Back in March I kept stripping out those tiny crossheads on old Canon lenses and blamed the screws. Turns out Phillips bits are the wrong profile for Japanese screws, and JIS bits are designed to seat properly without cam-out. I bought a set at a local hardware show in Portland for $14 and now I check every screw head before touching it. Has anyone else dealt with stripped screws on vintage gear, or do you just drill them out from the start?
A repairer in Nashville called me out last month after I handed back a Pentax Spotmatic. He said my brass gear lube was too thick and would gum up in cold weather, and he was right. I switched to a lighter lithium grease and dropped the application amount by half. Now I also do a test wind at -5 degrees in my garage freezer before I close a camera up. That one comment probably saved me a dozen return visits this winter. Anyone else adjust their lube choice after a cold-weather complaint?
I used to clean shutter blades with a regular steel brush and canned air, and I kept getting these tiny scratches showing up on test shots. About 6 months ago in Portland, a retired repair guy watched me do it and handed me a brass brush, said steel is too hard for the aluminum blades. Switched that day and my cleaning time dropped from 45 minutes to 20 on a jammed lens. Now I also use a magnifying lamp before I even start, so I can spot oil spots before they smear. Has anyone else made a tool swap that changed their whole process? I still see steel brushes in kits at estate sales and wonder if I'm missing something.
Had a guy in his 80s bring in a Rolleiflex with a stuck shutter last June, I quoted him $180 for the full CLA and he just stared at me for a solid minute... then pulled out a receipt from 1974 showing he paid $45 for the same job. He said "things should get cheaper as they get older, right?" and walked out with the camera still broken, has anyone else had a customer treat inflation like it's a personal insult?
Spent last Saturday tearing down a Kiev 88 that had fungus in the viewfinder and a stuck mirror return. The guy wanted $40, I think he was just happy to see it go. Once I cleaned the mirrors with isopropyl and re-lubed the winding gears, it's been firing like a dream. But the straps lugs are barely holding on, so I'm gonna machine some replacements this week. Anyone else run into the Kiev's weird film spacing issues, or is it just mine?
After fixing a 1978 Mamiya RB67 that sat in a garage for 15 years, I noticed the leather bellows had cracked and leaked light, but a $25 replacement and a 2-hour cleaning job brought it back to perfect sealing, has anyone else seen worse damage from long-term humidity exposure?
I sent my own personal Nikon 50mm f/1.4 off to a shop for a proper CLA last March, and I just compared some test shots from right before that to ones I took last week. The contrast and flare resistance are NIGHT AND DAY better after the pro work. Meanwhile, I've been cleaning lenses for customers at the hospital side gig using just a blower and microfiber, thinking I was doing a decent job. But seeing my CLA'd glass side by side with a lens I only cleaned myself... the haze and micro-scratches from my amateur methods are way more visible than I thought. Is it really worth sending every other lens out for a pro service, or am I just being too hard on my own technique? Has anyone else seen this big of a difference after getting a proper CLA done on a lens you thought was already clean?
I was up in Portland last month helping a friend clean out his uncle's old camera store that's been closed since 2019. The uncle was a real character, lived above the shop for 40 years. While we were boxing up parts, he found a box of old brass shims and started talking about how he used to fix stuck shutter curtains on old focal plane shutters by adjusting the tension with a tiny drop of lighter fluid on the pivot points instead of fully disassembling them. I always thought you had to tear the whole thing down to get at those curtains. He showed me his method on a beat up Nikon F from the back room and I'll be darned, it worked perfectly. Saved me probably 2 hours of labor on a job I had waiting back at my bench. I've already tried it on a couple more cameras since I got home and it's held up fine. Has anyone else run into old shop tricks like this that sound crazy but actually work?
I spent years telling people to avoid those $50 camera cleaning jobs from random guys online. Last month I sent a beat up Nikon FM2 to a person in Ohio who charges $45 for a full CLA with replacement light seals. Figured I'd lose the camera but the thing came back working better than after my local shop's $200 service. Anyone else have a budget repair that surprised you?
I was testing a Canon F-1 I just got in for a CLA, fired the shutter at 1/1000, and the cloth curtain just ripped in half. Must've been dry rotted for years, but the owner had no idea. I had to call him and break the news that a full rebuild would run about $200. Now I'm stuck ordering new shutter curtains from a guy in Ohio who swears he has NOS ones from the 70s. Has anyone here had luck patching a torn curtain with liquid shutter tape, or is that just a bandaid on a bullet wound?
Last week I was fixing a stuck helicoid on a vintage Pentax Spotmatic and my plastic wrench just snapped clean in half. Three years ago I would have just ordered another plastic one but I found an old brass wrench in my mentor's toolbox from the 70s and it worked perfect. Has anyone else noticed the new tools just don't hold up like the old ones?
