Fuji Fujica ST605 repair & common faults
Excellent coverageThe Fujica ST605 is a mid-1970s mechanical 35mm SLR from Fuji's ST line, built around an M42 screw mount. Exposure is manual with a match-needle CdS meter for guidance, and the shutter itself is fully mechanical, so the camera can still fire with a dead or absent battery, only the meter goes blind.
M42 screw mount · Mechanical horizontal-travel cloth focal-plane shutter · Centre-weighted CdS metering, match-needle · Meter powered by a single 1.35V mercury cell, shutter unaffected by battery state
Common Fuji Fujica ST605 faults
Fuji Fujica ST605 meter needle doesn't move
A static needle usually means no current reaching the CdS cell, either the battery, its contacts, or the cell itself. It's rarely the shutter mechanism, which runs independently. Worth a fresh, correctly seated battery first, but if the needle stays put with a known-good cell the meter circuit or cell has failed and needs the cover off to confirm.
Fuji Fujica ST605 exposures come out wrong even though the meter looks fine
This camera's meter was designed around an older mercury cell with a steadier voltage than modern replacements, so a needle that moves and settles can still be reading light incorrectly. It shows up as a consistent over or underexposure across a roll rather than random misses. Worth checking which battery type is fitted before assuming a fault inside the meter itself.
Fuji Fujica ST605 shutter speeds sound uneven or hang on slow settings
A mechanical shutter like this times itself through a small gear train and escapement, and decades-old lubricant in there thickens with age. It shows up first at the slow end, a second or half-second that runs long or catches audibly, while the faster speeds still sound crisp. It's a mechanical timing fault, not an electrical one, and won't improve with a battery change.
Fuji Fujica ST605 mirror stuck up after firing
When the mirror doesn't drop back down after the shutter fires, the return mechanism or its linkage has jammed, often from old grease gone gummy rather than a broken part. The viewfinder goes black and stays black until it's freed. Winding on sometimes clears it briefly, but a mirror that repeatedly hangs points to a mechanism that needs proper attention rather than persuasion.
Fuji Fujica ST605 light leaks or fogged edges on developed film
The foam seals lining the film door on a camera this age have almost always perished, turning to a sticky crumble that no longer blocks light. It typically shows as fogging or streaks along one edge of the frame, worse in bright conditions. A quick check is whether the foam around the door edge feels tacky or has visibly disintegrated.
Stuck on your Fuji Fujica ST605?
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Try it now ›Scatto is a reference tool for people who service film cameras. It explains mechanisms and quotes service data, but it cannot see your camera at the bench, so verify anything load-bearing before you act on it.