c/camera-repairers

Sticky aperture blades after a 2019 CLA, fixed with a pencil eraser?

I had a Canon FD 50mm that started hesitating at f/8 after sitting for 6 years, and rubbing a soft pencil eraser on the blade edges got it snappy again in 20 minutes, has anyone else tried that trick or is it just asking for oil to spread worse?

That chat with an old Minolta tech got me thinking about parts hoarding

Talked to a retired repair guy in Portland last week who worked on Minoltas back in the 80s. He said he still keeps a box of tiny screws and springs from cameras he fixed decades ago, and half of them he never touched again. Made me look at my own stash of random shutters and gears in the shop, which is probably 40 pounds of stuff I'll never use. Anyone else hold onto parts way past the point of it making sense, or am I the only one building a museum of broken camera guts?

Acetone bath turned my shutter blades black, but it still works?

Last week I was cleaning a sticky shutter on an old Canonet and decided to soak just the blade assembly in acetone for about 20 minutes. I pulled them out and they were completely black, like a chemical reaction ate the coating. Figured they were toast, but after drying and reinstalling with a tiny drop of lubricant on the pivot points, the thing fires perfect at all speeds. I've cleaned blades with lighter fluid before but never had this happen. Has anyone else seen acetone darken blades like that, or is it safe to call it a lucky break and move on?

Heat gun versus hairdryer for stubborn adhesive, the hairdryer won

A retired tech told me to use lighter fluid on sticky shutters, I laughed until it worked

Last month a guy who used to fix Canons in the 80s watched me struggle with a jammed shutter on a beat-up AE-1 and said to dab lighter fluid on the blades. I thought he was messing with me, but after two failed attempts with contact cleaner, I tried it and the thing freed up in about ten minutes. Do any of you use weird old solvents like that, or do you stick to modern stuff for stuck mechanisms?

The day I stopped using canned air and started using a bulb blower

About two years ago I was cleaning a Pentax K1000 and the canned air left a thin residue on the mirror that took forever to wipe off. I switched to a rubber bulb blower with a soft tip for all sensor and mirror work, and it's been smoother ever since. Has anyone else had trouble with canned air leaving marks on older gear, or do you stick with it for stubborn dust?

Replacing a shutter curtain vs. full CLA. Which one is actually worth it?

Replacing a shutter curtain vs. full CLA. Which one is actually worth it? I just spent last Tuesday swapping out a cloth curtain on a 1960s Spotmatic and the whole job took me about 3 hours with parts that cost me $18. But then I did a full clean, lube, and adjust on a similar body right after and the shutter speeds came out way more accurate, like within 5% across all settings. The curtain swap alone fixed the light leak and burn hole, but the camera still drags at 1/1000 unless I do the full CLA too. I know some folks swear by just patching what's broken to keep costs down for clients, but I'm leaning toward always pushing the full service since it adds maybe 45 minutes of work. Do you guys charge extra when you find sticky speeds after a simple curtain replacement, or do you eat that time for goodwill?

A junkyard lens mount saved my customer $450, I was dead wrong about it

A client brought in a beat-up Canon FD 50mm with a stripped breech lock ring. I quoted them $180 for a replacement mount since the part is hard to find. They said no way and went to a local scrapper in Pittsburgh who pulled a mount off an old broken lens for $25. I figured it would be garbage, but the threads matched perfectly after 20 minutes of soaking and cleaning. The ring clicks like new and the flange distance checked out within tolerance. It made me question why I always push OEM parts when there are solid used options. Do you guys scavenge parts from dead lenses often or is that too risky for your shop? Has anyone else had a salvaged part hold up better than expected?

Clogged ultrasonic cleaner at a Portland camera show made me rethink my whole soak routine

I was at a repair meetup in Portland last October and someone put a lens with dried grease in the shared ultrasonic cleaner. It threw white gunk all over a Rolleiflex shutter I was working on and ruined my parts bath. Now I do a 2 minute pre-rinse in 99% isopropyl before anything goes in the tank. But I keep wondering, is that extra step really necessary for everyone or am I just being paranoid after one bad day? Has anyone else switched to dry cleaning methods instead of ultrasonic for older shutters?

A bench grinder at a Tulsa flea market fixed my lens ring in 5 minutes

Stopped by a random vendor's stall last Saturday and he let me use his worn-down grinding wheel to smooth the burr on my 50mm aperture ring, and I'm wondering if anyone else has had luck with improvised tools like that in the field?

Vent: customer argued with me for 20 minutes about a lens I fixed correctly

Last Tuesday a guy came in with a 50mm f/1.8 that had a stuck aperture blade. I cleaned it, tested it at 5 different f-stops, and handed it back with a $45 invoice. He stared at the lens, took one photo of his hand, and said the exposure looked wrong. I showed him my test shots on the shop monitor, explained the blades were moving fine now. He kept insisting I replaced the glass with a cheap knockoff. After 20 minutes I pulled out the same lens model from our used shelf and let him compare serial numbers. He finally shrugged and paid, but never said sorry. Has anyone else dealt with customers who just refuse to trust a repair that actually works?

Just hit 500 shutter count repairs, mostly Pentax bodies

I keep a tally on a sticky note above my bench, and 500 slid by last Tuesday without me noticing. The last one was a K1000 with a stuck mirror, took 20 minutes to fix. Anyone else keep quiet stats like that or is it just my brand of weird?

