I was fixing a Nikon D750 at a bench in Austin last fall and this older guy swore blowing canned air on the AF sensor would fix a backfocus issue. I thought he was pulling my leg, but he showed me a 10-year-old thread from some forum and I figured why not. Has anyone else had a cheap fix like that actually save a repair?
I thought I was being smart saving money. Bought a 12-piece cleaning kit for like $15. It had a blower, some cloths, solution - looked fine. Used the blower on a vintage 50mm f/1.4 I was repairing and it just sprayed dust all over the elements. Took me an extra hour to clean everything again with proper stuff from a real supplier. Ended up spending $150 on quality swabs and fluid from KEH to fix the damage properly. Has anyone else had a cheap kit ruin a job like that?
Been fixing cameras for about 12 years now, and I keep hearing people say synthetic lubricants are the way to go on everything. Last month I tried it on a Pentax Spotmatic's slow speed escapement and had to redo the whole job three days later cause the timing was off. Swapped back to a tiny dab of vintage Nye grease and it ran smooth as ever. Anyone else find certain jobs just don't take well to the new stuff?
Last Saturday my friend and I went to the big camera swap at the Expo Center and I saw two guys swapping a dirty shutter curtain on a beat up Nikon F2 right on a cardboard table. They used a random screwdriver and some tweezers from a first aid kit, and then sold it to a kid for $150. Has anyone else seen this kind of shady repair work happening at these events?
I was at a shop in Portland last week and this 70 year old guy walked me through how he used to calibrate the light meter on those old all-mechanical Pentax bodies without any electronics. Made me wonder if we've lost something by having all these computerized repair tools for cameras from the 70s.
Used to blow dust off mirror boxes with those little cans. Then a guy at a shop in St. Louis showed me how much pressure you actually need for delicate stuff. Anyone else find the switch saves money and gives better control?
Turns out a tiny piece of foam from the mirror bumper had flaked off and was wedged under the curtain drum spring. Has anyone else had foam debris cause shutter jams like that?
I bought a cheap stainless spanner from Amazon to adjust a stuck focus ring on a vintage 50mm, and it slipped right off and gouged the brass flange. A repair shop quoted me $150 to fix the scratch and adjust the lens proper. Do you guys go for budget tools and risk it, or pay up for quality to avoid these headaches?
I dropped a 50mm f/1.4 AI-S on a job site in Tucson two weeks ago, it landed lens-first on a pile of rebar and now the focus ring is grinding and the aperture blades are sticking, but I can't decide if I should spend the $120 to get it serviced or just buy a used replacement for the same price - anyone else had to make this call with vintage glass?
I was working on a friend's Canon AE-1 last week and noticed he had put oil all over the shutter mechanism. He said he saw a video online about it. I had to explain that most of those old cloth shutters just need a clean, not oil. The oil attracts dust and gums up after about 6 months. Has anyone else run into this misconception with customers bringing in cameras that someone else already messed up?
I was fighting stripped screws on old Nikons for like two years. Kept using regular Phillips heads and cursing every time. Finally bought a Vessel set off Amazon for about 60 bucks. First thing I did was pull a stuck screw out of a Nikkor 50mm in under a minute. Has anyone else noticed how much Japanese camera gear actually needs JIS bits? That one expense saved me so much frustration.
I had a Canon AE-1 last week where the bottom plate screw hole was completely stripped. Guy at the bench said to just put a helicoil in it and call it a day, but I'm on the side of replacing the plate since it's only $15. Three years ago I helicoiled a Pentax K1000 and it held up fine, but I still wonder if it weakens the frame over time. What do you all do when you run into stripped threads on a '70s era body?
After mangling a 1950s Rolleiflex curtain by using bare hands 3 years ago, I switched to a homemade brass jig that cups the curtain tabs exactly, and I haven't scratched a single one since - has anyone else built their own specialty tools instead of buying the overpriced standard kits?