The tip was to whittle a chopstick to a fine point and gently nudge the curtain edge back into its track, and after 3 tries I got a perfect exposure across the whole frame, has anyone else used something weird like a toothpick or a paperclip for delicate work like that?
Stripped a tiny screw on a Pentax K1000 from moisture buildup with canned air, but my $15 Rocket blower has never ruined a single thing in two years of shop use, anyone else ditch compressed air completely?
Was cleaning the taking lens on a 2.8C and a tiny spring flew off when I lifted the shutter plate. Took me 4 hours with a magnet and tweezers to find it in my garage carpet. Anyone else have a spring launch into the void and somehow get lucky finding it?
I used to use compressed air on leaf shutters. Thought it was fine. Then a client brought in a Compur from the 50s that had oil residue all over the blades. I blew it out, but the shutter started sticking. Another repair guy told me I was just pushing the gunk deeper into the mechanism. Switched to using a tiny bit of lighter fluid on a Q-tip and dabbing it clean. No more issues. Has anyone else had a similar wake up call with a specific cleaning method?
I passed 500 shutter repairs in March for the first time and honestly didn't expect to feel anything. But seeing that number made me realize how many of those were the same few failures on older Canon bodies. Anyone else notice certain models coming in way more than others?
Thought I'd save some cash cleaning an old Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 myself instead of sending it to a shop. Bought a kit off Amazon for $75 with some cheap fluid and wipes, and ended up scratching the front element bad. Took it to a guy in Cleveland who said he sees this all the time and that repair would cost more than the lens is worth. Anyone else wrecked a lens trying to DIY clean it?
I been wrestling with a Canon A-1 that had a shutter hanging up at 1/1000 for weeks. Tried all the usual stuff like cleaning the blades with lighter fluid but nothing worked. Then I read on an old forum to check the magnet under the mirror box for residue. Used a q-tip with a tiny bit of isopropyl alcohol on that magnet and the shutter snapped right back to normal. Anybody else run into this specific problem on the A-1?
I picked up this beat-up AE-1 from a guy in Portland for 40 bucks. Got the shutter fixed and the light seals replaced, but the meter is still way off by about 2 stops no matter what I do. Has anyone else run into a persistent meter issue on these old Canon bodies where adjusting the pot doesn't seem to help?
I bought one of those cheap CLA kits off eBay last month for $150. It came with greases that felt WAY too thick and a spanner wrench that slipped right off the lens ring. Ended up damaging the aperture blades trying to use their stuff. Had to order proper LiClipse grease from a guy in Oregon for $40 and toss the rest. Has anyone else had bad luck with those all-in-one repair bundles?
This guy Bob who used to work at the Wolf Camera in Atlanta told me last year to use Ronsonol on a sticky shutter blade set on a Canonet. I thought he was nuts and went with ultrasonic cleaning instead. Shutter still stuck after three passes. Finally tried his trick two weeks ago and it worked perfect on the first go. One drop, fired it 20 times, and it's been smooth ever since. Anyone else ever get advice that sounded too sketchy to try but actually worked?
I was digging through a box of old cameras at a sale last Saturday and spotted this beat up M3. The guy wanted $40 for it so I figured why not. Got it home and the shutter curtain has a tiny pinhole near the edge, plus the speeds sound off below 1/30th. Anyone here ever patched a curtain hole on one of these or is it better to just send it off to a pro?
I was poking around a small thrift place off Gratiot Avenue and found maybe 15 old SLRs just sitting on a shelf. Most were covered in dust but a few looked totally functional, like a Canon AE-1 with a decent 50mm lens attached. Anybody else ever have luck finding cameras like this for cheap, or is it usually a waste of time to dig through those shops? I'm curious if there's a trick to spotting the good ones fast.
Was picking up a parts donor from a old timer in Milwaukee and he swore by Ronsonol for shutter curtains instead of the fancy stuff I've been spending $30 a bottle on, anyone else go the cheap route on cleaning solvents?
I was out in the field last week shooting some architectural stuff in Chicago and got a big smudge right in the middle of my 50mm f/1.4. I panicked, ran into a BP station and grabbed a pack of those blue microfiber cloths they sell by the counter. Gave it a quick wipe and it looked okay at first but when I got home and held it under a bright desk lamp I saw fine circular scratches all over the front element. The multi-coating is pretty much wrecked in that spot now. I usually use a proper lens pen and some Zeiss spray but I got lazy and cheap. Guess I learned that not all microfiber is the same, the gas station stuff is way too rough. Has anyone else had luck getting a lens recoated after something like this?