Hot take: sometimes you gotta stop chasing the factory specs

I was working on an old Canon A-1 last Thursday in my garage, trying to get the curtain timing exactly to 0.5ms. After the 4th adjustment it still wasn't perfect, so I just set it to where it sounded right and moved on. Customer got the camera back yesterday and called me happy as can be - said the photos came out sharp. Anyone else find that chasing absolute precision sometimes makes things worse instead of better?

2 comments

2 Comments

rosebennett4d ago

That "close enough is good enough" approach has saved me from going crazy in the kitchen more times than I can count.

the_jason3d ago

Wait, but doesn't "close enough" actually mean you skipped a step or used the wrong ingredient? I see people do that all the time with baking and it screws up the whole thing. Like swapping baking soda for baking powder because they're both white powders. That's not close enough, that's a different chemical reaction. You end up with flat cookies or a cake that tastes like soap. I think it only works if you already know the recipe really well and understand what each part does. Otherwise you're just guessing and hoping for the best.