1981 – Foxes Den

Chinon CE-5 35mm SLR and power winder

A heavily damaged Camera from 1981/2 needs some serious care and attention. A Chinon CE-5 35mm SLR.

Here’s what the listing stated:

Please review all photographs carefully as the images form part of the item description and provide the best representation of the items cosmetic condition & any included accessories Any significant flaws or relevant information will be shown below if applicable. Camera, lens and power winder are tested and working. Body and power winder show scuffs, scratches and paint wear to edges and base. Film rewind crank is damaged/loose and sits high on its spindle at a angle Light seal foam around the film door shows ageing and residue. Lens glass is clear with light dust only. Supplied as camera body with fitted 50mm f/1.7 lens and PW-545 power winder only; no caps, strap, batteries, film or manuals included.

Brand: Chinon

Model: Chinon CE-5 35mm SLR film camera.

Colour: Black metal and plastic body with black leatherette grip panels and matching black power winder.

Type: Manual focus 35mm SLR film camera with pentaprism viewfinder and built-in light meter.

Format: Uses standard 35mm/135 film cartridges loaded via the rear-opening film door.

Lens: Auto Chinon Multi-Coated 50mm f/1.7 prime lens with aperture and focusing rings plus 49mm filter thread.

Focus: Manual focus operation through-the-lens optical viewfinder with focusing aids.

Exposure: Auto exposure and manual exposure modes with selectable shutter speeds and aperture control.

Features: Built-in light meter, hot shoe for external flash, self-timer, ISO/ASA speed dial and compatibility with electric drive units.

Power: Designed to be powered by batteries for the camera electronics and PW-545 power winder (batteries not included).

Included: Chinon CE-5 35mm SLR camera body, Auto Chinon 50mm f/1.7 multi-coated lens and Chinon PW-545 Power Winder S motor drive only; no caps, strap, batteries, film, case or manuals are included.

Country of origin: Camera and lens marked Japan.

Keywords: Chinon CE-5, 35mm SLR film camera, Auto Chinon 50mm f/1.7, PW-545 Power Winder S, manual focus, auto exposure, Japan

EBay

Probably one of the most descriptive listings I’ve encountered on EBay. This alone gave me some confidence in making this purchase, as rather than the standard “Not working” non descriptive listing, I actually have a good idea as to what the problems are here, and they can also be seen in the photos in the listing.

These units were on sale between 1981-82 in the Uk via the electrical goods store – Dixons. As a result, sales of this camera were probably not as good as if Chinon had gone out on a limb and promoted their own product. There was a lot of snobbery in the photo trade, and cameras from electrical good stores were looked on as “cheap” alternatives. However, they couldn’t have been more wrong as the quality was very high, maybe just a bit more plastic than some would like, and the lenses were equal or more advanced than a number of other lens brands available at the time.

I was just starting out in photography, I had my first job in 1982 at a colour laboratory in Bushey, Hertfordshire Uk at this time, and saving my money meant I was able to purchase this very combo I have purchased today for a total of £28:00GBP with free postage, after negotiating down the sellers original asking price of £39:00GBP.

Back in 1981-82, i believe the package for the lens and camera was about £110:00GBP with the winder coming in at about £40:00GBP. A total outlay of about £150:00GBP at the time. Considering I was probably only earning about £300:00GBP per month back then, it was closer to the end of 1982 that I purchased my combo, and by that time it was near to the end of its production run in the UK. There were AF lenses that were available as options that were so big they actually dwarfed the camera. The lens in this combo is the standard 50mm lens that it used to ship with. That said I loved the camera, it was easy to use, no fuss and the auto focus on the camera was way ahead of its time, even though I didn’t have the AF lenses to use. So far ahead of its time that it actually beat all the big players to the finish line. The big names caught on though and very soon they were flooding the market, the snobs were happy once again.

I had to offload that camera after I’d given it some good usage. Computers were appearing on the scene and the money I made from selling it went towards my first computer purchase, a Sinclair ZX81.

I wish I’d kept the camera…..

No panic though as I now have another one to revisit those heady days of 1981-82. It just needs some attention.

Here’s some info about the CE-5:

The Chinon CE-5 was a 35mm SLR camera produced by Chinon, that was one of the first cameras to have autofocus-capable lenses produced for it. It was produced for about 12 months between 1981-1982.

Specifications

The camera had a Pentax K mount (addressed to in the specifications as the Chinon “universal mount”) with which its lenses were mounted. 3 autofocus pins were present upon the top-left of the mount, which the autofocus lenses interfaced with. These autofocus lenses were rather heavy and depended upon their own large, lens-mounted motors.

