I've been repairing cameras out of my garage for about 3 years now, and I just realized I've done over 500 shutter fixes. Mostly old mechanical leaf shutters from rangefinders, but still, that number snuck up on me. Has anyone else kept track of their repair count and gotten surprised by it?
He told me most of these old Nikon F2 shutters die because people store them with the mirror locked up, and that basically kills the spring tension over time. Has anyone else heard that, or was this guy just an old timer blowing smoke?
Picked up a no-name spanner off Amazon for 80 bucks to fix a stuck helicoid on a Pentax 50mm and the pins bent immediately. Anyone got a solid brand that'll actually hold up for more than one job?
I was in Portland last Tuesday at this little camera shop off Hawthorne. This old timer walks in, sees me struggling with a Pentax K1000 that had a shutter curtain hanging up. He pulled a toothpick out of his pocket, gently nudged the curtain track, and it snapped right back. Said he learned that trick in the 70s from a guy who fixed cameras for the navy. Has anyone else run into random old school hack like that? I feel like half this trade is just passed down stories.
I was dropping off a lens at this shop on Queen West and this guy maybe 70 years old comes in with a beat up Hasselblad. The shutter was hanging up at slow speeds. He pulls out a whittled down toothpick and a tiny drop of lighter fluid. 10 minutes later it was working again. Made me think about how much I rely on ultrasonic cleaners and specialty tools now. Has anyone else picked up weird old school tricks like that from the older guys?
Had a Mamiya 645 body come in last week with a stripped tripod mount thread. I was going back and forth between using a helicoil kit or just drilling it out and putting in a whole new threaded insert. Ended up going with the helicoil because it felt less invasive and I've been meaning to try one anyway. Worked like a charm after I got the tension right on the tap. Has anyone else had luck with helicoils on magnesium alloy bodies like this one?
Ran into a jammed Copal shutter on a Pentax 67 lens, wasted almost two hours chasing a tiny burr on the timing gear that I should have caught with a loupe on the first look. Anyone else find themselves overthinking simple mechanical binds because you assume it's something more complicated?
The stuff had basically baked onto the plastic shell like some kind of industrial tar, anyone got a go-to solvent that wont eat through old 70s camera body material?
Last month a guy from Portland drops off a Nikon D750 with shutter count under 20k and the sensor looks like a sandstorm hit it. I open it up, scope it, and there's sticky residue from some DIY cleaning attempt with a q-tip and Windex I think. He said he didn't want to pay my $45 fee for a basic sensor swab and now he's got streaks that I can't fully buff out. Anyone else get these jobs where the fix is twice the price because someone messed with it first?
I got an OM-1 in last week. Prism was dead, foam was goo. Had two options. Either try to find a donor body and swap the prism myself. Or just tell the customer it's not worth the time. I chose the donor route. Found a beat up body for $40 on eBay. Took me about 4 hours to get the prism out clean without scratching it. Got it installed and the mirror came back to life. First time I'd done that repair. Customer was stoked. Has anyone else done a prism swap on these older OMs?
I used to think ultrasonic cleaners were overkill for shutter blades, but after a Yashica Electro 35 had me stumped with sticky aperture blades, I threw the whole shutter assembly in for 3 minutes. It came out spotless and working perfect, no disassembly needed. Anyone else tried this on leaf shutters without removing the blades first?
I cleaned and re-lubed a Nikon F2 last week and the shutter speeds looked perfect on the bench but now they're bouncing at 1/2000 on actual test rolls. The curtain seems to hang up just slightly right before it closes, like the brake isn't grabbing. Has anyone run into this after a CLA and figured out what's causing it?
I hit 500 shutter repairs last Tuesday, which I figured would just be another number. But the camera that put me over was this Canon AE-1 Program that got dropped off a dock in Maine. The owner tried to dry it out with a hair dryer and rice for a week before bringing it to me. I spent like 3 hours just scraping corrosion off the magnet switches. It actually fired again after I rebuilt the whole timing assembly. Has anyone else hit a milestone like that and had the job be something totally unexpected?
