time the mirror keeps on getting stuck, it wasn't a problem before I went to the shop. Do you think there is a connection why the mirror is getting stuck? Thanks



I do not think there is a connection since the battery cap is totally separate from the mirror assembly. They're is no connection. Probably the repair shop messed up


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## PAwan_sh

PAwan_sh said:


> halu said:
> 
> 
> 
> I got it repaired before, well not totally repaired they just replaced the battery cap with a new cap, since the old cap was destroyed and can no longer be opened by a coin. Then after some time the mirror keeps on getting stuck, it wasn't a problem before I went to the shop. Do you think there is a connection why the mirror is getting stuck? Thanks
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I do not think there is a connection since the battery cap is totally separate from the mirror assembly. They're is no connection. Probably the repair shop messed up
Click to expand...


Uploading yashica repair manual if it helps


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## halu

PAwan_sh said:


> PAwan_sh said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> halu said:
> 
> 
> 
> I got it repaired before, well not totally repaired they just replaced the battery cap with a new cap, since the old cap was destroyed and can no longer be opened by a coin. Then after some time the mirror keeps on getting stuck, it wasn't a problem before I went to the shop. Do you think there is a connection why the mirror is getting stuck? Thanks
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I do not think there is a connection since the battery cap is totally separate from the mirror assembly. They're is no connection. Probably the repair shop messed up
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Uploading yashica repair manual if it helps
Click to expand...


Thank you


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## PAwan_sh

Hi All, I think that my light meter misbehaves at lower speeds. Can someone do a small test for me - Set your ISO to 200, set your shutter speed to 4 and ensure that the light meter now shows +.  If not then open up the aperture or go into more light. Now move the shutter to 2, light meter should still show +. Now move it to 1. Ideally, light meter should still indicate + (even at B). However, my camera suddenly jumps to -. Can someone pl confirm this for me? I have Yashica fx3 but this test can be performed on any camera that has ISO and Shutter speed on the same dial.


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## timor

Interesting. Los like suddenly resistance goes way up, or there is a break in circuitry. Considering that it is almost 40 years old camera from lower shelf no wonder, that electronics may display weird behaviour. Not the first case. I have number of such a bodies. Solution for me is handheld incident meter like Sekonic Studio.


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## PAwan_sh

timor said:


> Interesting. Los like suddenly resistance goes way up, or there is a break in circuitry. Considering that it is almost 40 years old camera from lower shelf no wonder, that electronics may display weird behaviour. Not the first case. I have number of such a bodies. Solution for me is handheld incident meter like Sekonic Studio.


Thanks for the response. However, being a bit technical and also having seen the internals of the camera, I think this behavior should by design and not by malfunction. Internally, there is only one resistor for both - Shutter speed and ISO change. And the variable point jumps from one extreme to other extreme and so the above described behavior. So if my ISO is 100, the shutter speed shows correct exposure till 1sec. If ISO is 800, light meter is correct till 8 and then jumps to - at 4 or any lower speed.

I should probably ask the question is reverse. Do you have any such camera where ISO and Shutter speed are set via dials on the same axis but the light meter works correct at all speeds irrespective of the ISO?


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