Been shooting for years and always used the cheap stuff from the drugstore, but after a 70 year old repair guy told me I was wrecking my coatings I swapped to a proper lab grade isopropyl mix from a camera shop on Elm Street. Last week I cleaned a 50mm f/1.8 that had haze buildup and the difference in clarity was insane no streaks at all. Has anyone else had a mentor call them out on something basic like this and actually prove them wrong?
Used to hand scrub every element with lens cleaner and a microfiber cloth, took forever and left streaks. Tried a cheap ultrasonic tank last month with distilled water and a drop of dish soap - did a full set of 8 elements in 12 minutes with zero residue. Anyone else make the switch and find it ruined them for the old way?
I was fixing a Seagull TLR last week and had to choose between a brass or aluminum tool for setting the shutter speeds... went with aluminum because it felt easier on the delicate gears. Ended up stripping a tiny screw head though, so maybe brass was the right call. How do you decide which metal to use on these old cameras?
I was working on a Leica M3 from 1957 yesterday and it hit me how much the repair game has changed since I started back in 2009. Back then I'd spend hours adjusting the RF cam with a tiny screwdriver and guesswork, now I just use a collimator I got off eBay for $30 and a digital alignment guide. The old way had a feel to it though, like you could sense the focus was off by how the patch moved. Anyone else find the new tools faster but less satisfying for that personal touch?
Was counting up my logs last night and realized I've hit 715 shutter repairs since January. Anyone else keep track of their numbers like that or am I just being weird about it?
I picked up a set of three lens board adapters off that big auction site for about 80 bucks last month. They were supposed to let me mount Mamiya lenses on a Toyo 4x5. First shoot, two of them just snapped the retaining ring threads right off. Cheap pot metal I guess. Lost a whole day of studio work. Anyone else had bad luck with cheap adapters from overseas?
Been fixing cameras for about 8 years now and always cleaned those copper contact strips on the lens mount with a dry cloth. Last week a old timer stopped by my shop in Portland and watched me work on a Canon AE-1. He asked why I was pushing loose grit deeper into the gaps. Turns out you're supposed to use a bit of isopropyl alcohol and wipe away from the sensor, not towards it. He showed me the difference under a loupe and I could see the scratches I'd been making. Now I'm wondering how many intermittent connection issues I could have fixed faster if I'd known this. Anybody else learn a basic thing way later than they should have?
I always thought ultrasonic cleaners were overkill for camera parts, just a waste of bench space. But after dealing with a Yashica 124G that had 20 years of grease caked inside the shutter blades, I finally broke down and got a 40kHz model from Harbor Freight for $45. Ran the blade assembly through with some Ronsonol for three cycles, and it came out spotless with zero residue. Has anyone else converted to ultrasonic after fighting with Q-tips and naphtha for hours?
Just finished a repair on a Pentax K1000 where the previous tech used a thick silicone grease on the slow speed escapement. It gummed up after about six months, making the 1/30 and 1/15 settings stick. I had to strip it all out with naphtha and use a tiny bit of Moebius 8300 instead. That specific, light oil is made for watch parts and works way better for these fine clockwork pieces. Has anyone else run into this and found a better fix for these old metal shutters?
She brought in an old Pentax K1000 with a lens that wouldn't turn, and she said, 'Try a drop of lighter fluid on a cotton swab, just on the seam.' I was worried it would damage things, but it worked perfectly to loosen the old grease. Has anyone else used this method on vintage manual lenses?
Everyone says the Nikon F3 is a tank, but I've seen more of those shutter curtains fail than any other pro body from that era. After the 500th one, I'm convinced its reputation is mostly nostalgia. Has anyone else found a 'legendary' camera that's secretly a lemon in one specific area?
He said it had been in a drawer since the 80s and he just wanted to see if it could be fixed, not expecting much. I got the shutter unstuck with a tiny drop of lighter fluid and a steady hand, and it clicked like new. When he heard that sound, his whole face lit up and he said, 'That's the sound from all my childhood photos.' Anyone else get those little moments that make the fiddly work worth it?