If your viewfinder is black, the mirror on the film camera is up. That usually means the shutter system is out of whack... Repair would be too expensive. You can by a used Vivitar, Pentax body as a replacement as they use the same non AF K-mount lenses for pretty cheap. But again, they would be old cameras.
SOURCE: My camera doesn't work when I press the shutter release
I think the timing of the shutter winding gears has slipped a tooth or two. look at the picture in this image:
http://www.twid.de/x700/pic03.jpg
Near the motor drive coupler at the bottom you will see a blue and a white gear. Look closely at the blue gear and you will see a line on the top of it. That line needs to be pointed at the center of the white gear when the camera has been released and ready to be advanced again.
If you wish to proceed, I will tell you how to re-time the gears.
SOURCE: Film Advance Lever and Shutter Curtain
If the film advance lever is "flopping" back and forth, the problem is most likely a jammed advance mechanism inside. The shutter is cocked *mechanically* and released the same way--no battery power is needed. One old trick you could try to release things is to push the rewind button on the bottom of the camera.*sometimes* it will free up the mechanism enough to unjam.
SOURCE: can't see through viewfinder (it's all black) and
Remove the lens and look inside it. Do you see the mirror? If not, your mirror is stuck in the up position. Its flat up against the focusing screen. If the mirror is down, the problem is in the lens, or you still have the lens cap in place.
Check your manual under troubleshooting.
Try setting the shutter speed dial to the M90 position.
Also be sure the batteries are inserted correctly!!!!
If no change yet, you can try to put the mirror back down yourself. With the lens removed, set the camera on its back. You can use your fingers, but I suggest a toothpick cuz they won't leave fingerprints on the mirror and the toothpick should break before you exert enough pressure to really break something. So just try to return the mirror to the 45 degree angle within the mirror box. Be careful not to damage anything in there, like the shutter or the arms that raise and lower the mirror. Depending on where you live, there may be some corrosion or rust on the mirror linkage. It should move easily. If you feel any roughness when you move the miror, that may be the reason it did not return on its own. Then turn it on, off again. At some point, you may want to have this camera cleaned, lubricated and Adjusted(CLA) - after all, its over 25 yrs old.
If all that did not work, you'll need to send it in. Here are some good choices for repair places...
Garry Airapetov in Niles, ILL
Camera Repairs in Avon, IN.
BTW here's a website with several pages about FG...http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/classics/emfgfg20/fg/index.htm
copy and paste it into your browser.
SOURCE: I have an Canon AE-1 and the film advance lever
The film is either at the end or stuck. The shutter will not release unless the film advance lever has gone all the way and back.
Make a note of the frame counter. Rewind the film and remove it from the camera (When you feel the film to come loose from the receiving spool, stop rewinding to prevent the end of the film to disappear inside the can. This way you can reload it if it was stuck in the middle.) If the film was completely exposed, take it to be developed.
With the empty camera, try to advance the lever and release the shutter. If this works, the problem was the film and not the camera. Everything is fine. If the problem persists, take it to be repaired.
If the film was stuck in the middle, load it again into the camera. With the lense cap on (preferably in a dark room or similar) 'shoot' as many 'empty' frames as you had on the counter plus two more. Finish the film and develop the pictures.
If the film stucks again at the same place, rewind it and develop normally. It was a bad film.
Hope this helped you to solve the problem.
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