Finally figured out the right way to clean shutter blades on a Pentax Spotmatic

I kept seeing posts where people were using lighter fluid and Q-tips, but that just left residue. After 3 tries and a ruined blade, I switched to a dry microfiber cloth and a tiny puff of compressed air, and it worked perfectly. Anybody else have a go-to method for stubborn oil on shutters?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_xena14d agoTop Commenter

Honestly, I've wrecked two Spotmatic blades before and lighter fluid was the only thing that finally fixed them for me. Microfiber just smeared the grease around and made it worse in my case. Maybe it depends on how old the oil is.

valh3212d ago

Oh man, @alice_kim, you're totally right - I've had that same varnish nightmare with an old Yashica too!

alice_kim13d ago

Does it ever feel like half the battle with old cameras is just figuring out what kind of gunk you're up against? I've seen the same thing with old lenses where the aperture blades get sticky, and sometimes a super light cleaning works, other times you really need something stronger if the oil has turned almost into a varnish. It's like the grease decides to pick a fight based on the weather or how much it was used or something.