645 experience

I am helping out a lady member of my Club with joining some online 'Clubs' such as 'Flickr' and 'ephotozine' and she has a 645 original from her late Husband who died in his Darkroom must have been 15 year or more ago -- well, she has never used his 645 and I kept telling her to let me check it out and I would give her some 120 film to try -- she is a 35mm NIKON FE user with 4 bodies -- at last she got it out yesterday -- there was the original box and luckily the Instruction book ( I had looked it up 'online' but could not memorise it all ! ) The camera body was loose in the box with NO body cap and the standard lens was loose with NO rear cap so you could see all the dust inside on the mirror ! I had a go to get out the battery holder -- no luck in her house so she let me take it all home and I tried to lever it out -- at last things MOVED and I saw indside a glimpse of batteries !! _ -- well, you can imagine after 15 years they had all leaked and the GOO was eating away at the plastic battery holder which came out with bits broken off !! I tried to glue it all together and washed off all the corrosion with a wet toothbrush, put in 6 new batteries but nothing happened -- the Lithium back-up battery had not been changed either and Pentax designed it with two very small holes needing a special tool to open the cover.
Wish Pentax had designed a better battery holder -- it was a real pig to open ! So it's back to a PENTAX service centre if she wants to use it!

Try Harrow Technical? Probably cheaper and definitely faster than the "official" Pentax service centre which would probably not deal with discontinued film cameras anyway.

K.

Batteries can be a nightmare in classic cameras. I've so often seen cameras tragically ruined by simply being left with the batteries still installed.

A quote for an overhaul seems a good idea, hope it doesn't prove to be more expensive than buying a good second hand sample.

Just checked my film camera, the baterries had been taken out.

I got a bag of lenses, film body & flash from a family friend the flash still had the batteries in it but they had turned into a crystallised white mess :-/

Thanks for replies : Yes, the 'White Mess' has probalably leaked into the elecrical contacts !! I will tell the lady to get a quote .

Leaking batteries are bad enough today, but back in the day before alkaline batteries the acid from leaking cells would severely corrode parts. A little vinegar and then a careful "rinse" with a damp cloth can sometimes rescue gear with leaking alkaline cells. Good luck!