dismantling a 4008 Zm2

[Vurfer]

Hi once again,
sorry to bother you again with my beaulieu that just won't work...

As I mentioned in a previous post, it runs at around 30-35 fps, regardless of the speed set on the dial. And the motor doesn't run when the 7.2V pin is connected to the battery, but DOES when the 3.6V pin is connected.

Lee pointed out the camera shouldn't be doing that unless it had been modified internally. I'd like to check that, but I'm not sure in which order I can take the camera apart without damaging it. Anyone done this before?

Daniel

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[dom2]

that wire-up you posted looks suspect. use 6 1.2v rechargeable nicads, get rid of the resistors, take the current for the meter across three of them, and the current for the drive across all six -


<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Courier, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Vurfer:
Hi once again,
sorry to bother you again with my beaulieu that just won't work...

As I mentioned in a previous post, it runs at around 30-35 fps, regardless of the speed set on the dial. And the motor doesn't run when the 7.2V pin is connected to the battery, but DOES when the 3.6V pin is connected.

Lee pointed out the camera shouldn't be doing that unless it had been modified internally. I'd like to check that, but I'm not sure in which order I can take the camera apart without damaging it. Anyone done this before?

Daniel

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>



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[Vurfer]

Hi,
Actually, I never used that wire-up with resistors that was on the website I mentioned. I only got the pin layout from that site.
I used 6 NiCd cells, and connected them up the way you said.
But, I might as well have just used the first three cells in the first place, as it seems it doesn't use the 7.2V at all.

Some more curiosities I found out while running a test roll:
- The zoom motor only operates when the light meter is set to 'auto' or 'test'
- The camera slows down slightly when I press the declutch button.
- It slows drastically, sometimes to a standstill, when filming out in the cold.
- With 'test' the meter in the viewfinder is always well below the half-mark, although the NiCd's are charged (whether it's 3 or 6 of them)
- On auto exposure, the Iris rarely moves; it only opens up when it's extremely dark. Never closes again automatically, however much light there is.
- when I adjust the ASA number to above 200, the meter (when in 'manual') drops from something that halfway makes sense right to the bottom of the viewfinder.

According to the seller (who was not the actual user), the original battery pack 'exploded' sometime while charging. That turned out to be true -- one of the cells (btw, one of the cells NOT part of the 3.6V supply) had expanded to twice its normal size and totally deformed the battery.
I thought for a time that possibly this 'blast', with a resulting power spike or something, could have caused the problems I'm having right now. But I reckon now that the problems are too complex for this to be an explanation.

Daniel

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[dom2]

you may have the pins mixed up. i managed to have some similar effects doing this. the power zoom isn't intended to work on 'manual' setting.

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[Mikko]

Buy a new camera! What's so great in 4008 anyway? (oh yeah, the groundglass focusing and that you can change optics)

m

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[dom2]

you're not by any chance trying to use the original charger to charge 6 AA nicads? (because it would take about a week..)

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[Vurfer]

The pin layout I used is from www.tiac.net/users/mjs2/celluloid/beauliea.htm

The top pin as ground, the next one down as +3.6V and the pin at the bottom as +7.2V. That also works out with the way the original battery was wired internally. Correct?

Daniel

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[leesnedaker]

I had a little trouble with my 4008 and sent it to Guy at CamerasPro.com. He was very good and called to talk about the camera and what needed to be done. I can tell you that repair from anybody is not cheap. At least $400 bucks for a complete overhaul.

It looks to me like if you take out the skrews in the film loading area then take off your lens you will see two plastic caps that are glued to the body on the lens end. Pull those caps off and unscrew. You may need to also unscrew the screws on the back under the view finder but I am not sure.

Good luck

Lee

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[Vurfer]

dom2, I'm using a normal NiCd/NiMH charger for AA batteries ... Seeing that this beaulieu charger blew a cell in the beaulieu battery I wouldn't want to risk using it on my good AA batteries anyway.

Lee, thanks for the info, opening it sounds a bit risky though so I'll probably leave it.
Luckily I agreed with the seller, BEFORE the auction, that if the camera had any serious fault I would be able to return it. In addition to the electrical problem, the Schneider 6-66mm lens is not okay ... it often doesn't come out of the macro mode properly, making it impossible to focus when filming wide-angle.
I 'only' payed $300 for it in the first place, and I reckon that any repair costing a similar amount or more just isn't worth it.
Better to go for one from Wittner Kinotechnik, have a decent working camera with 6 months garantuee.

Or ... buy two cameras specifically described as 'defective' (as they sell dead cheap) and put the working bits together. Does anyone know to which extent parts from the 2008 and the 4008 are compatible?

Oh, and a question about the ground glass focusing: When I read about that, I thought the viewfinder would have a picture as solid as in 35mm SLRs. But with the beaulieu, if the picture is out of focus, to some extent my eye will focus on the image behind or in front of the ground glass, as if the ground glass weren't there.
Have any of you had this problem too?

Daniel

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