c/camera-repairers

Stripped a screw for 45 minutes before I looked at my own driver

Was working on a vintage Ricoh in my shop in Pittsburgh and kept rounding out the same tiny screw on the bottom plate. I blamed the screw, blamed the previous repair guy, even blamed the cold weather. Then my buddy walked over, grabbed my screwdriver, and pointed at the tip. It was worn down to a nub from me using it on everything else for 3 years. Swapped in a fresh #00 bit and it came out in 10 seconds. Anyone else ever get stuck on a part and only then notice the real culprit was your own tool?

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miab16•1d ago

That bench grinder in the back of the shop finally paid off

I picked up this old bench grinder at an estate sale near Dayton for $40, just figured it'd be useful for rough buffing. Last Thursday I had a shutter blade on a vintage Ricoh that was binding, and after 3 tries with hand files, I tossed it on that grinder with a fine wheel and it finally freed up. Anyone else keep a beater grinder around just for the weird jobs you don't trust on your good equipment?

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william816•2d ago

Old screwdrivers versus new ones for stubborn screws

After 30 years of repairs, I finally replaced my old Swiss screwdrivers with a modern set with better grips. The difference is night and day when I worked on a sticky Leica M3 last week, the new ones didn't strip a single screw head. My old set would have chewed up at least two or three on that job. Has anyone else made this switch, or do you still swear by vintage tools from the 80s?

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the_sandra•4d ago

Found an old Yashica lens with a sticky aperture, fixed with lighter fluid and patience

Picked up a 50mm f/1.7 from a flea market for $15 last Sunday. Blades were slow and stuck at f/2.8. Took it apart, cleaned each blade with a q-tip dipped in lighter fluid, let it dry, and put it back together. Took about 2 hours and my hands smell like a barbecue. It clicks through every stop smooth now. Has anyone else had luck with lighter fluid on older leaf shutters, or am I just asking for a bigger mess down the road?

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patricia_singh81•4d ago

My $9 jewelers screwdriver beats my $120 spudger set for flex cable work

After 12 stubborn ribbon cables on an old Nikon F3 last Tuesday, I grabbed a cheap watchmaker screwdriver with a flat tip and it popped them loose clean, while the expensive plastic spudgers just kept bending the connectors, has anyone else ditched fancy tools for the cheap stuff in tight spots?

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wyatt_fisher41•9d ago

Broke a shutter blade during a CLA and nearly lost it

Was doing a full clean and lube on a Canon AE-1 in my garage last saturday and one of the curved blades slipped out of my tweezers and hit the concrete floor. It bent at the tip and i spent 40 minutes trying to straighten it with a razor blade before i gave up and ordered a new shutter assembly from a parts camera on ebay for 23 bucks. Has anyone else damaged a blade during reassembly and whats your trick for keeping them lined up without dropping them?

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terry_walker•9d ago

Found a 1970s shutter tester with mercury in it

Was cleaning out a retired repairman's shop last month and found this old shutter tester from the 70s. Opened it up to check the contacts and there's a glass tube of mercury inside, never seen that in a unit before. Anyone know if this is common in vintage test gear or should I be careful handling it?

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the_joseph•12d ago

The $8 jeweler's screwdriver that ended my spring clamp obsession

Last month I spent 3 hours fighting a stuck shutter plate with my usual spread of spring clamps and needle nose pliers, then my buddy in Denver handed me this cheap screwdriver set with hollow ground bits and the whole job took 15 minutes. I used to think holding pressure was the whole game, but now I realize the right tool fit does the work, anyone else find a random cheap tool that changed their whole bench setup?

1 comments

jakeperry•12d ago

That flooded basement in Minneapolis made me check every bellows I touch

I went to a storage unit sale last month and picked up a dozen old folders from a retired photojournalist. Half of them had signs of water damage that you could only see when you put a bright light through the bellows. I'm talking pinprick holes that turn into full light leaks after one good flex. The seller said they'd been sitting in his flooded basement since 2019 and he 'dried them out real good.' Now I charge an extra $10 for a bellows inspection on any folder that comes in without a known history, and honestly it's saved me two callbacks already. Anyone else running into vintage gear that looks fine until you actually put film through it?

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the_joseph•13d ago

Hit 500 CLA jobs this month, never expected the number to feel that heavy

I passed 500 shutter curtain replacements for the year at my bench in Columbus. When I hit the last one, I realized each of those cameras taught me something new about tension settings, and it made me wonder how many jobs the old-timers did before they felt confident. Anyone else keep a running count or is that just my habit?

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richardk26•13d ago

That old tech's tip about cleaning sensor mounts with a pencil eraser was a total lie

Guy named Pete at a shop in Portland told me to rub a white pencil eraser on the sensor mount rails to fix a sticky plate, so I tried it on a Canon 5D last Tuesday. It left a crumbly mess and the plate actually stuck worse, took me 40 minutes to get the crumbs out with tweezers and a blower. Anyone else get handed some old timer's hack that ended up costing you more time than it saved?

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michael_jones•15d ago

The old Nikon F2 finder at a garage sale in Portland

Stopped by an estate sale on NE 82nd last Saturday and saw a beater F2 with a cracked prism, but the guy wanted $180 for it, and I spent 40 minutes explaining why the meter circuit alone was worth half that, has anyone else talked a seller down from that kind of sticker shock?

