Troubleshoot this (probably broken) Bell & Howell 2103 XL
I got this from an estate sale for like $5 mostly because it looked cool, but i wondered if it actually worked. It will be painfully obvious that i know very little about film cameras, so bear with me and any mistakes i have made in my troubleshooting.
I threw some batteries in, and upon turning it on I immediately started hearing a small clicking and sometimes a squeaking sound, with a faintly flashing red light visible thru the viewfinder, which illuminates brightly solid when I hold the power switch on TEST. When I hold in the trigger the clicking and squeaking stop.
To keep testing i bravely inserted a super 8 cartridge and the squeaking stopped, but theres still a clicking sound that stops when i pull the trigger. The light flashes brightly now when just powered on, and solid when the trigger is held. Theres no apparent movement with the film, and im not hearing anything happening when attempting to capture.
I assume this means only bad things, because theres no sounds of any internal mechanism to turn the film. My 0 experience amateur of the amateurs opinion is theres something wrong with the motor mechanism, and this is probably better as just a cool display piece to remind people I spent 4 years of my life in film school.
If anyone has any experience with this or similar cameras, and knows of simple (or complicated) solutions to what im describing I'd love to see if I can get it working, even though im pessimistic...