The camera had two modes: aperture-priority and full manual. The shutter speeds ranged from 4 to 1/2000 seconds (stepless) in aperture priority mode and 2 to 1/2000 seconds in manual mode, in addition to a “bulb” mode. The shutter was controlled electronically in both modes; and was a Seiko electromagnetic metal focal plane shutter. A multiple exposure switch was also incorporated into the camera, alongside a 5 or 10 second self-timer.

The CE-5 was shipped with a full ground glass screen along with a split image range finder and a microprism collar to aid focusing. Other screens were made available.

An “X sync” flash hotshoe was incorporated, with contacts especially for the Chinon range of dedicated flashes.

The camera had the dimensions 135.5mm width x 88mm height x 50.5mm depth and weighed approximately 490 grams without batteries and lens.

Wikipedia

I very much suspect that this camera has been dropped at sometime. Just looking at the sale photos tells me this. It appears the corner where the rewind capstan is situated has a cracked body top, the capstan pin is also bent, the ASA counter also appears to have some damage, its fair to say this camera has suffered impact damage to that very part of the camera.

Ok so I need to now wait for the item to arrive to carry out a full assessment. The good thing is that I do already have a non working donor available in my spares box to carry out a little bit of a Frankenstein operation if I need to, and i think that operation may well be required.

Assessment:

The camera arrived and I must admit I’d forgotten just what a hefty lump it is. It is quite a weighty beast. The camera is pretty much as described apart from missing one major issue. There is an issue with the shutter mechanism timing, but I’ll come back to that later.

The top of the rewind crank is out of alignment and there is slight damage to the ASA ring beneath it. There are scuffs and scratches all over as described but in general it is not too bad cosmetically.

When I load two LR44 batteries into the camera base everything appears to work ok, the self timer works in the 5 second and 10 second mode, all indications work through the viewfinder and the shutter fires. However even though it fires it is at a slower, probably 100th of a second speed no matter what setting you have it in, Auto, 1/2000, or B setting it’s all the same. The B setting does not work at all, when the shutter is depressed the shutter springs open as it should, however it doesn’t shut when pushed again as it should, it remains open and you have to move the shutter speed ring to another setting for it to close again. There is a definite shutter speed fault that I suspect is as a result of this camera being dropped on one edge. Hence the damage to the area around the rewind capstan.

The lens is in a fantastic condition, showing no damage, it’s clean and free from mist and fungus.

The power winder is dead. It’s in a good cosmetic condition, but a quick look inside the battery chamber shows signs of battery contamination, hopefully I can resurrect this item.

The top case is cracked.

Repair:

First. I’ll print off a body cap to protect the lens barrel when cleaning, I’ll also print caps for the front and rear of the lens as well, that way everything is protected from any further disturbance.

Lens cap, body cap and rear lens cap printed

I’m going to start with the power winder as I now have it separated from the camera. There is a cartridge that inserts into the winder base that holds 4×1.5v AA batteries. The output therefore should be 6v but when the multimeter is used there is no voltage making its way through the cartridge. One of the cartridge contacts is tarnished and requires a clean. A quick buzz with my grinding tool cleans the contact and then a wipe over with a cotton bud soaked in IPA finished that clean. Batteries re installed and we now have continuity with a healthy 5.97v being supplied at the terminal ends.

Before (top) and after contacts are cleaned

However when installed in the chamber the winder is still non operational. A look into the battery chamber reveals further contamination on the contact inside that would mate with the contact I have just cleaned on the battery cartridge.

The power winder has to be dismantled quite considerably to access the contacts inside. You could probably do a clean without dismantling, however you will never know if any of the contaminants have gone beyond the contact. I tend to get into the machinery of things for piece of mind, and today I’m pleased I did as I was able to confirm that the contamination was only on the battery contacts.

I cleaned the contamination with a grinding pen and then cleaned the contacts with some IPA. A blow through with an air gun removed some old dust and debris from the handle area, and whilst in here I lightly oiled all the cogs and gears in the handle area.

I’ve partially reassembled the winder and put the battery back in place and we have power lights when switched on. I connect the winder to the camera and it works just fine. There are two settings (S) single shot and (C) continuous shot that fires a frame every two seconds approximately. All are functioning well and working as they should. I now clean the outer of the winder of old glue and adhesive, re glue and put all skins and label back into place. This repair is now complete. Onto the camera now.

