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?
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.
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?
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.
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?
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?
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?
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?
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?
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?
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?
It took me way too long to figure out that old foam turns into sticky tar that grabs the mirror mechanism, has anyone else had a simple clean turn into a full afternoon project?
I always used alcohol wipes on sensor contacts and wondered why they kept failing after 6 months. Last week a Canon repair manual from 1992 fell off the shelf at my shop in Portland. It said to use a dry eraser first and only touch the contacts with isopropyl if absolutely necessary. I tried the eraser method on a beaten up 5D Mark II and it fired right up. Been doing it this way for 7 days now with no problems. Anyone else been using the wrong method for years?
I figured I'd save a few bucks and do a CLA on an old Pentax K1000 myself last weekend. Lost $80 on the kit and another $120 when a spring flew out and I couldn't get it back together. Has anyone else had better luck with those generic repair kits, or is it just me?
Guy took one look at my swabs and said 'you're just pushing dirt around'. Showed me this specific technique where you barely touch the surface and let capillary action do the work. Took me like 6 years of doing it the hard way. Now I'm not going through 3 swabs per sensor. Anyone else get schooled by an old timer on something basic?
Had a Pentax MV that needed cleaning, figured I'd try a cheap ultrasonic cleaner. Put the shutter assembly in for 5 minutes. Came out looking clean, but the blades were all loose and wouldn't close. Turns out those old cloth shutters absorb water and get wrecked. Has anyone found a way to clean them without pulling the curtains?
I was at a shop in Portland last month and overheard a kid bragging about using a plastic spudger to pry open a jammed shutter on a Nikon FM2. Thought he was joking until I saw the cracked plastic gear sitting on the bench. People treat those things like magic wands but they're just soft enough to snap under torque and leave shards inside. I've pulled three mangled shutters this year alone where the root cause was a bit of red plastic wedged in the mechanism. If you're reaching for a spudger before a proper JIS screwdriver, you're probably making more work for yourself and me. What's the worst damage you've seen from someone using the wrong tool?
I kept a tally in my bench notebook since January, and somehow I crossed the 100 mark this afternoon without even noticing. Has anyone else found that working on mechanical shutters gives you a weird sense of accomplishment compared to the electronic ones?
Had a Spotmatic that was only firing at 1/1000 no matter what I set. Cleaned the slow speed escapement twice, checked the brake lever, nothing. Almost gave up. Then a guy on the Facebook group suggested wrapping the magnet arm with a tiny strip of latex from a surgical glove. First try, every speed from B to 1/1000 is within spec now. Anyone else found weird non-traditional materials that saved a repair?
I spent like 6 years blasting dust off sensors with those expensive canned air cans until a repair in Minneapolis last fall where the can froze up mid-job and I ended up spraying propellant all over a Sony A7III. Switched to a $15 rubber bulb blower that night and haven't touched a can since - anyone else had a canned air disaster story?}
Guy brought in a beat up Nikon F2 last month, wanted a 50mm lens mounted. I had a Nikkor AI-S and a Zeiss ZF.2 sitting on the shelf. Picked the Nikkor because it's built tougher for that camera, and the aperture ring felt smoother. Customer was happy, but I still wonder if I should have gone with the Zeiss for the sharper optics. Has anyone else dealt with that kind of choice for a classic body?
Made me pull out my old collimator to check three of my own rebuilds and found two had the same tilt issue from a shim that slipped, has anyone else switched to using a drop of superglue to hold those shims steady before final assembly?
Had a chat with a retired Nikon tech at a swap meet in Portland who showed me under his loupe how my microfiber cloth was actually grinding in dust particles, and he uses a rocket blower first every time now I feel like an idiot.
I used a can of compressed air on a Nikon D750 sensor last week and it left a residue that took forever to clean off. A buddy at a shop in Denver told me I should have used a manual air blower instead. The canned stuff just sprays propellant when you tilt it wrong. Has anyone else had this issue or found a good alternative for sensor dust?
Client brought in a RB67 that was sticky everywhere, turns out they knocked a latte into the mirror box. Had to disassemble the whole front standard and clean every leaf of the baffle curtain with alcohol wipes - works fine now but man that was a pain. Anyone else dealt with coffee damage on older gear?