Hi all,
thanks you all for your tips and advise on my previous mail "EOS 5
dismanteling". Although some of you warned me about it, last weekend I went
ahead and dismantled my EOS 5 in order to do something about the stiff command
dial. To start with the result: I now have a smooth and very easy tuning dial.
It works beautifully!
For all of you who are interessted to know what I did and how I did it here's a
description. But first let me add a warning: the EOS 5 is really packed with
fragile electronics and if opened there are a LOT of parts that can brake, maybe
even destroying your camera beyond repair. So please don't try this if you're
not convinced about your abilities to repair delicate stuff. And furthermore: I
WILL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE IF YOU GO AHEAD AND BRAKE ANYTHING (even if you did
follow my description...). Do everything at own risk (like I did...). And I
guess it will also void your camera's warranty!
To fix the dial you only need to remove the top and front cover. You don't have
to open the cameraback nor do you have to remove the lenscap. So there will be
no dust in your camera after the operation. I'm not sure how well lightsealed
the housing is after removing the necessary covers, so it might be a good idea
to remove any film first. For every screw you remove you have to write down its
original location, since the screws come in different sizes (lengths) so when
you put things back together every screw has to go back in its old place! And
please: Only try to remove any screws if you have a good quality and very well
FITTING screw driver. If you wreck the head of any of the screws you (or a
certified Canon repair person, for that matter) will probably not be able to
disasemble the camera any more, making future repairs VERY difficult.
So here goes:
Remove the film, the strap and the eyecup. Remove the lens and cover the
lensmount with the cap. Now turn the camera to P-mode and make the flash pop up.
This is necessary since one of the screws is covered by the flash. With the
flash popped up remove the battery cover and the battery and leave the battery
compartiment open. Now turn the command dial back to 'L'. This makes it easier
to allign the command dial switch with the dial itself when putting the whole
thing back together. The flash will stay up, since we have removed the battery
previously. Now we can start to remove the front cover. That's the square piece
of plastic around the lensmount (with the AF-auxillary light in it and the EOS 5
logo). To do this remove five screws: the two just above the lens mount, two
located next to each other on the edge off the battery compartiment and one
under the lensmount, visible if you turn the camera up side down. Finally,
unfasten the screw that is located at the left side of the camera just above the
little knob that wil open the film chamber. You probably don't have to remove
this screw entirely, just loosen it a few turns. Now you can remove the front
cover. Just slide it over the lens mount (the lens cap will fit nicely through
the big hole, you don't have to remove it).
Now the top cover. That's the part with the command dial, the flash, the LCD
window and the shutter button. Remove five screws: two located to the left and
the right of the view finder (you did remove the eye cup, did you?). Then the
screw located right next to one of the hooks were your carrying strap used to
be. It is visible if you look at the strap hooks from above. The next screw is
located in front of the flash (flash must be in the 'popped up position'), in
the little wall with the 'Canon' logo on it. Make sure this screw does not fall,
for it might roll under the flash and get stuck there... The last screw (a
silver one) is located in the battery compartiment, just under the shutter
button. Now you should be able to lift up the camera's top cover. Be carefull to
do it evenly, don't use any force and watch out for the delicate wiring between
the top cover and the camera body. This wiring connects the flash system to the
camera and the wires are very short. They are just long anough for you to leave
the top cover dangling in front of the lens mount. Don't brake any wires!!!
IMPORTANT: take a good look at how the electrical rotational switch from the
command dial is oriented. Also remember the corresponding position of the
command dial itself (it should still be in 'L'). Later on if you put the top
cover back on the dial in the top cover and the electrical counterpart on the
camerabody have to have this exact orientation or you will not be able to fit
the top cover without braking the little pin on top of the electrical dial. And
this pin is so fragile, I don't think it can be fixed with a bit of glue or
something, so just don't brake it! If you forget the exact orientation you have
to temporarily put the battery AND the battery compartiment door back in place
to figure out what position of the rotational switch corresponds to the 'L'
position of the command dial.
Back to the camera: As you can see, there is a small brown strip with several
tiny wires running through joining the flash electronics to the camera body.
This strip is just a flat cable. Where the strip is joined to the camera body
there is a tiny connector. You have to unfasten the strip from this connector to
gain more room and easier access to the command dial. Take the strip between you
fingers (I hope you have small fingers) and GENTLY wiggle it from left to right.
Pull a little bit, wiggle a little bit and the stip will slowly come out of the
connector. Don't use to much force, since your pulling exerts a force on the
other wires on top of the camera. (For any of you who know this type of
connector: it's also possible to open the locking mechanisme that holds the
strip into place, but it is difficult to explain how it's done, and the
wiggeling-approach also works if you do it gently. I used the wiggeling before I
figured out how the connector works).
The other wires are solderd to the body and can't be removed easily, so I just
left them in place. But now, with the brown strip removed, it is possible to
turn the top cover upside down and take al look at the backside of your command
dial. You see a metal strip that is operated when you push the unlokking button
in the middle of the command dial. Remove the small screw located in the middel
of the command dial holding the metal strip in place. You can now remove the
metal strip (rembemer how and where it belongs), a little spring and the command
dial unlock button. Seen from inside the camera the command dial looks a bit
like a beer bottle cap. If you turn the command dial you can see how the
clicking system works: a smal metal ball is pushed against the caveties in the
side wall of the 'beer bottle cap'. The pushing is done by al little spring
(about the size of a rice grain). Problem is that this spring is just to strong!
So I removed the spring and made it a bit shorter. Removing the spring is quite
easy if you use a small needle and stick it right through the middle of the
spring in such a way that the spring slides over the needle. After removal I cut
about 1 millimeter (about one fifth of it's original length) away. Then I used
the needle to put the shortned spring back into its place. Now the command dial
felt like I wanted it to! Easy going!
Put the metal plate and the command dial unlock button back into place. Put the
command dial in the 'L' position. Now back to the little connector and the
electrical wiring. The connector actually consists of two parts, one of which is
the locking mechanisme. That's the white bar with the two tiny little holes in
it .This bar can slide back and forth, towards the connector and away from it.
Slide the bar away from the connector. Now it's possible to put the brown strip
back in the connector. Put it back in, as far as it goes and hold it there. Now
push the locking bar back into place. I used two tweezers to squeeze the white
bar back onto the connector. Now the brown strip should be securely fastened
again.
Now put the top cover back. Watch for the position of the electrical rotational
command dial switch (see IMPORTANT note above) Also watch for the self timer and
flash button: In my case, a small rubbery piece of one of these fell off and I
had to put it back into place. They are likely to try and fall out just before
you replace the top cover. Very anoying, indeed! I had no problems with the
other buttons. They stayed in their place. The top cover should slide easily
back over the camera. I only had to push a little bit to close the final
millimeter. Now replace only the screw in front of the flash and just hold the
top in place with your hands. Don't tighten the screws to much or you will brake
the plastic around the screw. The screws only have to HOLD things together, they
don't PRESS things together!!!! Put in the battery, close the battery
compartiment (important, the camera won't work if you leave the door open) and
check if everything is working. The flash should immediatelly retract. Test the
command dial, the shutter button and all the other buttons. Does the flash pop
up? If everything works remove the battery and fix all the other screws. Then
put the front cover back in place.
That's it. It took me about half an hour, and everything works fine. If you want
to try it: Good luck, be carefull and take your time.
Bye,
Bart
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