For years I thought ultrasonic cleaners were just a gimmick for jewelry or glasses. Last month I took in a Nikon FM2 that had a sticky shutter from old lubricant that had turned to goo. Tried everything to get it clean. Finally broke down and bought a $80 cleaner off Amazon. Ran the shutter assembly for 3 minutes at 40C. That thing came out completely clean and the shutter fired perfectly after. I felt pretty stupid for fighting it so long. Has anyone else had a repair that made them change their mind about a tool they avoided?
I was working on a vintage 50mm f/1.4 that had a UV filter stuck on the front threads. Tried everything - rubber jar opener, filter wrench, even some light heat from a hair dryer. Nothing budged. Then this older guy at the local camera shop said 'just throw it in the freezer for 20 minutes, the metal contracts and it'll spin right off.' Man I was DESPERATE so I tried it. Pulled it out after 25 minutes and sure enough the filter loosened up with barely any effort. But when I checked the lens under a bright light? A hairline crack running from the filter threads halfway across the front element. The glass couldn't handle that sudden temp change I guess. Now I have a donor lens for parts. Has anyone else had bad luck with freezing lenses?
I've been fixing old cameras for about 10 years now and I always struggled with sticky shutter blades on Minolta SR-T models. Last month I finally found out that it's usually NOT oil residue like everyone says. A guy from a repair forum in Chicago posted a test showing it's actually oxidized lubricant from the shutter mechanism itself. I tried his trick of using a tiny drop of naptha on a q-tip and gently cleaning the blade edges. It worked on THREE cameras in a row that I had sitting on my shelf for years. Has anyone else tried this method or do you stick with the standard dry cleaning approach?
I was at a swap meet in Portland last Saturday and this older guy was bragging about using Zippo fluid to clean sensor dust. Said he's done it for years with no issues. I didn't say anything but man that scared me. One wrong move and you've got a $400 repair bill or a ruined camera. Anyone else hear about weird DIY cleaning methods that make you cringe?
Was cleaning out a K1000 I got from a garage sale for $15. Smelled like old grease and something else. Looked it up on a forum from 2008. Turns out it's the foam light seals breaking down. Something about the rubber compound they used back then. Always wondered why my dad's old camera smelled the same way. Anyone else notice that or am I just weird?
I was fixing a Yashica shutter last week and stopped by a shop downtown for some wick. This older guy, must be pushing 80, saw my rolls of lead-free solder and asked why I was using that stuff. He showed me his old roll of 60/40 and said the lower melting point saves the delicate wires on old cameras every time. Has anyone else gone back to leaded solder after trying the newer stuff?
I was at a Goodwill in Portland yesterday and spotted a Rolleiflex 3.5F sitting on a shelf for $40. The lens looks clean and the shutter fires on all speeds, but the focusing knob is stiff. Has anyone else run into a stuck Rolleiflex focus and found a fix that doesn't require tearing the whole thing apart?
This guy named Frank at a shop in Portland said I was wrecking the shutter blades by blowing dust into the pivot points. Blew right past him for six months, then a 1960s leaf shutter started sticking mid-repair and I had to disassemble and clean it twice. Has anyone else found that canned air actually does more harm than good on older shutters?
I was counting up my log books from the last 15 years and realized I've fixed more Pentax K1000s alone than most people have owned cameras in their lifetime, anyone else ever do the math on their own numbers and get a little shook?
Happened at a shop I was freelancing at in Austin back in May. The F1 was a personal restoration for a collector who paid $400 upfront. Came out looking like a frosted window. My boss at the time just shrugged and said "that's what you get for trusting a machine over your own hands." Switched to doing everything by hand that week and haven't touched an ultrasonic since. Any of you guys had a tank wreck a body or lens?
Shutter freeze mid-roll, right in the middle of a wedding shoot. Who else has had a repair fail after a few weeks and had to eat the cost?
I've been fixing cameras out of my garage for about 8 years now, mostly old mechanical SLRs. Last Wednesday I counted up my records and realized I had done exactly 507 shutter curtains, which is way more than I ever thought I'd see. Has anybody else kept track of a specific repair type and been surprised by the number?