Canon Auto Zoom 318MB (Repair Guide, Mirror, View Finder)

Ross Trimboli · May 7, 2013

Hello All,

A fellow Super-8 fan here. I've recently dug up an old Canon Auto Zoom 318M and gave the unit a bit of a clean up - cleaned inside the battery compartment, resoldered some weak joins etc and so forth, anyway, the camera is in what I think is good opperating condition it seems, motor runs nicely, zoom works (can be seen from outside the lens) except for the view finder. I believe the mirror had been dislodged long before I got my hands on it. It was ratteling around but was able to get it out safely when I took one side panel off (It was just floating were the trigger is).

What I'm looking for is a repair manual or even a direction to a site if anyone has a repair or disasembly detailed. I can't for the life of me remove the left hand side cover (battery compartment side), hoping that I will be able to re-fit the dislodged mirror for the viewfinder to get this little beauty operational again.

It seems useable as it is, however I wouldn't want to waste valuable film by just guessing.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Ross

Alessandro Machi · May 7, 2013

I wish they would do an occasional advertisement on cinematography dot com...This company might have a repair manual for sale.

Ross Trimboli · May 7, 2013

Thank you for your response Alessandro, just ordered the user/instruction manual. Hopefully it should arrive shortly.

Although the operation of the camera seems pretty straight forward although I've rarely really dealt much with video (only still photography), I'm a big fan of the Super-8 format.

Looking to experimenting with it and see what I can come up with, just need to get that mirror repaired now and it should be all set.

Ross

Edited May 7, 2013 by Ross Trimboli

Dom Jaeger · May 7, 2013

Hope you didn't pay too much for the manual, you could probably find a replacement camera with a manual included on ebay for very little money. A quick search found this one (albeit with a faulty zoom) for 10 pounds:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Canon-318M-Auto-Zoom-Super-8-Cine-Camera-With-Instructions-FAULTY-ZOOM-/230958956378?pt=UK_Photography_VintageCameras_SM&hash=item35c639ff5a

A lot of S8 cameras have screws hidden under the decals or leatherette. You can peel them off using a bit of acetone to soften the adhesive and then glue them back on later with epoxy.

Miguel Loredo · May 8, 2013

A lot of S8 cameras have screws hidden under the decals or leatherette. You can peel them off using a bit of acetone to soften the adhesive and then glue them back on later with epoxy.

I use that kind of tape that has glue on both sides. At least with Canon leatherette works superb.