Leica R 9 weird mirror and motor drive behaving

[chellm]

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I try to explain how my R9 is behaving..

When I switch the camera on and I press the shutter button the camera works well. The “cycle” is perfect:  

1 - mirror down,

2 – press the shutter button

3 - shutter opens & closes,

4 - mirror up

5 - motor advances film to next frame

 

 

Since few days – after some shooting - maybe 5 or 6 regular cycles – when I press shutter button it happens this:

1 - mirror down

2 – press the shutter button

3 - shutter opens & closes

4 - mirror up

BUT

5 - motor “advances” to next frame “only when I press the shutter button again”

 

A variation could be:

1 - mirror down,

2 – press the shutter button

3 - shutter opens & closes,

BUT

4 – mirror “doesnt return back down to its position”

5- motor “doesnt advance film to next frame and I must *wait* some seconda after #4 and #5

 

I have some other Leica R8 and they work perfectly. I switched the different motors from one to the other camera and the problem arises again with the R9. In theory it shouldnt be the motor drive failure as the motors dont influence the R8 at all.

 

My check were:

1- I thoroghly cleaned all contacts of all motor drives and R9 and R8. Didn’t make any improvements

2 – the lens is a 21mm f.4 – 3 cams. Not a ROM lens

3 – this problem arises with all Shutter Speed and Exposure Mode of R9

4 – in the past I had the feeling that the frame frequency selector (S, CL, CH) was influencing the frame advance because has a very strict tolerance.  0,019 of inch changes the frequency of shooting (apply this also to automatic exposure bracketing switch)

5 – the problem of this weird behaving arises with the 3 all shutter buttons of Camera and Motor Drive

6 – Leica R  # 2883981 - Motor Drive  # 02235

 

Any advice and/or check before I try some CLA somewhere in the world ?

Thank you.

[davidmknoble]

did you accidentally turn on the mirror lock up switch on the front?  A little different from your sequence, but it does require two shutter presses….

Just a thought.

David

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[aspan]

1.- Turn the mirror lock switch off.

2.- Put the wind lever to “park” position (push it towards the body).

3.- Rotate the mode selection to “m” (manual).

4.- Select any shutter speed faster than 1/60.

5.- Fire the shutter as many times you want.

It’s everything ok now?