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Hi everyone, I've found a nice Fujica ST701 still in good condition in a draw around home. The self timer wasn't working and neither was the light meter. My photography teacher told me to get new batteries, so I did. The timer now works but the light meter is stuck to negative. On friday I took it to class and was shooting with it, but I had to get someone else (with a working light meter) to tell me an appropriate aperture setting to use, as my teacher still didn't know what could have caused it to stay down.
Its not hanging free, either. I might have to take it to a camera store if I can't fix it.

Can anyone please help me with this? I'd like to get it working before we leave film and start digital, so I can process some shots.

Thanks for any help, Tom.

That Fujica is over 30 years old, and is not one which sold in very large numbers, so finding replacement or salvaged parts (if needed) will be difficult. Even if the problem is just a repair to the internal electronics, the labor cost for dissasembly and repair would likely exceed the value of the camera. Since the camera can operate without batteries (without a meter), you may be better off using it with a separate hand-held meter, or estimating exposure using the "Sunny-16" rule.

The light meter only activates when the shutter button is partially depressed. Just checking to see if you know this. Also, did you put the battery in correctly?