Bad luck with iris windows

[oldasdirt]

Just came into possesion of a Sankyo 420 XL, everything seems to be working, but the iris setting in the window in the viewfinder gets stuck at f2.2.Opening the film chamber and looking at it shows that the iris is reacting OK to light changes, it's just that the matchneedle in the VF won't go beyond f 2.2.Any suggestions?

[Alex]

This is gonna sound crazy, but you may actually like the fact that the camera does not completely open up.

Sometimes when a camera opens up all the way the image goes soft. Once the camera's f-stop is f 2.0 or higher, the odds of a sharper picture begin to increase.

Also, in backlit situations especially in low light backlit situations, the problem your camera has may actually prove a benefit.

Perhaps I'm being overly optimistic, but if I'm right, than it's all good.

If you have manual exposure override, than try gently "exercising" the needle to see if you can get it past that spot.

[oldasdirt]

Actually the iris will open up and close all the way,it's just that the matchneedle in VF won't.It will open up all the way, but won't CLOSE DOWN past 2.2.At least that's what the VF reading says anyway.Looking through the film gate, you can see the iris itself open and close properly.Just no way to accuratelt tell what stop you're shooting at currently.

[Alex]

dohhhh!

You're such a positive person, rather than say the needle barely moves, it sort of sounded like it moved all the way to f2.2.

I had a similar problem on a vivtar super-8 camera a very long time ago. A friend opened it up, and the iris and needle worked perfectly in auto mode, put the camera back together and the needle would not move again.

WE couldn't figure out what was happening when the camera was put back together that made the needle not want to move.