Leica R4 air piston cleaning?

[Shawn]

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Has anyone tackled a shutter lag on a Leica R4-R7? Basically the camera works fine but there is variable lag between stopping down and the mirror actually starting to move. You see the lens completely stop down through the viewfinder before the mirror starts to black out. Sometimes it is fairly quick, sometimes it is considerably longer. This occurs in both electronic modes as well as in the battery less mechanical shutter speeds. I have read that is is the mirror air piston damper needing to be cleaned. Found where it is and how to clean it in a Minolta XD service manual (pretty easy) but it looks like getting at it on a R4 is a little more complex. Anyone done this and tips to get the DOF lever off and the plastic around the lens mount removed?

It sometimes fires almost fine, sometimes the delay is longer. Per the Minolta manual it is only supposed to be 56ms between the aperture actuator starting to move and the mirror moving. A few times it has been close to 1/2second between the two actions.

The delay gets *really* obvious when you turn the camera upside down and fire it. Where I have seen delays of several seconds or longer.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/39387871@N06/6w531W

Thanks,

Shawn

[wagner]

Good morning Shawn!

You are quite right, it's pretty easy to reach clean the airdamping piston on the XD Modells, but on the R4-R7 Modells you have to split the camera nearly completely. But there is an alternative solution:.

i've written something about that problem on the german R forum:

 

Shoud be possible to get it translated.

My R4S still works perfectly....🙂

 

Regards,

Torsten

[Shawn]

Torsten,

 

Thank you! I was wondering if the only way at it was be removing the whole mirror box. Glad there is a much easier way.

 

I translated the page and was able to find the flap to open it up and get a drop of oil on the piston. My covering cracked a little but I am not going to worry about it.

 

The camera went for several seconds of delay to firing immediately. 

 

Before and after movie

 

Thanks again!

 

Shawn

 

[Ketilbl]

If you want to preserve the felt cover, the piston can also be reached by removing the mount, Aperture control rings and the innermost shield

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Edited March 22, 2022 by Ketilbl

[stuart1105]

Thank you all for the input. I had a completely dead shutter and was thinking first that it was the release magnet. Now my shutter has a delay of about half a second. I will probably have to clean and re-oil it, but for now I'm really happy.

[floriano]

Hey community,
I have a similar issue with my R3. 
The Mirror flips up and down most of the time when the cam has room temperature and I use f16. 
It also works fine when I hold the R3 upside down. (Maybe gravity helps...)
In every other scenario, the mirror flips up slowly and stays up. I have to press the aperture preview lever slightly to let the mirror complete its movement. Unfortunately, the Damper of the R3 is not visible from the outside. Any idea how I should proceed? Have you guys have solved this issue on a R3 before?

Here is screenshot from the Minolta XD Service Manual (but the XD is slightly different from the R3). And it looks like the part if have to clean and lube is very hard to reach  

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Thank a lot!

[Kay P]

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Edited February 10, 2024 by Kay P