With the camera the first thing I am doing is checking the rewind capstan. When unscrewed the screw and spindle are straight, the actual damage is with the plastic cap that is bent out of shape and split on one side. As I stated earlier I do have an old donor camera so I have taken the ASA dial and the rewind capstan off of that to replace the damaged items on this side of the camera. I will also replace the cracked top as well. I must admit it looks good and appears to be functioning at this point. I’ll have to have it all off again when I investigate the shutter speed issues. But for the meantime it’s a needed job completed.

How it now looks (left) and how it did look (right)

Now we need to look at the shutter timing issue.

It took a time to get the top off due to there not being a lot of information available about breaking these units down. However I now know how to, and this took the best part of an hour for me to achieve, I’ve replaced the cracked top with the one from the donor camera.

As soon as the top was off there were three issues that welcomed me, I suspect these all occurred as a result of that drop that damaged the ASA dial and the rewind capstan.

Firstly above the prism area there were what appeared to be three detached wires.

Red wires should be one and have been broken. Green wire is a rogue hot-shoe earth

In the photo above, you will see two red arrows. These wires they point to were once upon a time a single wire, somehow this wire has snapped. The wire that is indicated by a green arrow is a rogue earth wire that should be connected to the hot-shoe in the prism roof.

There was no way I was going to be able to route a new wire as it originated deep inside the body, and I just didn’t fancy going there today. Instead I melted the two ends slightly to expose some wire, I then used some multi core solder to tip the ends and as I had some room to move the wire slightly I joined the two ends back together with a solder joint. Once soldered I used some conformal coating to stabilise the joint, then covering it with a small piece of Kapton tape to ensure it was secure and not interfering with any other metal/components.

Soldered together, then conformal coating was used prior to being sealed with Kapton tape.

The rogue earth wire was then soldered back into place in the roof of the prism housing.

The issue with the speed settings appears to be as a result of disturbance, again related to that drop that caused the other issues. When the speed dial is removed you are left with a set of tracks with very fine copper contacts. One of these contacts is specifically for the “B” setting, it should sit shy of a contact point until it is required however from what I could see it was permanently activated, it didn’t look right so I adjusted it to sit properly, now when the dial is operated it switches in and out as it should. I don’t know how this affected the earlier tests that showed we only had one available speed, I can only presume the issue is a culmination of all the issues so far experienced.

At the top permanently on. At the bottom adjusted so it will switch in and out with operation of the dial

I have now commenced reassembly after giving a good blow through and a light clean of the contacts.

Batteries have now been installed and I’m reluctant to switch the camera on. But I have to, so I do. So far so good. I rewind the lever all good. I set the shutter to 2s and activate the shutter, it opens and then it shuts again about 2 seconds later, I move through the shutter settings and all appear to be reacting to their relative speeds, 125 sounds right, 2000 sounds very quick, they all are giving different speeds which is superb. And the “B” setting is now operational. This is fantastic. All indications in the viewfinder are as expected, and with the winder attached all systems are go. I think I’ve fixed it. Wow. I’m shocked.

Let’s get the light seals and bumper felt replaced now.

Bumper and light seals have now been replaced, an awful lot of felt came out of those grooves, I thought it would never stop coming

I always apply light seals slightly dampened on the adhesive side as this gives you a few minutes to reposition the felt, prior to it setting and drying. I’ve got it down to a fairly quick process now, I’m not perfect but I’m improving with each new set of seals.

So this camera is now complete.

Result:

We now have a perfectly good operating camera and power winder with a nice clean 50mm stock lens for a reasonable layout of £28:00GBP. It had an awful lot wrong with it, but thankfully having a spare unit to harvest parts off has helped with this repair immensely.

A lovely camera, much maligned from the early 80s now working as good as it did from the box. I just can’t wait to get a roll of film through it to show just how good a camera this was and still is.

It weighs a ton, but that’s how I love and remember my old cameras, they are such beasts but have immense character and original design appeal that modern cameras just don’t have today.

Another camera saved from landfill. A good result.

Many thanks for passing by, you know it is always very much appreciated.

Canon AE1 – Program

I have my final piece of the jigsaw. My sixth, and final camera of the classic Canon “A” series collection

I purchased this camera as part of a job lot of 5 cameras that were faulty, read about that purchase here: More camera odds & sods

I’ve been working towards purchasing the entire range of Canon “A” series cameras, and this is the final piece of the jigsaw for me. I haven’t paid premium prices, I have purchased each and every one of them as damaged items and have had to effect the repairs on them to get them working. It’s a wonderful collection of old cameras, all showing their individual battle scars but each performing without fault in taking photographs. What they were designed to do, growing old gracefully and with a now extended life span.

