The one lubrication habit I see people getting backwards

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?

2 comments

2 Comments

hugo_bennett22d ago

Wait, @the_xena is that the same friend with the Spotmatic? Because I think he might have used the WRONG kind of oil too. A lot of people grab 3-in-1 or WD-40 and that stuff is way too thin for camera mechanisms. I always tell folks if you have to lubricate anything on an old SLR, you need a TINY drop of very thick watch oil or synthetic grease. Even then, it's basically NEVER needed on the shutter itself. It's mostly for the lens focusing helicoid if it gets stiff. Cloth shutters just need to be clean and dry or they turn into a sticky mess like you said.

the_xena22d ago

My friend did the same thing to his Pentax Spotmatic and now the shutter sounds like a sticky toaster...