I have same issue with Contaflex ll but instead of rapping camera, I pushing timer lever towards X to force timer to finish and release shutter. I am trying a roll now to see how it turns out.
Just when I thought I could get shutter by moving timer a bit, this stopped working and I didn’t get to finish the b|w roll (only a few times when advancing the film did the shutter release before it stopped completely).
@@houstoncombatphotography9454 thankfully yes, but I haven't shot a roll through it in over 7 years so who knows! As a fellow reenactor and history nerd really enjoying the channel!
I’d set the shutter speed at 1 second, then cock it and press the shutter release. You should hear the mirror instantly flip up, then the distinct one-second shutter cycle. If you only hear one very fast “click,” then only the mirror is moving. Hope that helps.
Take the back off the camera. (Presumably, the camera has no film in it.) Look through the back of the camera, trip the shutter. You should see the mirror flip up, then the shutter will open, then close after the set time. Be sure to test all the speeds. Often the faster speeds will be fine, but the slow speeds will not. Be sure to set the lens to the smallest aperture for this. Sometimes the shutter and mirror are working just fine, but the aperture blades are gummed up. If the aperture is working correctly, you will see only the smallest aperture size. If instead, you can see the aperture still closing down, it's gummed up. I own a half dozen of these wonderful cameras... however, I never thought of using one while also shooting at someone! ;-)
