Konica Auto S3 … second time’s a charm.

I always enjoy stumbling … I mean fortunately stumbling upon something unexpected. In my hunts for broken cameras, this does not occur to often.

Well it happened.

First I came across a broken Konica Auto S3 that I thought I could repair … well that did not go well … and then I came across another broken Konica Auto S3 … which means, possibly, one working Konica Auto S3.

Now this post is not as complete as my others, as this camera is quiet challenging to work on, so I missed documenting some things the first time. Definitely get some experience with the Learn Camera Repair material and working on other cameras of lesser stature.

Sooooo, that first S3 … well I took it apart (as noted in my previous post about it) and learned that there many “issues”.

• Winding lever issue – there was a post broken off, most likely by someone attempting to repair it and put too much force on it so it snapped.
• The lens was removed, and many internal wires were cut
• Light meter not working (even after the wires re-attached)
• Broken focus handle

OK, so lets get together !!! Get your screwdrivers out !!! One thing I suggest you have handy is a soldering iron.

The “new” S3 came to me with a loose front element … and what I mean by that is that half of the lens was not secured anymore, not the common wobble complaint … some damaged outer parts, but the rest of the camera was working … all good news.

Well time to find out what that is all about. 

Ok so starting from the lens … the first thing is to remove the thin outer securing ring with a spanner wrench, then pry out the front cover plate (with the CDS photocell).

There will be wires to CDS that you should unsolder. Note: blue on top orange on bottom.

Now you can see there are three screws holding this part to the rest of the lens … well in my case these are missing.

Well that explains why the front was loose. I guess someone was attempting some kind of “repair”.

Well, I was able to put this S3 back into working shape by taking some parts from the first S3 … like the screws to secure the lens.

Since I have info from the first S3 (now a parts camera), lets go further into taking it apart.

Now to unscrew the front lens group, and pull off the first part.

Well I could not go much further than this on the front of the lens.

Warning !!!

Do not unscrew those three that you see here … or you will really regret it. These hold the shutter blade plate on.

To get the rest of the lens/shutter off you need to also remove some of the front cover plate that it is attached to . First you have to take the top and bottom off.

The bottom plate is easy … just three screws and the battery cover. Note that there is a spring that may/will fall out … you should remove this one which is located at the bottom right … I ended up losing it on the first S3.

Battery compartment can be pulled out after removing the two screws … Note the wires, blue positive yellow negative. Unsolder the wires.

The top, also fairly easy.

Unscrew the rewind knob.

Remove the top pig nose screw on the winding lever. Take off the multiple parts.

There is a screw on the rewind side and a notched ring nut on the winding post.

When you pull off the top cover you will find that there is a wire which is attached to the flash shoe. Unsolder it.

Yup someone else was here before me. In the image above I took off the counter mechanism (not just the number plate) to show what’s under there as the first S3’s winding lever was not being pulled back properly.

That big spring was not attached to anything … well, I’ll just put it back … hmm … one end was easy, the other end … nothing? Well it appears that someone snapped off the post, probably too much tightening as I can see the threaded part still in the hole. I did drill out the hole and tap a new thread in order to screw in a new “post” for the spring.

The black paper cover.

Time to take more stuff apart.

Front … unscrew pig nose screw on self timer … remove leatherette covering on both sides …

Now you can wiggle out the lens/shutter if you really want to.

I am not going to say much about the insides … actually I am not saying anything about the insides.

The only thing I will say is that I have not figured out how to get rid of the lens wobble … even though the lens is secured to the body, there must be some design intolerance somewhere.