My A2E control dial is broken (again). I thought I read about some service center having a better method (permenant ? ) for repairing this problem.( I've repaired this twice already ) Since everyone knows that this problem is the Achille's Heel of an otherwise competant camera , I hope someone can guide me to a more effective repair Thank you Lee S. (lebeauscar@aol.com )

-- Lee Scarborough (lebeauscar@aol.com), July 31, 2000

Answers

Try Horizon Electronics, in California someplace. They replace the plastic rivets with screws. I've done this myself and it really should be the final fix.

Another thing to do is to reduce the tension of the detent spring or use a slightly larger detent ball. (Either one will do the same thing) The detent ball tends to fall too far into the detent cage that is riveted to the bottom of the command dial. Lessening it's tension will keep the command dial from binding and making that grinding sound you sometimes hear.

The third thing to do is grind down the edges of the lock position so it wont matter if you press the button down when moving the command dial from the off position.

Horizon should be willing & able to all three. They can be reached at: http://www.horizon-electronics.com/

-- Jim Strutz (jimstrutz@juno.com), July 31, 2000.

The last time I spoke Charlie at Horizon, he mentioned that for $110 (?or was it $120?) they would:

• permanently fix the command dial (whether broken or not)
• load EOS-5 firmware (gives you a manual mode metering scale)
• recalibrate the AF and metering sensors

-- Dave (dherzstein@juno.com), July 31, 2000.