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Had a shutter seize on a Nikon F3 during a wedding shoot
Happened two weekends ago in Nashville. Mid-roll, shutter just locked up at 1/60. Client was walking down the aisle. I swapped to backup quick but when I got home I tore it down. Found old lubricant had turned to glue on the mirror box mechanism. Cleaned it with some naphtha and relubed with proper damping grease. Works fine now but I almost sent it off to a shop. Anyone else run into this on older Nikons?
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parkerk5611d agoTop Commenter
Respectfully I see it different, using solvent flush on old Nikon foam is a bandaid fix. That grease turning to glue is just the beginning of what's happening with all the foam seals in those bodies. If you didn't replace the mirror bumper foam while you had it open you're gonna be chasing light leaks down the road.
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blairstone11d ago
You know, I actually used to think a good solvent flush was all you needed, but the more I read about how the foam breaks down everywhere, the more I see your point. I pulled a Nikon FE apart last month and found the mirror bumper foam had turned into a sticky mess that the solvent definitely didn't touch. I'll be ordering replacement foam kits for the next one I work on, no question.
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