Chat with a retired Pentax repair guy in Seattle changed how I approach shutter cleaning

I was swapping stories with this older gentleman at a camera swap meet in Seattle last month. He told me he never uses more than one drop of lighter fluid on any cloth pad for leaf shutters. Said most repairs he saw were from people oversaturating and leaving residue. Has anyone else found that less actually gives better results on sticky blades?

3 comments

3 Comments

miles_sanchez2mo ago

That lighter fluid trick lines up with what a repair guy in Portland told me about Copal shutters last year. He said one drop is enough because the fluid spreads thin across the pad anyway, and more just risks leaking into the blades' pivot points. I switched to that method and stopped getting that oily rainbow sheen on my negatives.

danielr942mo ago

Buddy of mine tried that on an old Kodak shutter and it gummed up the blades completely. Had to send it out to get the whole thing cleaned.

william_carter1mo ago

Buddy of mine figured this out the hard way with a leaf shutter on an old folder. He drowned the pad in lighter fluid thinking more would clean better, and the shutter seized up after three shots. Had to pay a guy eighty bucks to take it apart and wipe down every blade individually.