It works out that this camera has only cost me £8:00GBP, and that is a superb price to pay for one of these cameras, even if it was only for parts it would have been a bargain, however these all have the ability to be revitalised and to be given another crack at life. I have done a very brief assessment and nothing appears to be operating as it should be. Electronically this is potentially a very unstable camera, I just need to run a final test on the electrical system. It has two parts that need replacing. There is a small power winder cover that is missing, it’s not important but I will replace it purely for aesthetic reasons. Secondly the battery cover is broken, I do have a 3D file downloaded so I will see how that prints out.

This camera is currently unloved, very dirty and will require quite a bit of work just to bring it up to usable standards. I don’t wish for it to be pristine and at display standards, I want it to be clean and capable of carrying out what it was originally purposed to do, it will be used and thoroughly loved.

Here’s a little bit about the AE1-Program:

The Canon AE-1 Program is a 35 mm single-lens reflex camera that uses Canon’s FD mount lenses manufactured by Canon Camera (today Canon Incorporated) in Japan and introduced in April 1981 as the successor to the Canon AE-1, five years after that camera’s introduction. The major difference was the addition of the Program AE mode first seen in the A-1. This mode sets both the shutter speed and aperture automatically—albeit with a slight bias towards the shutter speed setting. The user focuses the camera and then presses the shutter button. For those desiring more control, the AE-1’s shutter priority auto-exposure and full manual modes are still available.

Wikipedia

Repair

The first thing to do is to get the relevant battery in place and to see what does or doesn’t light up or function. These cameras take a standard 6v 4LR44 battery, and I have some more of these arriving later today, these cameras are reliant on that power source to pretty much do everything, so we have to have one in place to carry out an accurate assessment. Once i can see how the electrical system is working I can then make a decision on how to progress.

The battery has arrived and when it is installed, nothing happens. Electrically the camera is dead and requires attention, and that’s not good. The auto, lock, self timer switch under the winder is not moving, and hence the winder won’t wind, and the shutter won’t fire. It’s a very poorly camera. I go to remove the 6v battery and it is extremely hot, I’d suspect very close to exploding, this is not good at all. I’ve put the battery to one side, it’s now obvious that we have a short circuit somewhere causing the battery to overheat.

I have printed off a replacement door and catch. It’s not to the original standard but should do the job, until a quality one becomes available. To replace this door the top of the camera has to be removed anyway, so whilst I’m in there I will try to see if I can find the cause of the short circuit.

The pin that supports the door has to be pulled up through the mass of electronics to release the old door and the little spring that opens the door.

New replacement door installed after being printed

The printed door has cost me approximately 0.22p to print, and considering that Canon no longer produce the door, the options are limited to auction sites that charge horrendous amounts up to £30:00GBP, or the alternative is a 3D printed option of about £15:00GBP. Seeing this camera has cost me £8:00GBP, a layout of 0.22p will do for me just to get this camera up and running. I can always “tart” it up in the end if I choose to. To be honest, if it does a job, if the camera does what it should, then should I really worry about it? Probably not.

Just for the sake of it I have also 3D printed a speed grip that used to be facilitated on the “A” series cameras. These give a little more security to the battery chamber door, stop the door opening if the catch should fail, and give extra grip to the camera body. And it kind of looks nice so I have printed one out to use. I just need a black M3/8 screw to attach it.

I’ve also printed off a eye cap for the camera. Just because I can to be honest, it just finishes it off in my opinion.

I stated that the switch that puts the camera into auto mode, switches it off and operates the self timer was seized. When the top is removed and all the relevant parts are removed the area in question can then be observed. And there was a problem.

Under the film winder is a small Perspex frame with a spring loaded catch. This operates the three settings “A” – auto, “L” – lock or “S” – self timer. The switch must have been forced in the past, as the metal catch had sprung under the Perspex plate and was firmly wedged between the copper contacts underneath causing the short.

The metal catch had to be coerced back into position, lifted slightly to sit comfortably back in the position it had previously occupied. A quick test confirmed that the switch was now behaving how it should, and clicking firmly throughout its range.

The selector switch under the film winder in the correct position

The original battery that overheated was now showing as severely depleted due to the earlier problem, this has had to be disposed of, and so into the battery recycling receptacle it goes.

