Nizo light meter/ indicator not working!!!

Jonathan Ragland · July 19, 2008

I just purchased a Nizo S 560 from a seemingly reputable German dealer, and the F -stop indicator does not respond to anything. I can also tell that the aperture is not changing on auto or manual. Is this a simple fix does anyone know? I'm really hoping my first experience with super 8 doesn't turn me away for good. :(

Michael Lehnert · July 19, 2008

Do you have new batteries in the battery compartment?

Do you have a PX-type button cell in the exposure meter battery compartment which powers the lightmeter in all Nizo big-bodied cameras?

Run a battery test by moving the master switch from the black '0' forward to the black dot. Any reaction of the battery check diod in the viewfinder?

Is the camera operational in all other ways, i.e. filming speeds, intervalometer, Rewind-based effects etc?

Do you have a manual in your own language supplied with the camera?

Contact the seller about this immediately to make the point that this potential malfunction is something that occured right out of the box, and isn't something that happened to you after "manhandling" the camera for the first days (where people can accidentally damage devices by unintentionally untrained operations)

Art Leal · July 19, 2008

I just purchased a Nizo S 560 from a seemingly reputable German dealer, and the F -stop indicator does not respond to anything. I can also tell that the aperture is not changing on auto or manual. Is this a simple fix does anyone know? I'm really hoping my first experience with super 8 doesn't turn me away for good. :(

I bought the same model from Super 8 Camera in Germany, It never really worked. The drive mechanism would sputter and stop, with 5 different cartridges I tested. The same cartridges worked fine in 5 other cameras I have The black button at the auto/manual knob was missing. When I wrote Uhmeyer he told me it just needed "petrol", and that I may do it by opening the camera.

I had ordered a 1014 Canon at the same time which got hung up at customs in JFK in NY. The tracking site said it was out of customs, but I never received it. I wrote him again and again and got no response, not until I opened a dispute claim with Paypal and decided in my favor, mostly due to the fact that he didn't respond to Paypal. When he did write he said he opened a tracking report with the German post, and it may take up to 90 days for the "investigations" report.

After all this, I wrote him about replacing or refunding the S560, he wrote back:

What is with the Canon 1014 - did you received it?

You can send it to repair - please ONLY the camera.

Best regards

Uhmeyer

Seems he was more concerned with the 1014 than the state of the S560. Along with this I'll mention that the entire camera and case reeked of cigarette smoke, and still does.

I took the money I got back from him and bought the 1014 at Du-All Camera in NYC.

I know this may seem like I'm flaming the guy, but I don't care. Had I not taken measures I would have been out $560 for the 1014. As it is now I'm out $250 for the S560. Yes he did say I may return it, but at this point what's to stop him from keeping it and not repairing (since he already took a hit for the 1014).

My advice is don't bother fixing, adjusting, troubleshooting anything..send it back. The deal when he sold it was that it was working...it's not. Doesn't matter if it was from the same place I bought mine from. Selling crappy equipment to people when and advertising it as "working" is not cool.

Just as a follow up, I purchased the same model from Ebay from someone who is familiar with Super 8 cameras. Received it just as he said...clean lens, free from corrosion, everything functional. Cosmetically in great shape. It was a pleasure to hold and test it.

My point is I hope this experience doesn't put you off from pursuing the Super 8 experience any further.

Good Luck

Art

Jonathan Ragland · July 19, 2008

New AA's, new wiencell px625's, all directions followed. Everything else works. Nothing from the iris and indicator. I emailed the guy to see what he says.

Michael Lehnert · July 19, 2008

New AA's, new wiencell px625's, all directions followed. Everything else works. Nothing from the iris and indicator. I emailed the guy to see what he says.

Well, in that case, there are really no reasons to be benign to the seller if he sold it as "operational" - seems that the entire exposure system is either electrically or motorically broken.

@ Art: HOLY MOLY, that is what I call a bad sales experience, particularly as Super 8 Shop had a good reputation so far, and was aside of Super 8 Arena the only seller with some form of "good appearence".

I truly hope you can sort of this mess. Best wishes,

-Michael

Jonathan Ragland · July 20, 2008

All right, I got the auto aperture to work, but when I set it to manual the indicator leaves the sight. I wanted to be able to set it manually for several reasons, including that I already bought some 500T. Any ideas why auto would work but not manual?

Jim Carlile · July 20, 2008

You have to spin the dial quite a ways around to get the iris indicator to show up under manual mode. It will disappear at first, then show up as you continue to turn the dial.

And when you turn the camera on, you can check the meter (in auto mode) by seeing if it goes to about 5.6.

Michael Lehnert · July 22, 2008

Jonathan, would you mind explaining what operational step you changed to suddenly make the automatic exposure control work, after you are certain that you already tried everything and it must be broken? Furthermore, as I am a bit sceptical about "I tried everything and nothing works for sure" statements (as proven here quite clearly), could you go into some detail how you actually operate the manual aperture control to come to the conclusion that it must be broken?

As Jim said, you have to turn the switch considerably to see an effect in f-stop changes.

Jonathan Ragland · July 23, 2008

As far as saying I tried everything, I mean everything that involves batteries, buttons, switches, etc, without invasive surgery. I finally figured that because of shipping costs to send bck, plus those already paid I would have to have spent $90 on a $150 refund that might get to me this year. So, I just chalked it up as a bad (understated) experience, and I opened it up expecting springs and wires to shoot out all over the place.

I could see through the gate that there was an odd shaped obstruction of the light coming through. I looked between the lens and gate and saw a few different things, one of which was two pieces of metal tangled together. I didn't think this was the iris because it wasn't the traditional O type/ shape. I tried to untangle the pieces and when they were apart they started acting like an iris, opening and closing as the camera faced different directions. So, it worked on auto but still not on manual. Throughout this process there were so many times I thought the thing was going to break, everything is so small and thin. Frustrating to say the least.

vanessa pyne · July 28, 2008

hi, sorry to jump in here... i have nizo S 480 and i want to use the manual aperture feature. does this manual setting only open or close the f stop based on the automatic reading? or can one use a light meter to get a reading and then set the dial to a stop. if you can do this, which side of the dial is F22 and which is F1.8? (close to the automatic setting or far from it?)

many thanks if anyone knows : )

You have to spin the dial quite a ways around to get the iris indicator to show up under manual mode. It will disappear at first, then show up as you continue to turn the dial.

And when you turn the camera on, you can check the meter (in auto mode) by seeing if it goes to about 5.6.

Richardson Leao · July 28, 2008

hi, sorry to jump in here... i have nizo S 480 and i want to use the manual aperture feature. does this manual setting only open or close the f stop based on the automatic reading? or can one use a light meter to get a reading and then set the dial to a stop. if you can do this, which side of the dial is F22 and which is F1.8? (close to the automatic setting or far from it?)

many thanks if anyone knows : )

u should see the indicator, but if i remember well 1.8 is just after the automatic when u dial anticlock