Was just walking around with it around my neck and the lens board just fell off mid-step because the previous owner had stripped all the little brass screws and I didn't catch it, anyone else had a camera fall apart on them from a bad previous repair?
Met this older guy at a camera swap in Austin last weekend. He saw me digging through a bin of old shutters and just started talking. He said most people overclean their shutters and end up ruining the lubrication. Said I should only clean when absolutely necessary and use the tiniest drop of oil on a precision tip. Never thought about it that way. Always figured more cleaning was better. Has anyone else been told they clean too much?
Stopped by Pro Photo Supply on NW 23rd last weekend while I was in town. Noticed they had a whole shelf of old Mamiya RB67 parts just sitting there, including a working back for $45. Has anyone else stumbled on a place with hidden repair parts like that? I'm wondering if it's worth the drive back up there or if I should just order online.
Bought a $12 adjustable spanner off Amazon last week to fix a stuck retaining ring on a vintage Nikkor. First twist and the tips bent like butter, scratched the ring and knocked the helicoid out of alignment. Ended up spending $45 on a proper VELCRO-branded spanner from a repair shop in Seattle and it grabbed perfectly on the first try. Anyone else have a cheap tool break at the worst possible moment?
Every single one had a different issue - sticky shutter, fungus in the viewfinder, broken light seal, and a dead meter. Has anyone else dealt with that many of the same model coming in at once?
My SR-T 202 stripped a screw hole in the bottom plate and I spent a week deciding whether to just Helicoil it or hunt down a whole donor body for parts. I went with the Helicoil kit from the hardware store for $12... it actually worked but the alignment was tricky. Has anyone else had luck with these on old Minoltas or should I just start looking for a replacement?
I was cleaning a old 50mm f1.4 lens from a Canon AE-1 last week and noticed the bottle I grabbed had a fine print label I never saw. Turns out it was just a repackaged Windex formula with a different name, no special optical coatings protection or anything. Checked the MSDS sheet online and it listed ammonium hydroxide as the main active, same as the stuff under my sink. Anyone else run into fake repair supplies from smaller online shops? Just want to know what brands are actually legit.
Had a Pentax lens with aperture blades stuck from oil. Heard about using lighter fluid to clean them. Thought it was a bad idea. Tried a tiny drop on a swab and it worked perfectly. No residue, blades snapping fast now. Anyone else use this method?
I took apart a Nikon F3 and found someone had superglued the mirror bumper foam. Took me 6 hours to clean that mess without scratching anything. Then a customer brought in a Canon AE-1 that smelled like a campfire and had ash inside the shutter mechanism. Has anyone else dealt with a camera that was clearly in a fire?
I had this old Canon AE-1 that had a shutter sticking at slower speeds. The typical advice was to send it out for a CLA or try exercising the shutter for a while. I tried that for maybe 2 weeks with no real change. Then I remembered hearing somewhere that old lubrication can get gummy and a little heat might help. So I set my wife's hairdryer on low and gave the mirror box area a gentle warm up for maybe 3 minutes. The shutter started working perfectly on all speeds after that. It has been a month and it still runs smooth. I know some people will say this is a bad idea because you can melt stuff or move grease where it shouldn't go. But in my experience it saved me a $150 repair bill. Has anyone else tried something like this or am I just getting lucky with a temp fix?
Was fixing a Pentax K1000 shutter. Took the whole thing apart. Then that one little spring launched out. Flew somewhere behind my workbench. I looked for 45 minutes. Found it stuck to a dust bunny under my shelf. Never had a spring travel that far before. Anyone else lose tiny parts in the worst possible spots?
I see so many posts on here blaming shutter shock for soft images, especially with mirrorless cameras. But in my experience, 9 times out of 10 it's actually just bad technique or a dirty lens. I had a customer bring in a Sony A7III last month convinced the shutter was busted, and I found a smudge on the rear element that took 30 seconds to clean. Has anyone else noticed this trend, or am I just getting lucky with the bodies I work on?
I had a Rolleicord come in last week from a guy in Phoenix. The leather on the body was flaking apart and some of those tiny particles got inside the shutter mechanism. Three years ago I wouldn't have thought twice about it, but after cleaning a dozen of these old German cameras I know better now. That leather dust acts like sandpaper on the cloth curtains. It scratched two of the blades on this one before he even noticed. Cost him $120 for a full shutter rebuild. Has anyone else run into leather degradation causing curtain damage on pre-war folders?
I was working on a beat-up Canon FTb from the 70s and thought I'd be clever using Ronsonol to free up a sticky shutter blade. The fluid melted some of the old lubricant into a gummy mess that spread across the whole curtain assembly. Has anyone else had a DIY cleaning go sideways like this or is it just me?}
I was cleaning an old repair manual from 1965 and it listed 87 separate pieces for just the curtain and speed mechanism. That's not even counting the body shell or rangefinder. Has anyone else run into a repair where the part count felt way higher than expected?
The mirror was locked up and the advance lever was totally stuck, so it's definitely a project. Anyone know a good source for F3 mirror box parts that won't cost more than the camera?
What's your go-to for cleaning vintage glass without risking the coating?
The shutter curtain snapped shut with a sound like a mouse trap, launching a tiny spring that pinged off my safety glasses and landed in my coffee mug, and now I'm wondering if anyone has a good source for those specific 500C/M tension springs besides the usual suppliers?
What other niche tools have you guys bought that ended up being way more useful than you expected?
I was cleaning a Canon AE-1 for a friend last weekend and was about to blast the shutter curtain when another repairer at the local shop in Tacoma said, 'That'll just push the grit deeper into the bearings.' He showed me how to use a soft brush and a drop of lighter fluid on a swab instead. Has anyone else had a shutter fail after using canned air?
Lost about $80 on a part that looked good in the photos but had worn-out timing gears. The seller said it was from a working camera, but it was just polished to look new. Anyone know a reliable source for actual Nikon FM2 parts?
Tried the usual stuff, no luck. Then I put a single drop of lighter fluid on the shutter blade pivot points. Let it sit for an hour. Worked the mechanism back and forth with a toothpick. It freed up completely. Anyone else use this trick on old metal blade shutters?
I used a drop on a vintage Nikkor 50mm and it left a permanent haze in the coating. Turns out the stuff was mostly isopropyl with an unknown additive. Anyone know a safe way to remove that kind of residue without wrecking the glass?