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jake_chen•18d ago

The mirror alignment tool that got me told off by a retired Leica guy

Brought my old Praktica SLR into the community workshop last month and this retiree who spends his days on Leicas watches me use a plastic wedge to set the mirror stop. He goes, 'you're measuring the frame, not the focus plane' and walks me through using a ground glass at the film gate. Re-did the job in like 20 minutes and the split prism finally lined up right. Been doing it the old way for 4 years. Anyone else learn a basic move wrong and had to unlearn it? What was your 'wait, that's not how you do it' moment?

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dylan_rodriguez•18d ago

I finally tried ultrasonic cleaning on old shutters and it felt like cheating

I always figured dunking a shutter assembly in a machine was lazy work, stuck with my brushes and canned air for years. Last month a beat-up 1970s SLR with sticky blades came in, and after 3 tries with traditional methods I gave the $80 ultrasonic tank a shot. That thing stripped years of gunk off in 5 minutes and the curtain timing came back spot on, no partial disassembly needed. I still hand clean the mounts and screws first, but now I'm wondering how many other so-called shortcuts are actually worth adopting. Anyone else switch over and never look back, or did you have a bad batch that ruined your trust in it?

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zarapalmer•23d ago

Took me 8 years to realize I was oiling shutter blades wrong

On a Rolleiflex last month I noticed the blades sticking and finally read the manual on my own bench, turns out you're supposed to apply oil to the pivot points only, not the blade surfaces themselves. Has anyone else made this mistake, or is it just me being slow?

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emmajackson•27d ago

Just realized how much I miss the smell of old camera shops

Talking to a guy at the local repair shop who remembered when every shop had a distinct mix of leather and chemicals, and it hit me that we've lost something with all these sterile online parts orders.

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sarah_brown•27d ago

PSA: Stop using canned air on mirrorless sensor shutters

Tried cleaning my Sony A7III sensor last week with canned air. Big mistake. The burst blew the shutter curtain right out of alignment. $280 repair bill later I learned those thin metal blades can't handle pressurized air. Use a rocket blower instead. Much gentler. Has anyone else wrecked a shutter this way?

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the_jesse•29d ago

Talked to an old Leica tech yesterday and he flipped my script on cleaning sensors

He told me he never uses wet cleaning on a sensor, just a rocket blower and patience. Said he's done it that way for 30 years on hundreds of cameras with zero scratches. Made me rethink my whole $40 sensor swab habit.

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gibson.seth•1mo ago

Heard someone say 'just clean the lens' and it stuck with me

I was at a camera swap meet last weekend and overheard this guy telling a newbie that 90% of camera issues are just a dirty lens or sensor. He said he's fixed over 200 cameras that way. I thought about it and honestly he's right for a lot of the simpler stuff that comes through my bench. But I took away that we gotta stop dismissing people who bring in gear with real problems like sticky shutters or broken winders. Has anyone else had a customer get mad because they thought cleaning would fix a seized up lens barrel?

2 comments

taylorb94•1mo ago

Swapped from a blower brush to a rubber bulb for sensor cleaning - night and day difference

Last month I was using a blower brush on a Nikon D750 sensor and it just pushed dust around. The rubber bulb got everything off in two puffs with zero streaks. Has anyone else found a random tool that just works better than the standard stuff?

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patel.leo•1mo ago

Tried using a jeweler's screwdriver set to fix a sticky shutter...

Spent $15 on a kit from a hardware store and stripped three screws on a Canon AE-1 before I gave up and borrowed a proper JIS set from a buddy... now I can actually take the thing apart without cussing. Anybody else make that mistake starting out?

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alice_wilson73•1mo ago

Just got back from a camera show in Portland and everyone was wrong about CLA pricing

Went to the Portland Camera Show last Saturday and walked around talking to a bunch of guys about shutter cleaning prices. Most folks there were saying a basic CLA on a Nikon FM should run you around $150-$200 easy. But I found one older guy who does them for $80 flat and his work was clean as anything I've seen. He showed me a Mamiya RB67 he just finished and the mirror box was spotless. Am I crazy for thinking the bigger shops are just padding their rates or has anyone else found someone who charges way less for the same quality?

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noahpark•1mo ago

PSA: I stopped using compressed air for sensor cleaning and switched to a bulb blower

For years I used those little cans of compressed air to blow dust off camera sensors. It worked fine until I had a can spit out some liquid on a Nikon D750 sensor back in 2018. That was a mess to clean up and I lost half a day dealing with it. Now I just use a simple rubber bulb blower for the initial dust removal before any wet cleaning. I picked up a Giottos Rocket blower for about 12 bucks and it does the job without any risk. The big change for me was realizing the compressed air cans are just not worth the gamble on expensive gear. Anyone else switch away from canned air after a bad experience?

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leoyoung•1mo ago

Fixed a stuck shutter on a Canon AE-1 in 45 minutes with a toothpick

I was in my garage Tuesday night with a beat up Canon AE-1 that had been sitting on my shelf for months. The shutter curtain was stuck halfway open and nothing I did would free it up. I tried blowing compressed air through the gaps and hitting it with a drop of lighter fluid on the pivots but no luck. Then I remembered a trick from an old forum post about using a plain wooden toothpick to gently push the curtain track back into alignment. I wedged the toothpick against the edge of the curtain rail and gave it a tiny nudge. The curtain snapped back into place and the whole shutter fired normally after that. Has anyone else had success with weird tools like toothpicks or paperclips on stubborn shutter issues?

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ruby_foster93•1mo ago

Spent $45 on a JIS screwdriver set and it paid off instantly

Had a stubborn screw on a Pentax K1000 that kept stripping with my regular Phillips bits. Picked up a Vessel JIS screwdriver set for $45 off Amazon last week. Got the screw out in about 10 seconds without any damage. Anyone else had these make a difference on old Japanese gear?

2 comments