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Bought a vintage Instax camera at a swap meet and the flash died after 3 shots
I found this old Polaroid Instax 200 at the Rose Bowl Flea Market last Saturday for just $15. The guy said it worked fine but I should test it, and I was too excited and didn't. Got it home, loaded a fresh pack of film, and the first three shots came out great with the flash on. Then on the fourth shot, the flash just stopped working and now every picture comes out totally black. I looked online and it seems like the capacitor might be fried, but I don't have any experience fixing old cameras like this. Has anyone here had luck replacing capacitors in these older Instax models or should I just take the loss and hunt for another one?
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kevin_roberts415mo ago
Capacitors in those old Instax models are usually the first thing to go, but did you check if the flash tube itself is actually firing when you press the shutter? Sometimes the connection just gets loose from bouncing around at a swap meet. Wouldn't hurt to open it up and reseat the ribbon cables before you write it off completely.
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emma6845mo ago
My old Instax 200 did the exact same thing, turned out the ribbon cable to the flash was barely hanging on after years of being tossed in a bag. I just reseated it and used a tiny bit of electrical tape to hold it in place, and it's been working fine for like two years now. Honestly, those loose connections are way more common than people think, especially if the camera got jostled around.
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