A job in an old Denver photo lab taught me to always check the film door hinge first

I was fixing a Pentax K1000 that kept jamming, and I spent an hour on the advance lever before I noticed the door latch was bent just enough to drag on the take-up spool. The owner said it fell off a shelf, and that tiny bend was the whole problem. Now I start with the hinge and latch on any camera that won't wind, it saves so much time. Has anyone else found a simple check that fixed a tough problem?

3 comments

3 Comments

lisas782d ago

Ever see someone try to fix a car engine when it was just a loose battery cable? My buddy had a similar thing with an old Nikon. He was convinced the shutter was fried, took the whole top plate off. Turns out the rewind button was just stuck down from some old gunk. A tiny bit of rubbing alcohol on a q-tip fixed it in two minutes. He felt so dumb but now it's the first thing he checks on those models.

carr.luna2d ago

@lisas78's story shows how old gear often has simple fixes hidden by time. People forget that cameras and cars from that era just need cleaning more than new parts. It's a good reminder to check the easy stuff before assuming the worst.

garcia.wren2d ago

That "stuck rewind button" story is a perfect example. It's like @carr.luna said, we often overlook the basic stuff because we expect a complex problem. I see this all the time with people restarting routers for an internet fix.