Here I disassemble an EOS 600 camera. You will need to do this to clean the shutter sooner or later, due to a design flaw. (See Cleaning_The_Shutter_on The EOS 750 for details.) Another common reason for partial disassembly is to disconnect the LCD backlight which can develop an internal short which shortens battery life.
This disassembly goes much further than that which might be required for any particular operation. That's because one of the cameras documented was dropped into the sea at some point, and was left for quite some after that allowing corrosion to finish the job. This camera will never work again, and I am breaking it for salvageable parts. So the disassembly is pretty thorough.The other camera was disassembled in order to access the shutter for cleaning.
If your camera gets properly dunked in the sea, the best thing to do is to wash it in clean fresh water as soon as possible. (Remove the film, focusing screen, and batteries first!) Rinse the whole thing thoroughly several times, until you are absolutely sure that all the salt has been washed out. Put it in a warm well ventilated place to dry, preferably without it's covers. When you are sure it is completely dry, you might find if you are lucky, that you have got away with it. It will probably need the prism, and viewfinder etc. cleaning later, but your camera is not completely ruined, and it will be possible to put it to rights. If you just leave it with salt water in the works, it will be completely beyond repair in a very few days. So you have nothing to lose.
Unlike many cameras, there are no particularly special tools required to take one of these apart. You might find a spring-hook handy to deal with the door latch spring though. Otherwise a reasonably good quality set of cross point screwdrivers, a pair of tweezers, a small soldering iron, and solder sucker should be enough.
A pencil and some paper is also essential for recording details like the locations of wires etc. I often use a compact digital to help out with this,( Which is where most of these pictures come from.) but beware of colour rendering differences. The colours of many of the wires shown will appear different in the pictures than they actually are. Don't rely solely on pictures. (It won't help if you are also colour blind!)
For general information on tools, and dealing with things like stuck screws check my tools page.
As always begin with a good examination of the outside. I can see at least two screws in this picture, but here are a couple more over to the extreme right, which are lost in the murk.
Ok, nothing peculiar about the battery cover/grip. (Wonder why I took the picture?)
Ok, there's a screw at the back....
and some under the grip.
Quite a lot actually. Note that the screws are not identical. If you are worried about getting them mixed up, or losing them. Then stick a piece of Blu-Tac next to the hole and push the screw into it. As soon as the part it's holding is removed, you can either put this aside with the screws still stuck, or put the screws back into the hole they came out of.
(Here's a tip about putting screws in. Always start by turning the screw the wrong way when putting it back, and feel for a click before screwing in. That way you ensure proper engagement of the threads, avoiding damage and loose screws.)
You should now be able to pull the bottom panel off. Read the note below before trying this!
Note: the screws in the front need to be removed if all you want to do is remove the bottom. This is because of a tag on the front cover which engages with he bottom cover. You need to ease the front cover forwards to release this.
If you are going to remove the front cover anyway, then leave the bottom on until the front is removed.
To remove the front cover you first need to remove the door latch. This is a bit more complicated than most.
First remove the two screws.
The release button sits in a keyhole slot, closing the back releases it. Watch for the spring beneath.
Remove the latch button and slide.
Removal of the latch mechanism cannot be completed until the front cover is removed. Leave the film door closed to keep the parts in place until then. Notice also the large lug to the right of the coil spring. That engages with a protrusion on the latch cover and is why it needs to be removed first.
Remove all of the screws holding the front cover, and lift it off. Take care of the two buttons on the side of the lens, mount, these are liable to fall out.
After un-hooking the coil spring on the latch, and removing the latch plate, this locking arm is uncovered. Check the relationship between this and the parts of the short end. (Circled)
To remove the top cover, first remove the two screws shown.
There is a screw beside the strap-lug here,
and three screws here. You only need to remove the middle one.
IMPORATANT: Set the mode selector to the position shown before attempting to lift the cover. Failure to do this will lead to breakage of the mode selector. Replacements can be hard to find.
Now lift the top cover. It should come off easily. If you experience any resistance, stop and find out why.
