Mike's Minolta SRT Disassembly Page

Before You disassemble Your Camera

• Read up on general camera repair - there are several books that should be easily obtainable either directly from your local library or through interlibrary loan. I think Tomosy's "Camera Maintenance & Repair" ISDN number 0-936262-09-5 would be a good starting point.
• If it's working OK, leave it alone. I find it hard to put things down when they aren't perfect, but there is a a bit of tolerance built into photography, so perfection is not necessary to get great pictures.
• You should get a copy of the original service manual (see "for more information" page).
• I strongly recommend you get yourself one of those small compartmentalized storage boxes  prior to disassembly.  A fishing  lure organizer  will serve the purpose nicely.  Keep parts for each section of the camera together in one compartment.  As you go deeper into the camera, you can move in an organized fashion, putting parts into succeeding compartments.  When you put your camera back together, it will be easy to find the right screws and parts for each section.
• Work in a clean environment, preferably on a hard surface floor.  it will be much easier to find those tiny dropped components.
• Be forewarned, it takes me a lot longer to get things back together, than it does getting them apart.  Be prepared to spend a lot of time with reassembly.   I often spend a couple of sessions working on putting things back together, quitting when or if I start to feel tired or fustrated.
• Be extremely careful with solvents.  Any solvent at all on the soft plastic of the viewfinder screen will ruin it.  This screen is NOT sealed from the environment.  I ruined one without even touching it with solvent.  The fumes from something got to the screen and created a terrible haze on it.  To this day, I'm not sure what really happened.

Removing The Bottom

• Nothing could be easier.  Simply unscrew the two screws on the bottom plate with the appropriate screw driver and gently remove it with your fingers.  No other leverage should be needed..   One reason I've been so deep into these cameras is that the first step is so easy.   If this first step was more difficult, I might never have gone any further.  I'm not sure if this is good or bad.

Removing The Top

• The front cover index screw has a red dot covering the top of the screw head. This dot is not exactly easy to deal with. One of my camera's was serviced in a shop once and even the professionals marred the finish on this screw. Dick Sullivan has a whole page describing how to deal with the red dot(see "for more information" page) . Tomosy, in his book, says the red dot can be pried out with a pin to get to the screw head underneath it. I would try this first, before taking other, more extreme measures..
• To remove the rewind knob, you simply open the back, place something in the fork of the rewind shaft and crank off the top. Be sure to use something soft, like a wooden skewer (they are found in the grocery store), so you don't mar the finish.
• To remove the rewinding seat, you may need a spanner wrench of some sort. At one point, I fabricated one from an old tweezers I had around.  See the tools page for details.
• There are several approaches to removing the winding lever cap without marring the finish.  Various tools include a friction wrench, purpose made flexi clamps, or a grippy jar opener made for opening jars in the kitchen.
• If you are going to leave the top off for some time, while working with your camera, you might consider removing the frame counter frame (part 3402 in the service manual).  I broke one of these once, since it sticks out a little and is easily bent.  Just unscrew the screw that holds it in, take out the frame (leave the wheel) and replace the screw.  You can then replace the frame when you are ready to reassemble the camera.
• After removing the top replace the rewinding seat so that the Needle follower mechanism and strings don't come loose.
  

Removing The Viewfinder

• The wires that must be unsoldered were actually blue(towards front of camera) and green (towards back of camera) on the cameras I have seen.
• The black wire that must be unsoldered is soldered on the front right hand (when viewing from the front) side of the camera.
• Step 4 is not necessary, though you must be extremely careful when removing and installing viewfinder due to tight clearances.
• Once the eye-piece is removed, be careful you don't put your fingerprints on the viewfinder glass (somehow, I always seem to accomplish this).
  
• The string that is disconnected, is the one connected to the wheel on the back of the viewfinder.  This string controls the shutter speed indicator.  This string is a pain to put back on,  but I will add some hints in my reassembly section.
• The string that must be relocated, runs from the shutter speed control across the back  of the viewfinder to the meter follower.
• There is a small pulley that guides the aperture string from the follower assembly around and into the lens mount.  I would remove the string from this pulley and the pulley itself prior to removing the viewfinder.  It will fall off anyway once the viewfinder is off.
  
• The diagram in the service manual is wrong concerning the three screws that must be removed.  The recessed screws are the focus adjustment screws (leave these alone).  The slightly bigger inboard screws are the ones that must be removed.
• Once the viewfinder is removed, you can use masking tape to tape the speed indicator to a convenient location, preferable on a 90 degree corner, so that it doesn't accidentally get bent or lost.

Removing The Aperture String.

Removing The Front Base Frame (mirror box)

• The viewfinder must come off before you remove the mirror box.
• You might consider removing the aperture string prior to removing the the front base frame.  The aperture string is connected to the camera and you will not be able to totally separate the mirror box from the body without first disconnecting the aperture string.
  
• If you are careful, you can remove the self timer with a bent paper clip of the appropriate size and a pliers, instead of a spanner wrench.
• Take you time and carefully peel back the leather carefully with a pick and you should be able to paste is back down later and no one will know the difference.

1. Cock the shutter.
2. Depress and hold down the shutter release.
3. Manually release the shutter.  There is a release lever on the upper left side of the mirror box area (facing the camera body from the front) that does this.  I have small fingers and can do this with my index finger, but you may need a little stick to fire it.

Removing The Slow Shutter Speed Timing Mechanism

• This is easy to remove, just two screws and a little fiddling around and off she comes.  This provides better access to the shutter and advance mechanism, should you need it.