Help with Leicina Super - no power

Simon Lucas · August 31, 2015

My Leicina Super shows no sign of power.

It was shooting. And then stopped.

I checked the power window - no power - there had been earlier. Then checked the batteries with voltmeter.

No zoom, no shutter, no auto-exposure.

Checked batteries are seated and cleaned contacts.

Any ideas please?

Carl Looper · August 31, 2015

My Leicina stopped running quite recently as well. Perhaps there is some built in switch in all Leicinas that was set to switch off this year. :)

C

Simon Lucas · September 1, 2015

Yes - either that, or circuits/components die. :)

I'm going to ask a guy called Eckhard. I found his name on filmshooting.com, which I remembered that I have also been a member of last time I needed to talk about Leicinas.

Martin Baumgarten · September 12, 2015

So very often the weak link in the LEICINA Super is the power supply. I know you said you cleaned it and checked the contacts...however....the design of it is poor in some ways, and even when all seems fine, it still is not supplying power to the camera once you install it on the back. Make sure the camera is in the off position prior to installing the power supply block. Double and triple check the metal finger blades to make sure they are clean without any tarnish on them, as well as the recepter nibs on the camera body. Then try it again and if still not running after turning the power switch on, try moving the power supply block about a little bit to see if that gets the camera running. If so, the stupid block is the culprit as it so often is on these fine cameras. Why Leica went with this design, who knows, but it's a common problem. Good luck, hope you can get your camera up and running again!

Simon Lucas · September 20, 2015

So very often the weak link in the LEICINA Super is the power supply. I know you said you cleaned it and checked the contacts...however....the design of it is poor in some ways, and even when all seems fine, it still is not supplying power to the camera once you install it on the back. Make sure the camera is in the off position prior to installing the power supply block. Double and triple check the metal finger blades to make sure they are clean without any tarnish on them, as well as the recepter nibs on the camera body. Then try it again and if still not running after turning the power switch on, try moving the power supply block about a little bit to see if that gets the camera running. If so, the stupid block is the culprit as it so often is on these fine cameras. Why Leica went with this design, who knows, but it's a common problem. Good luck, hope you can get your camera up and running again!

Martin, thank-you for your suggestion. I got delayed sending the camera off. And as it will now go this week, I think it is a good idea to follow your suggestions before I send it.

Simon Lucas · September 20, 2015

Martin. I forgot to say that I have also tested the camera using the external power supply/remote box. That did not work either, but I reloaded the battery compartment, cleaned the contacts. Still nothing, so it's going off to Germany.

Martin Baumgarten · September 21, 2015

Hi Simon, a few last things to try: try all camera release switches, the top one, the cable release, try moving the power switch to off and on a few times (all assuming that the power supply is correctly hooked up of course), and while even holding the main run switch to on, try thumping the camera on the side a few times, use a towel around your thumping hand. Sometimes it's just something so minor that if you can get the camera to make a connection and run, and then run it for a few minutes and switch it on and off after she comes back to life, that is all it might take. Good luck either way.

Martin Baumgarten · September 22, 2015

One last simple reminder here.....have to ask is sorry. Did you try to operate the camera making sure there's a cartridge inside? The LEICINA will not run without a cartridge inside as there's a small switch it pushes inward when a cartridge is inserted. You can defeat this using a small piece of wood, some plastic and tape, or an old junker cartridge. Many that aren't familiar with these cameras do not know about this, since the majority of Super 8mm cameras will run without a cartridge in them.

Carl Looper · September 23, 2015

I found the problem with mine (it's a Special rather than a Super). On close inspection I found one of the batterys in the battery pack wasn't connecting to it's contact. A tiny piece of plastic that would otherwise hold the contact in place had snapped off. Removing the battery would move the contact back into it's correct position. Inserting the battery again would move it back out of position.

C

Simon Lucas · September 23, 2015

Martin. I do still have the cart in. But nice to know about that switch.

Carl. I'm not aware of the contacts being dodgy. The thing you describe with the metal contacts, is though, what has happened inside my remote control box, the ST-1. I will look at that, though. BTW, I did test the voltages coming out of the battery compartment. There seem to be two different sets of circuits in that box. I could not quite understand why, but I was getting voltage from them.

Ian Rivlin · August 26, 2019

On 9/23/2015 at 12:44 AM, Martin Baumgarten said:

One last simple reminder here.....have to ask is sorry. Did you try to operate the camera making sure there's a cartridge inside? The LEICINA will not run without a cartridge inside as there's a small switch it pushes inward when a cartridge is inserted. You can defeat this using a small piece of wood, some plastic and tape, or an old junker cartridge. Many that aren't familiar with these cameras do not know about this, since the majority of Super 8mm cameras will run without a cartridge in them.

The Leicina will *definitely* run without a cartridge. (It just won't expose correctly).

Arnaud Lin · March 30, 2020

Hello,

I have a problem with my Leicina Special.

The same issue mentioned above happened to me quite a few times, but weirdly I managed to fix this by tweaking the 2 screws on the plate where the battery pack gets inserted.

This time however, the battery pack is not the issue as automatic zoom works fine, but when I press the shutter release, the camera doesn't run, I simply hear a click, if I remove the lens I can see the shutter moving as I press the shutter release (but not completely closing).

Would anyone know what this issue could be, and is there a way to fix this?

Arnaud Lin · April 3, 2020

UPDATE:

I have fixed the issue.

I opened my Leicina special body and noticed that something was stuck in between two gears that enable the shutter mechanism.

I found out that it was the daylight filter had happened to have fallen out and get stuck there.

For anyone with that same problem, here is a guide to opening the Leicina special:

http://super8wiki.com/index.php/Leicina_Special:_Repair

A

Todd Pinder · April 3, 2020

Just curious since this thread has been brought up, any technicians service these cameras? I have one but its pretty loud from lack of use and probably never been serviced. Also have a 10mm Cinegon that the aperture blades are off.

Arnaud Lin · April 6, 2020

@Todd Pinder

Seandean in London would do it, but it's not going to be cheap.

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Todd Pinder · April 6, 2020

Thanks for the response Arnaud! I'm in the States so shipping plus conversation rate would make it even more expensive! Did you ever ask them for an estimate?