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Canon Autozoom 814 Electronic, focus problem.


Simon Lucas

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Just bought a very cheap Canon 814. I needed a 2nd camera I could could compare with my Nizo for film/dev testing.

 

The focus is completely out. I can only focus at 60mm end and then have to turn the focus ring the opposite way. I shot a test using a tape measure to set focus and the image was out of focus so it seems like the lens. Also the VF seems fuzzy and the diopter setting is stuck.

 

A camera repair company just quoted me £189 + VAT to fix and service it. That would be nice but out of proportion to the s/h value of the camera, I suspect.

 

What should I do:

 

Junk it?

 

Can I fix it myself? Is that even possible?

 

Sell/give it away it for spares?


Advice , please? Or other suggestions? Thank-you.

Edited by Simon Lucas
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Sounds like the focusing ring has come adrift from the actual lens at some time and has been incorrectly reattached. You could recalibrate it- I did so years ago- but it will cost you a film as there's no way to do it through the lens as you might with an SLR.

If it was very cheap, (less than a roll of film?) just try another.

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-> Bill - do you think people buy them for spares? Any idea of the worth?

 

-> Mark. Sounds possible. I have a re-fillable super 8 cart so i would not have to waste a full roll. How would the recalibration work, though?

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I'm not familiar with the camera but the focusing ring usually attaches to the barrel with small grub screws. You'd have to loosen these and move it by trial and error, focus by scale on a test chart at the measured distance and see which setting gives a sharp image. Try to use a large aperture and the long end of the zoom as the focusing will be more critical.

Ff course, this won't help if the lens is actually faulty internally,

Edited by Mark Dunn
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I'm not familiar with the camera but the focusing ring usually attaches to the barrel with small grub screws. You'd have to loosen these and move it by trial and error, focus by scale on a test chart at the measured distance and see which setting gives a sharp image. Try to use a large aperture and the long end of the zoom as the focusing will be more critical.

Ff course, this won't help if the lens is actually faulty internally,

Thanks. i'll take a look once I get the camera back from the shop. If I feel I cannot do it I'll sell for spares.

 

If it is of any help to others in the future, I have found this Canon 814 repair page with various procedures photo-documented:

 

http://canon-s8-repair.yolasite.com/canon-lens-repair-or-replace.php

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If the lens sleeve has been displaced, then if you remove it you might be able to see the marks made by the grub screws as they dragged across the surface of the lens barrel. Then you could reposition the sleeve.

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Simon,

As pointed out above there are grub screws on this camera that will remove the lens focussing cylinder but check why the focus is out - is the cylinder that is the focus ring and holds the focus elements deformed in shape in anyway e.g. its been dropped and landed on the lens? If so it is very difficult to get off for repair (I destroyed a 1014 focusing ring because it had been deformed before I bought it off EBay). If you go through the link you put in above it does give you a good guide to taking that assembly apart - I've used it successfully for 814s and once you get it apart you can check if all the glass elements are in place. The other thing is the focus may have slipped off its guide on the outside of the lens barrell so it still revolves but not at the correct distance. The difficult bit in taking getting at the focus elements is getting the retaining ring off - it may need very, very careful applications of something to loosen any gum or whatever that has accumulated on the thread (do NOT use WD40, do NOT use oil) and then you might have to apply heat to expand the aluminium body and finally the most useful tool is a spanner wrench for getting the ring off and they can cost anything from 25 Euros up to 100 Euros and more.

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Thanks for the help on this. The amazing thing is I looked at the lens focus cylinder and it was meeting the stops at each end. It didn't feel like the problem. So before I took the lens apart I looked at the viewfinder. Pulling/pushing the rigid eye piece adjuster suddenly freed it and it went completely loose. I started to remove the whole viewfinder to look at it and found a tiny grub at the side of the viewfinder beneath the covering that was almost loose and out of its mooring. I could remove it and the eye piece adjuster; put them back; made the eyepiece rotate in its guide. And suddenly I could see and focus the lens properly at all positions.

 

It feels right and I'm hoping that this has fixed it. I'll put a couple of feet of film through it to check it.

 

Maybe I've saved the camera and I've saved £198+VAT from Sendean in Clerkenwell. (Did they even look at it when they did the quote I wonder?)

Edited by Simon Lucas
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Great. I was thinking I should offer you a spare parts price as I need a front element for an 814 but this is a much better result. The Canon cameras can be buggers to pull apart so I guess the Seandean guys just went, "oh noooooo"!

 

Good luck with it.

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Great. I was thinking I should offer you a spare parts price as I need a front element for an 814 but this is a much better result. The Canon cameras can be buggers to pull apart so I guess the Seandean guys just went, "oh noooooo"!

 

Good luck with it.

thank-you. let's see if it works. I may still be able to offer it to you!

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