Opinions Matter

c/camera-repairers

4

troy_palmer76•2d ago

That one Thursday where three cameras walked in with the same exact shutter issue

I work out of my garage shop in Columbus and last Thursday was wild. A Canon AE-1, a Pentax K1000, and a Minolta X-700 all came in within 4 hours. Each one had a sticky shutter at 1/1000. Never seen that before in 6 years. Anyone else ever get a weird pattern like that where the same part fails on different brands in one day?

9

park.riley•2d ago

Old guy at a shop in Chicago told me to stop using canned air on camera sensors

I was working on a beat up Nikon D600 that had dust all over the sensor. This retired repair guy, must have been 70 something, came by my bench and said I was making things worse with that canned air. He said I was just pushing dust around and the propellant could leave residue. I kind of ignored him at first because I had been doing it for years without issues. But after I finished, I checked the sensor and there was this weird oily haze I hadn't noticed before. Took me another hour to clean it properly with wet and dry swabs. Now I'm wondering if he was right all along or if I just got lucky before. Anyone else had canned air ruin a sensor?

21

nathan193•2d ago

Dropped a Rolleiflex on a concrete floor in 2009 and still think about it

I was working on a friend's Rolleiflex in my basement shop, turned to grab a screwdriver, and knocked the whole thing off the bench. The taking lens housing cracked clean through and I had to hunt eBay for three months to find a replacement shell.

15

finleyl55•3d ago

Overheard a guy at the repair shop say his Nikon F2 CLA cost more than the camera

He paid $180 for a full service on a beat-up F2 he got for $120, and it got me thinking how we often charge based on time invested not the camera's worth. Has anyone else run into customers balking at a repair price that's higher than what they paid for the gear?

17

the_daniel•5d ago

Changed my mind about CLA kits after a mishap in Portland

Was working on a Canon F-1 at a repair meetup in Portland last month. Guy next to me opens his CLA kit and starts going at it with cheap tools. Told me he uses only isopropyl alcohol and a toothpick for most of the cleaning. I always thought you needed the full professional solvent set. But he showed me his results on a beat up shutter - looked brand new after. Now I'm questioning if I'm overbuying on supplies. Anyone else simplified their cleaning process?

6

the_kevin•6d ago

My Lubrica fix for a stuck shutter on a Nikon F2

Tbh I was working on an old Nikon F2 last weekend and the shutter would hang up at slow speeds, like 1/15th and below. I tried cleaning the gear train with lighter fluid but it still stuck after a few cycles. Then I remembered an old trick from a repair forum about using a tiny drop of synthetic watch oil on the escapement pivot. I applied it with a needle tip, waited 10 minutes, and now it fires perfectly at all speeds. Has anyone else had luck with specific oils on these older mechanical shutters?

1

thomas.cameron•9d ago

I used to clean every lens with a microfiber cloth and breath mist

For years I was that guy breathing on glass and wiping it down with whatever cheap cloth was nearby. Last year I had a customer bring in a Leica with a scratched front element that almost certainly came from grit trapped in a cloth. Now I only use a air blower first, then a lens brush, and only if stuff is still there do I hit it with a proper cleaning fluid and Kimwipes. Who else has had to fix damage from other people's quick wipes?

20

white.seth•10d ago

Old timer taught me a trick for sticky shutters in about 30 seconds

Had this guy come into my shop last month, maybe 80 years old, with a beat up Pentax Spotmatic. He watched me fumble with a sticky shutter for a minute, then just said "try a little lighter fluid on a q-tip, not oil." It worked perfectly. Has anyone else run into old repair folks who just know weird tricks like that?

1

olivia_hernandez•11d ago

Walked into a camera shop in Portland last week and saw 3 shelves of digital cameras with dead shutters

Every repair forum I read says digital cameras are not worth fixing once the shutter goes. But I looked at those shelves and thought about how each one of those cameras probably has thousands of memories stuck in it. I fixed a Canon 5D Mark II last month with a $80 shutter replacement and it came out fine. Has anyone else ignored the common advice and saved a digital camera from the junk pile?

10

noah914•11d ago

Old school Cannon FD lenses still beat modern autofocus for repair work

I see everyone online raving about these new mirrorless lenses with all their electronics and stabilization. But when a lens comes into my shop with a fried circuit board, you're basically throwing it in the trash. Last week someone brought in a 2022 Sony zoom that needed a $400 main board replacement. Meanwhile that same day I had a customer's Canon FD 50mm f1.4 from 1978 with a stuck aperture blade. Took me 45 minutes and zero special parts to fix it. Those all-metal lenses were built to be taken apart and put back together. You can still find them for $50 at garage sales. Am I wrong for thinking the old mechanical glass is better for our trade?

3

young.spencer•11d ago

Appreciation post: That $150 ultrasonic cleaner I almost returned last month

Got it off Amazon on a whim to clean some old shutter blades. First batch did nothing and I was cursing myself for wasting the money. Left some seized up aperture rings in there for 20 minutes by accident and they came out looking brand new. Now I run everything through it before I even start a CLA. Saved me hours of scrubbing. Anyone else find a cheap tool that just works way better than you expected?

4

dylanh97•12d ago

That old Minolta repair guy told me to stop using isopropyl alcohol for cleaning shutters.

Met this guy at a shop in Portland last month. He said IPA dries out the lubricants over time and causes sticky blades. I thought he was full of it since IPA is like the standard. But I tried his method using lighter fluid on a junker X-700. Shutter speeds actually got more accurate after a week. Anyone else run into old tricks that go against what everyone says online?

19

umak89•12d ago

Old timer told me I was cleaning lenses wrong with that canned air.

He said I was freezing the coating with the propellant and now I just use a bulb blower and a brush for $12, has anyone else switched?.

