Appreciation post: the guy who taught me to clean a shutter curtain without touching it

An old timer at a camera swap in Portland showed me this trick with a bulb blower and a static brush. He said 'stop poking at it, just move the dust with air.' Now I use that method on every cloth curtain repair, it saves me from leaving smudge marks.

2 comments

2 Comments

robert_roberts1d ago

Wait, you were touching shutter curtains with your fingers before this? That's terrifying, I feel sick just thinking about it.

shane2441d ago

Wiped down the inside of a Yashica with a dry microfiber cloth once and heard this little crackling sound that made my stomach drop. @robert_roberts I get why you feel sick, honestly I almost passed out when I saw what I'd done. But here's what worked for me - I grabbed a can of compressed air and just very gently blew out the loose dust first. Then I used a soft brush from an old makeup kit my sister gave me, super light pressure, to sweep away anything stuck. After that I just let the camera sit open in a dry, dark place for a few hours to make sure nothing was wet or moving around in there. I've done this on two old Minoltas now and they both still take pictures fine, no marks or damage.