See the selector switch circled here, remember this setting. Also note (arrowed) the black deposit on the shutter. This camera would need disassembly to rectify the cause of this in any case. If you check the EOS disassembles on this site, you will see how common this is! Sooner or later, this will jam the shutter.
With the cover lifted examine the mode selector switch, and note it's position. Also remove the buttons shown, and the rubber molding beneath them.
You can begin to see the extent of the salt damage here.
Before continuing, the location of the wires connection the hot shoe and sounder, should be noted, and the wires unsoldered. Don't be tempted to leave them in place without noting their locations. I can promise that whenever you make that decision, one or more of the wires will come off, and you won't know where it came from!
The camera without it's clothes.
Now move to the bottom, and remove the tripod mount, and unsolder the black wire you can see at the middle of this board. You can see the mess that leaving the camera full of salt salt makes.
Now unsolder the grey and the black wires here.
Unsolder these also.
Unscrew the board and lift it out of the way. Lift this insulating sheet out, and put it somewhere you will remember.
Unsolder the wires indicated and remove the screws circled.
Remove the screws indicated.
Remove the panel, and the rubber molding underneath. The flexi-board can be lifted out and you should be able to unwrap the board from the bottom of the camera.
Unsolder these tabs.
Unclip the back, and remove these screws.
Unscrew the digital back connector, and pull it away from the back.
Unsolder these two tags.
Unscrew the co-axial wire here, and unscrew the selector edge-wheel.
This wire is the supply to the backlight, this is the wire you remove if you are having battery problems. Also remove the screws from the metal bracket on the LCD, and remove the rubber buttons.
The film cassette switch should be unsoldered from the flexi-board.
Remove the screws from the metal plate next to the motor.
Remove the two screws holding the switch and gear cover.
At the other side, lift the LCD out of the way, and the unsolder the three tags circled. Also unsolder the thick red and black wires.
It should now be possible to remove the film transport from the shutter, mirror, and the electronics.
Unscrew the screws that fit here.
Remove these screws also.
The mirror and shutter assembly is now free to be separated from the film transport.
This gear is a loose part at this stage, it should be kept safe.
This part operates the film cassette switch. It is also loose.
If you need to remove the viewfinder and metering photodiodes, these screws and their counterparts need to be removed.
This is the metering diode array.
In this close-up you can just see the division of the sensor into the zones. (Each one is a separate diode, but they are all made on the same piece of silicon. This ensures that they are very closely matched.)
You will need to remove the light meter diodes and unwrap the flexi-board from the top of the pentaprism to remove it. After that it's just four small screws. On reassembly, these brass shims should be replaced as shown in this blurry image. (Damn autofocus!)
The mirror and shutter gear is best left in one piece. If it needs disassembly to replace a damaged part, take care to make notes as you take it apart. The operation of the mechanism is not immediately clear, and difficult to see prior to disassembly.
For those who have a shutter problem that requires removal of the shutter, the following may prove useful.
This side view of the shutter, shows the major components of the shutter. You may find on examination, that the problem can be diagnosed without removal of the shutter.
The connection to the shutter is made by five the five pins highlighted. Dry joints here will cause shutter problems. Unsolder these first if you intend to remove the shutter.
The shutter is held in place by three screws. Look out for this light seal as you remove the shutter.
The shutter removed.
This type of shutter uses two solenoids. Applying current to each one operates the release for the curtain controlled. There is no manual speed default on these shutters. To test for curtain speed matching, either the shutters have to be timed separately, or a means of electronic release devised.
This lever charges the shutter.
Manually tripping the shutter is simply a matter of depressing the solenoid armature. Fine tuning is achieved by screw adjustment of the opening curtain.
If you are going to dismantle further, you may find the following pictures useful.
This object is the autofocus system sensor.
If you take it apart (Not recommended!), the sensor is revealed.
Ok, now all you have to do is put it back together!
That just about wraps it up for now. There are a couple of items not covered here, but you should be able to figure it out. I'll be adding a few more details later as and when I get the chance.