Asahi Pentax ME Film Camera - Help me please!

[happy max]

http://www.houseofmax.co.uk/images/help%20sheet.jpg

If anyone could point me in the right direction or know of a solution, any help would be greatly appreciated thank you

all the best
max

[shoota]

Max, the description of the fault is unreadable on your photo.
The ISO ring must be pulled upward evenly, ie not at an angle before you can turn it.

[vulcan]

I think there has to be a film in the camera before the winding system works, at least it did on an an old Olympus camera I had.

[Buenchico]

As Vulcan42 suggests, it might be worth trying the operations with a film actually in the camera. (Many 'pound shops', or similar, sell cheap films so it wouldn't cost a great deal just to experiment without actually taking any pictures).

Otherwise you'll probably have to involve the professionals:
http://www.pentax.co.uk/en/repair-process.html

For Shoota:
If the description is unreadable to you I suggest clicking here to check your monitor settings:
http://reeddesign.co.uk/testcard.htm
If you can't read all of the numbers (from 0 to 10), on both lines, your monitor is poorly set up. (Follow the on-screen instructions to correct it).

Chris

[MichaelZZ]

No. You don't need a film in your camera for the film transport mechanism to work! And you certainly don't need a film in for the ISO adjuster ring to work!
I don't think that your two problems are necessarily related but the following questions occur to me (please don't be offended if some of these are stating the "bleedin' obvious!") :
Does the shutter dial happen to be in the "L" (locked) position?
How long since you used the camera?
Has it been stored in a dry place?
(I kept my K1000 for several years in a camera bag in a cupboard. I had fortunately taken the precaution of putting a couple of silica gel packets in with it and when I came to sell it, apart from installing a new battery, it was still in perfect working order.)
Are the batteries new / working?
Have you tried gently waggling the offending parts (ISO dial / film advance)?
I can't think of anything else and as I say, if you think my questions are elementary and patronising then I apologise but I hope there may be just something in my comments that will help.
Please let us know how you get on.

[happy max]

apologies shoota for the description being a photograph, just experimenting with informing people of the problem. Made sure the ISO has been pulled up evenly and still not budging.

I've tried some dead film in the camera and winding sprocket just isn't budging when back closed then opened after firing a few shots.

Emailed the professionals for a quote and i'm looking at £96 fix which would rinse me of all my cash. But i'm looking forward to the challenge i suppose :)

MichaelZZ, the camera was passed down to me broken but it has been kept in a dry cupboard in it's case for about 25 years. I've replaced the batteries, gently wiggled and shook the camera but nothing changes.

(thanks for the silica gel tip, going to get all my acquire cameras i've rescued and keep them healthy)

Don't worry about being patronising, I really do appreciate all the help and you've mentioned things that i hadn't tried, Im just worried the problem is a lot more serious than I originally thought.

Going to dismantle it completely and see if I can revive it.

Once again, thanks for all your help, deeply grateful, i'll keep yous posted :)

[MichaelZZ]

Hi Max! I've just re-read your latest reply and I now notice that you say, "...I've tried some dead film in the camera and winding sprocket just isn't budging when back closed then opened after firing a few shots."
On my dearly beloved K1000, it wasn't possible to fire more than one shot without winding the film on other than by doing something clever under the "multple exposure" category. (As you see from my original reply, I sold the camera and all the accessories - including the manual - so the above comments are purely from memory - which in my advanced years does play the occasional trick!)