With the camera now reassembled I can try a new battery, and the result is the polar opposite of what occurred earlier. Straight away the shutter fired, when I put the switch into auto mode, the shutter could be fired again in fact it could be fired repeatedly. The light meter inside the viewfinder is working and showing lights. When in auto mode, and the battery check button is pressed you hear an intermittent sounder showing the electrical circuit is now operational, the more frequent the sound the healthier the battery is. When in self timer mode it didn’t work, it should beep and after ten seconds should fire. Hopefully it’s just dirty contacts, but none the less it will need looking at next time I take the top off. And all the while the new battery has remained cool with no temperature change. We have found the short circuit and the basic camera operation has been restored.

One thing I noticed with the shutter working is that there is quite a “Shutter cough” often heard on these older unloved canon cameras. Not a real issue, this will mean further dismantling of the camera to get to the shutter area for a little clean and some light lubrication.

So, let’s deal with that little “Cough”….open wide now!

I’m going to approach this issue by going in through the base of the camera, here I can deal with two issues at the same time. I suspect someone has been in here before me as there is only one screw securing the base when there should in fact be three. I will get these replaced now as I do have a fairly good supply of spares in stock.

This is the magnet coil, it’s known to get dirty after time causing issues such as a continuous wind with no mirror movement.

This camera doesn’t have that issue, but because I’m in here it’s a simple case of removing two screws, the casing and then just clean the magnet and coil contacts with some IPA.

That done, the plastic case is put back on, and the two screws put back into place. Simple job done, it’s future proofing the camera against this issue ever occurring. A blow through with an air canister and a little light lubrication of moving parts in the area and then we can move onto the next issue I want to address.

I’m going to attempt a shortcut with my oiler pen to see if I can deal with the camera cough without going too deep inside the camera. With the long needle of the oiler I may be able to reach deep enough into the internal workings of the camera to oil up the offending cogs and levers. If it doesn’t work then I will have no option but to open up the camera and get inside. It’s worth seeing if I can get the shortcut to work, it’s not a permanent fix but might buy me a year or so of cough free operation.

I’ve left the camera overnight for the very limited amount of clock oil I used to get into all the nooks and crannies, and I’ve checked when I got back home from work, and I’m pleased to say it’s has worked perfectly. Have a look at this little video below that shows how it sounded with the cough, and then after treatment.

Before and after cough

Now with the cough issue sorted it’s time to go back to see if we can address the self timer issue. With the base now secure with all its screws (I’ve replaced the two missing ones) it’s time to get the top off again and have another look around.

Inside the camera just below the wind on lever is the mechanism that operates the selector lever. There are four tiny copper contacts that connect with the copper circuit just below. One of these four contacts had been crushed to a level where contact was no longer made with the circuit board below.

Copper based circuit board and copper contacts under this acrylic selector

Using a small set of tweezers, I was able to bend the delicate copper contact back into shape allowing it to once again make a connection with the contacts on the circuit board. I’ve also cleaned all points of contact with IPA to ensure all surfaces were clean. A quick test at this point proved the circuit, I was now able to reassemble the camera yet again. Prior to this though I gave a good blow through the circuitry with some compressed air before sealing the top of the camera back in place.

The self timer is now fully operational.

Self timer now working

The major issues have now been addressed. Let’s get on with the bread and butter items.

The light seals including the mirror bumper were in a very poor state and had to be removed. This took a lot of patience as the felt had broken down into dust and clumpy particles. I used IPA to soften the old adhesive and probably used about a dozen cotton buds to remove all the debris. The thing with cleaning these areas is when you think it’s clean, clean it again, and once more for luck. In theory cleanliness here is your friend as it helps you through the next stages immensely.

Once all the old felt and seals are removed, and dried, I can cut the new seals to size and get them installed. This has been completed and the new seals have gone into place without issue. Personally for me, this is the most boring but essential task in restoring old cameras. It’s one of those tasks you put off until the end as it is so fiddly and has to be just right.

With the light seals now complete, the last task now is to give the camera a thorough clean.

Result

A buff of the leatherette, and a good polish of the metal work and she is looking resplendent. A new quick grip, hot shoe cover and battery door and the look is complete. My £8:00GBP cast off, dirty, damaged and broken camera is now looking a lot healthier and is now in a good working order.

I’m awaiting a roll of XP2 black and white film to arrive, and that will be the test film for this camera. I’m probably going to feature it in my weekly 7 days and 7 photos series at some point. I will post a link to that post when it occurs.

It’s been a long time bringing this camera back to life but I’m so pleased at how it has gone. These “A” series cameras will always be my favourite because of the place they have in my photographic past. I have a few that I have been working on, but this was the one that actually completed my collection. I now need to find a suitable way to display them all, rather than leave them packed away in storage.

Thank you for passing by, as always it is very much appreciated.

Stay safe.