16

miles581•14d ago

Why does nobody talk about shutter drag on old Pentax Spotmatics?

I was cleaning a Spotmatic SP1000 last night and noticed the shutter speeds were all off by almost a full stop at 1/1000. Looked it up on a vintage camera forum and found out the grease hardens in the shutter mechanism after like 20 years, causing drag that slows the curtains. Has anyone else run into this with older Pentax bodies and found a good way to relube without taking the whole thing apart?

16

robert_hayes•14d ago

Customer brought in a Nikon F3 that went through a washer machine

Guy said he accidentally left his camera bag on top of the washer and it fell in during a spin cycle. Took me 2 hours to carefully clean and dry everything. The before picture looked like a science experiment gone wrong. After I got it all sorted, the shutter speeds were actually within spec. The meter needed a new battery and some contacts cleaned. Anyone else ever dealt with a camera that went through something stupid like a dishwasher or dryer?

22

viola_butler•16d ago

That old timer who told me to stop babying my shutter curtains was right after all

I spent months being super gentle with my Minolta SRT-101, afraid to even touch the shutter curtains. This guy Don at the local camera swap meet told me to just use a soft brush and be done with it, no need for all that delicate nonsense. I thought he was crazy, like he didn't care about the vintage gear. Then I watched him clean a whole rack of old Spotmatics in about 5 minutes flat, just brushing the curtains with no issues. So I tried his method last week on a beat up Pentax I got for $20. Guess what? No damage, no tears, and the camera works perfectly now. Made me realize I was way overthinking the whole thing. Has anyone else had a similar wake-up call about being too careful with repairs?

10

alex_hall91•17d ago

PSA: Don't trust those cheap JIS screwdrivers from Amazon for Leica repairs

I used a no-name set to remove the top plate screws on an M6 last week and stripped two heads clean off, had to drill them out. Turns out the tolerance on the tips was way off, they wobbled even when seated. Anyone else had a tool brand that actually matches the JIS standard right out of the box?

16

alex_hall91•17d ago

Question about the e-clip trick on Nikon F2 mirror boxes

So I’ve been repairing old Nikon F2 bodies for like 3 years now. And I always struggled with those tiny e-clips that hold the mirror box assembly together. Every time I’d try to get them back on, they’d fly across the room and I’d spend 20 minutes crawling around with a magnet. Last Saturday I had a customer’s F2 on the bench and lost one of those clips for like the 5th time. Got so frustrated I went to grab a beer from the fridge. My buddy who works on vintage cars was over and saw me fiddling with the new clip. He just goes "why don’t you stick it on a toothpick with some blue tack first?" I literally never thought of that. Tried it and it worked perfectly first try, no flying clips. Been doing it the hard way for 3 years for nothing. Has anyone else had a dumb simple fix like that totally change their workflow?

14

samthompson•19d ago

Lost a shutter spring in my shop carpet and found it 3 days later stuck to my dog's paw

I spent Monday morning rebuilding a Pentax Spotmatic, flicked a tiny spring off my tweezers at 10 AM, and after tearing the whole room apart I finally spotted it when my golden retriever walked in with it glittering on his pad like a weird little jewel, anyone else lose parts to weird places like that?

21

quinn_king16•20d ago

PSA: Don't bother with those cheap lens cleaning swabs from Amazon

I bought a 50-pack of those generic lens cleaning swabs for $8 last month. Thought I was saving money over the $15 brand name ones. First time I used one on a Canon 50mm f/1.4, a tiny fiber came loose and stuck right on the rear element. Had to use a rocket blower 4 times to get it off. Waste of $8 and 20 minutes of aggravation. Anyone else have bad luck with these cheap swabs?

16

gray_roberts•20d ago

Had to pick between a cheap bellows replacement and a full rebuild on an old Mamiya RB67

I got a client's RB67 in last week with bellows that looked like a gopher got to them. I could either grab a $30 generic bellows kit off eBay or spend $150 on the proper Mamiya set and reseal the whole body while I was in there. Decided to go the cheap route and now the bellows are floppy as hell at 65mm extension, totally useless for landscape work. Anyone else find those cheap kits are more trouble than they're worth?

14

owens.willow•20d ago

Spent $45 on a used lens spanner tool from eBay and it stripped my first helicoid screw

Bought a cheap generic spanner off eBay because I didn't want to drop $150 on a proper one. First time using it on a vintage lens, the tips bent and scratched the brass threads. Cost me another $30 in replacement screws and a whole afternoon filing the slotted heads down. Should've just saved up for a VOH brand wrench. Anyone else get burned by cheap repair tools?

18

daniel214•20d ago

So I got into it with an old timer at a camera show last weekend...

He swore to me that digital sensors can't ever match film for dynamic range, but I've got a Nikon D850 that handles harsh afternoon sun better than any of the 35mm bodies I've worked on, so now I'm wondering if I've been wrong about film all these years or if he's just stuck in his ways?

21

diana155•21d ago

PSA: That guy who brought a vintage Leica to my bench last Tuesday

A gentleman came into my shop in Portland with a Leica IIIf that he said just needed a shutter clean. I opened it up and found the curtains had been replaced with what looked like cut-up rubber glove material. He said he did it himself after watching a YouTube video. I had to break the news that his fix actually ruined the timing gears. Has anyone else seen people trying to DIY their own shutter curtain replacements lately?

23

elizabetha92•23d ago

Switched from canned air to a compressor duster for lens cleaning

I was using those canned air cans for years to blow dust off sensors and lenses. Finally grabbed a $40 compressor duster from Amazon and it's way more consistent, no propellant residue issues either. Has anyone else made the switch and noticed a difference on older gear?