My Rolleiflex shutter jam took 4 hours and a sewing needle

I was fixing a Rolleiflex from the 1950s and the shutter kept sticking at 1/500, but only when the camera was cold, so I spent the whole morning chasing a spring issue. Turns out a tiny piece of dried leather from the bellows had wedged itself under the speed cam, and I only found it after I used a sewing needle to poke around while my wife asked why I was muttering at the bench. Has anyone else had a jam that turned out to be the dumbest, smallest thing you overlooked for hours?

Do I fix old shutters or replace them? Two jobs taught me something

I had two cameras come in last month, one with a sticky shutter at 1/1000 and one with a completely dead curtain. I rebuilt the first one for $85 in parts and labor, and it worked fine, but the second one needed a whole new shutter assembly that cost more than the camera is worth. I'm starting to wonder if we repairers have a duty to tell customers when a camera is beyond economic saving, or if we should just always try to fix it. What's your rule of thumb on when to call it and sell them a replacement instead?

After 12 years of flexing shutter blades with tweezers, a jeweler's screwdriver changed my whole approach

I was at a shop in Portland last month and the old timer there watched me struggle with a sticky Copal square and just handed me a tiny screwdriver to run along the pivot edge, which cleared the oil film in one pass, so why did I never think of that and has anyone else been doing this the hard way?

Shutter count inspection gone wrong in a pawn shop bathroom

Was checking a Rolleiflex someone traded in at a pawn shop outside Tucson, and the owner insisted I test the shutter in the back bathroom for better light. The smell was so bad I almost fogged the lens with my own tears, but the damn thing worked perfectly. Has anyone else had to do repairs in a weird makeshift spot like that?

Copal shutters and the greasy finger problem

I had a Rolleiflex on the bench last Tuesday with a sticky shutter, and when I opened it up the blades were covered in fingerprints. Someone had handled them without gloves during a previous repair, and then the oil from that skin just baked on after years of use. It took me two hours with lighter fluid and a brush to get them clean again. Has anyone else seen this pattern where old repairs leave fingerprints that cause the blades to drag? I always use gloves now but I wonder if there is a better way to get the message out.

That repair bench tip about freezing shutters saved my hide twice

A retired Canon tech I used to buy parts from told me once to stick a stuck shutter in the freezer for 15 minutes before pulling the cocking lever. Sounded crazy. First time was 6 months ago on an old AE-1, oily blades that refused to close. Popped it in a ziploc, waited, and the blades snapped right back. Did it again last week on a Minolta SRT-101 with the same result. Anyone else use cold trick for sticky shutter magnets, or is there a better way without disassembling the whole block?

Old leather bellows on a field camera, how do you salvage the creases?

Picked up a beat-up 4x5 at an estate sale in Tacoma and the bellows are more creased than a pair of old work gloves. I tried gentle heat with a hair dryer and some leather conditioner, but the corners still want to fold inward and pinch the light path. Has anyone found a method that actually flattens those deep creases without cracking the material further?

Why does nobody talk about gear lube in leaf shutters?

I've been working on a few old Kodaks from the 50s and kept seeing sluggish blades after cleaning. Turns out I was skipping the tiny bit of grease on the actuator cam, thought alcohol was enough. Spent 2 hours chasing a sticky shutter at my bench in Portland before a retired repair guy told me to check it. Anyone else find that regular clock oil works better than the fancy stuff for these cams, or is there a specific lube you swear by?

New hot shoe vs used body, picked the $45 gamble in Portland

My Yashica's hot shoe finally gave up after a drop and I had to choose between a proper replacement part at $120 or a beat-up parts body for $45. I went with the parts body since it had the same electrical block, and now I have a back-up shutter and film advance for next time. Took about two hours to swap everything out with my Weller iron, and it's been solid through 10 rolls since. Anyone else gut parts cameras instead of buying new bits these days?

Used to rely on the old 50/50 alcohol mix for sensor cleaning, switched to swabs with a crosshatch pattern after a sticky shutter issue in Chicago

Back in 2019 I ran a repair bench in a dusty shop near the El tracks. Every sensor cleaning was the same, 50/50 isopropyl and a basic foam swab. Worked fine most days, until a Nikon D850 came in with oil spots that just smeared no matter how many passes I did. Customer watched me struggle for 20 minutes, then mentioned his buddy in the biz used those swabs with the grid texture. Picked up a box of 20 for about $18, and the difference was night and day. The pattern grabs the debris instead of pushing it around. Now I only buy those, and I toss them after one sweep on each side. Has anyone else seen a big jump from just changing the swab style, or was my old method just bad luck with that particular sensor coating?

That Tuesday I cleaned 3 shutters from one estate sale haul

Picked up a box of old Minoltas for $40 and three of them had sticky shutter blades. Took all afternoon with lighter fluid and Q-tips, but seeing that first clean 1/1000th fire was worth it. Anyone else get weirdly excited over a stubborn shutter finally snapping open?

Cloth shutter curtain snag cost me a Sunday in Portland

Picked up a beat-up 1960s folder from an estate sale, cloth shutter was fine for about 10 shots then caught on the take-up spool edge. Tore a 2mm slit right near the bottom. Checked the gap between the spool flanges and the curtain track, someone had bent the flange years ago. Filed it down flat, patched the slit with a tiny bit of rubber cement and a strip of black electrical tape from the back side. Works okay now, but I'm wondering if that tape will hold up long term. Anyone else deal with curtain tears on old folders? What do you use for a permanent repair?

Repair quote from a shop in Austin made me rethink my lens cleaning routine

They charged a customer $140 to clean fungus out of a 50mm prime, and when I asked how they do it without scratching, the tech said they just use a UV lamp and a steady hand, so how many of you actually break down cemented groups vs. just swab the outer elements?