Nizo 481 Macro: dead meter?

[metaT8]

Greetings everyone,

I've been lurking on this board for some time but till now have never had anything important to contribute. First let me just say thanks to everyone for all of the helpful information and advice and for keeping this amazing creative medium alive!

I had a meter problem with an 801 a while back and here's what I discovered:

I took the cover off on the side that has the controls to see if I could discover the problem. While handling the camera with the cover off I discovered that when I accidently pressed on the circuit board the meter came back to life, when I let go it died again.

At first I thought it might be some sort of grounding problem and my finger was completing an open circuit but after messing with it for a while I learned that the pressure I was applying was fixing a loose "open" connection behind the board somewhere.

So I took a small piece of sponge, placed it on the circuit board and closed the cover on top creating a permanent wedge that pushed on the board just enough to make the connection.

I wish I knew exactly what was being reconnected with this small amount of pressure so I could attempt a more informed repair but this electronically controlled exposure is way beyond my expertise.

Anyhoo, although I got it to work I never really "solved" the mystery and therefore never felt comfortable shooting with that camera for fear that the meter would unexpectedly die.

I hope this helps get us closer to the NIZOs "lost exposure meter" mystery. The one fatal flaw in an otherwise perfect camera. It would be great if we could nail this down cuz these lenses are fantastic.

onward

[Mitch Perkins]

I had a problem with the meter in my 801m last year and solved it with a piece of foil. You can read the original thread here.

When I switched to Wein cells this stopped being a problem, and now the meter works sans foil.

It sounds like the piece of foil was compensating for the the contact strip at bottom of batt compartment being pushed down too far ["un-sprung"] to make solid contact w/batteries. It sounds like the Weins are indeed higher-profile than 625s, therefore making up the distance.
The alternative is to make a little hook, and pull that strip back up.

I had a meter problem with an 801 a while back and here's what I discovered:

I took the cover off on the side that has the controls to see if I could discover the problem. While handling the camera with the cover off I discovered that when I accidently pressed on the circuit board the meter came back to life, when I let go it died again.

The part of the circuit board on which the exp dial is situated is not supported. This is a major reason why so many of these cameras fail this way; circuit boards aren't meant to be flexed, which can happen in the Nizo every time one places any pressure at all around the exp meter dial, since the cover itself has a certain amount of flexibility. The battery test button is a culprit here.
Some of the screws [3 out of 4, in fact], holding the circuit board in place need to be tightened well because they complete the electronics, that is, they contact live copper surfaces. Make sure there's no buildup of corrosion where the screws tighten down.
All in all it's a problematic area of the camera design...but I have had a breakthrough in the mechanical manual modification of the exp control, and hope to have a working example by week's end.

Mitch

[T-Scan]

I gave it a couple of good punches on the left side, low and behold the meters back!

[Mitch Perkins]

I gave it a couple of good punches on the left side, low and behold the meters back!

Congratulations! You have passed the International Repairman's test and are now qualified to open your own shop!

Yeehaw!!

Mitch

[Tscan]

OK my Nizo 481 light meter went dead today, so I tried googling a solution and found this thread. I read the whole thing before I realized it was in fact MY thread for the same camera and issue in 2006. I totally forgot about it, but followed the same lucky solution by banging on the front left side of the camera body a few times and presto... light meter working again.