Japan Camera Grades

By Yu Kanke · Last verified 2026-10-29

What to Check, by Camera Type

A mechanical SLR, an electronic SLR, a rangefinder, a compact and a medium-format body fail in different places. The checks that matter change with the type.

Last verified: 2026-10-29.

Most buying guides list generic advice — "check for fungus, check the shutter". That is fine until you are looking at a 1980s electronic body, where the item most likely to be dead is a capacitor you cannot see. This page splits the checks by type, using the vocabulary in our fault glossary and the checks Japanese shop staff themselves recommend.

Mechanical SLR (Nikon F/F2, Pentax Spotmatic and similar)

Do first: with no battery fitted, wind the lever and fire. If the shutter fires, the body is fully mechanical — which is why these are the safest junk purchases: fewer parts to fail.

Then: open the back and fire through the speed range, watching the shutter. Low speeds should open and close slowly; high speeds fast. Uneven travel at 1/1000 is the classic fault (幕切れ).

Common failures: light-seal foam turned to paste (モルト劣化), slow speeds gummed up, desilvered mirror edges (ミラー腐食), meter error from the wrong battery voltage.

Advantage: a dead meter does not stop you shooting. The camera works without electronics.

Electronic SLR (Canon EOS, Nikon F100/F5, Contax and similar)

Do first: battery compartment. Corrosion on the contacts is fixable; corrosion that has reached the board usually is not (電池ボックスの腐食).

Then: every mode, every dial, and the film advance. Electronic bodies fail as systems, not as mechanisms — a single dead capacitor can make the whole body worthless.

Common failures: LCD bleed, cracked plastic gears, AF motor whine, mode dial skipping.

Reality check: these are the cheapest bodies per specification and the most expensive to repair. Buy working, not "probably working".

Rangefinder (Leica M, Canon P, fixed-lens Japanese rangefinders)

Do first: the rangefinder patch. Align the image at infinity — a patch that will not coincide means the rangefinder needs calibration (距離計のズレ).

Then: the shutter curtain for pinholes (hold it up to light), and the film advance for smoothness. On Leica M bodies, check that the frame lines change correctly with the lens mounted.

Common failures: dim or faded patch, vertical misalignment, curtain pinholes, haze in the viewfinder.

Compact (Contax T2/T3, Ricoh GR1, mju II and similar)

Do first: the lens barrel. These cameras extend and retract; a sticky or grinding barrel is the beginning of the end.

Then: the film door latch, the battery type (many use discontinued cells), and the flash.

Common failures: ribbon cables in the lens assembly, lens door motors, LCD bleed, battery leakage. Repair support is often gone — treat a broken compact as unrepairable and price it accordingly.

Note for buyers outside Japan: these are the models that appear most often in "Japan-only" listings, because they are popular domestically. Check who ships before you fall for one.

Medium format (Hasselblad V, Mamiya RB/RZ, Rolleiflex, Pentax 67)

Do first: the back and the seals. Film backs are the most failure-prone part, and a light leak will ruin every frame before you notice.

Then: for SLRs, mirror and screen condition; for TLRs, the viewing lens and the focus accuracy at the film plane.

Common failures: light seals, film-back gearing, shutter speeds below 1/30 on leaf shutters, separation in the taking lens (バルサム切れ).

Note: the value is in the system (backs, finders, inserts). A body without its matching back is a parts item with a body attached.

A type-based shortlist

TypeThe one check that decides it
Mechanical SLRShutter fires without a battery, at every speed
Electronic SLRBattery compartment and every mode
RangefinderRangefinder patch aligns at infinity
CompactLens barrel extends and retracts smoothly
Medium formatFilm back and light seals

Sources

Checks are general to the type, not specific to any one model. Fault terminology follows the shops cited.

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