That tip about cleaning contact points with a pencil eraser actually fixed a dead shutter

Old timer on a forum told me to try a regular pencil eraser on the battery contacts of a Canon AE-1 I'd given up on, and it worked like magic after three other things failed. Has anyone else had a weird 'hail mary' fix actually save a body you were about to part out?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_james2mo agoMost Upvoted

Six months ago I scrubbed the mirror box electronics of a Nikon F2 with a Q-tip and isopropyl alcohol and it resurrected a meter that had been dead for like 15 years. That thing had sat on a shelf looking pretty but totally useless the whole time. Now it shoots perfectly every time. It's hilarious how we all chase complex fixes and the answer is basically a cleaning supply or a school supply. Truth is half these old cameras just need somebody to rub the crud off the right spot.

the_joseph2mo ago

Three times now I've fixed a stuck shutter on a Pentax Spotmatic by just tapping the bottom plate gently with the handle of a screwdriver. Not even opening it up, just a couple light taps like you're knocking on a door.

shaneb1629d ago

Man that pencil eraser trick saved my bacon on a beat up Pentax K1000 last year. I'd been fighting with contact cleaner and a tiny file for hours, getting nowhere. Rubbed a plain old pink eraser on the battery terminals and the light meter came back to life on the first try. Same thing with a stuck shutter on a Minolta SRT-101, just tapping the bottom plate with a screwdriver handle like you said. Its wild how many of these old mechanical cameras respond to the simplest dumbest fixes. Makes you wonder how many perfectly good cameras got tossed because nobody tried knocking the crud loose first.