c/camera-repairers

I was using the wrong screwdriver on leaf shutter blades for months

A tech in Seattle pointed out my flathead was leaving tiny marks, and I switched to a JIS #00. Anyone else have a go-to tool for delicate clockwork like that?

Shoutout to the guy who walked in with a box of parts and a story

Last Thursday was a weird one. A guy came into the shop with a shoebox full of pieces from a 1970s Minolta SRT-101, said his dad tried to fix it himself before he passed. The mirror box was in three parts, screws were missing, and the focus screen was cracked. I told him it was a long shot, but I'd look. Spent the next two days just sorting, cleaning, and hunting for donor screws from my own parts bin. Got the mirror mechanism timed again yesterday, and the old light meter even flickered to life. It's not perfect, but it'll take a picture. Seeing his face when he picked it up made the whole grind feel worth it. Anyone else ever get handed a true basket case that somehow came together?

Can we talk about those ultrasonic sensor cleaners?

I thought they were a gimmick for years, but a shop in Portland let me run a Hasselblad shutter through theirs. The gunk it pulled out of the pivot points was unreal. Anyone have a model they actually trust for vintage parts?

Appreciation post: I was cleaning shutter blades with a cotton swab for a decade before a guy in a Chicago workshop told me I was just pushing the grit around.

He showed me his method with a soft sable brush and lighter fluid, and now I won't touch a focal-plane shutter without one, so what's your go-to trick for a truly clean blade set?

I finally got a 1978 Nikon F2 back from a customer who tried to fix it himself.

He told me 'I just needed the right screwdriver.' The whole shutter assembly was a mess, with parts from a different camera forced in. How do you guys handle explaining why DIY fixes can go so wrong without sounding rude?

TIL the antique mall in St. Louis is a total graveyard for vintage cameras

Honestly, I was there last weekend and saw a whole glass case of old SLRs. Every single one had a price tag over $150, but they were all just dusty display pieces. I watched a guy pick up a Pentax K1000, try to wind the advance lever, and it was totally seized. He just put it back and walked away. Ngl, it's frustrating seeing good gear left to rot when someone could fix it up. Has anyone else tried talking to these vendors about buying 'for parts' units?

Unpopular opinion: I think the old-school rubberized lens hoods from the 80s are actually better for impact protection than modern plastic ones.

After a client brought in a vintage Nikon with a cracked plastic hood but a perfectly intact rubber one from the same era, I started checking all my repair logs from the past 6 months and found zero rubber hoods needed replacement, while I'd fixed 14 plastic ones.

My boss swore by using a heat gun for every stuck lens element, but I think it's a bad habit.

For years, the head tech at our shop in Tacoma insisted the first step for any seized element was a low heat gun. He'd say, 'Just warm it up, the old grease will flow.' I followed that for a long time. Then I got a Contax G2 with a stuck focusing helix. I used the heat gun like always, and it worked, but a week later the customer brought it back. The heat had made the plastic internal spacer warp just enough to cause a new bind. I had to source a new part, which took a month and cost the shop about $80. Now I only use heat as a last resort after trying proper solvents and gentle mechanical persuasion. Has anyone else had a heat fix come back to bite them later?

Had to choose between a new shutter assembly or a full rebuild on a Nikon F3

A guy brought in his dad's old F3 from the 80s with a shutter that was sticking at 1/1000th. The choice was a $180 new-old-stock assembly from a supplier in Chicago, or taking apart the whole curtain mechanism for a deep clean and re-lube, which I'd never done on that model. I went with the rebuild, spent about four hours on it, and got it running smooth. Has anyone else found the F3 curtains to be more forgiving than they look once you get in there?

TIL a chat with an old Leica tech in Chicago changed my mind about using modern lubricants on vintage shutters.

He said, "That new grease will gum up in a year, stick with the light clock oil your granddad used," and after seeing three 1950s cameras come back with sluggish blades, I finally get it.

Used to think those cheap plastic spudgers were a waste of money.

I was fixing a sticky aperture ring on an old Nikon lens and kept using metal picks, which just scratched the brass. A guy at a shop in Phoenix told me to try a specific 0.5mm nylon spudger from iFixit. I was sure it would snap, but after two tries, it popped the retaining ring free without a single mark. Now I keep a pack of five in my kit. What's your go-to for prying delicate parts without damage?

Shoutout to the cheap plastic spudger from that tool kit I bought in 2019

I used to be a metal pick purist for separating glued LCD screens, thinking plastic was for amateurs. After cracking a Fuji X-T20 display, I switched to that flimsy spudger and haven't looked back. Anyone else find their 'junk' tool became their go-to?

Hot take: I thought those cheap lens spanner wrenches from online were total junk.

Grabbed a $15 one for a quick job on a vintage Pentax lens, and it actually held up fine for the light torque. The fit was surprisingly decent. Anyone else had a good run with a budget tool they expected to fail?

I finally threw out that $150 ultrasonic cleaner I bought in 2015 thinking it would save me hours on shutter assemblies.

The thing just couldn't handle the proper solutions without corroding, and I ended up going back to my old manual method after wasting a whole weekend and a bottle of naphtha trying to make it work... has anyone found a small tank model that actually holds up?

DAE have a trick for getting a stuck shutter curtain on a Pentax K1000 to move again without forcing it?

I was cleaning a friend's camera from a garage sale in Phoenix and the second curtain just froze solid after I blew some dust out with a rocket blower, so now I'm stuck with a half-open shutter.

Just found out the original Nikon F had over 1,400 individual parts. Saw it in a 1960s service manual a collector brought in.

Saw a guy at the Portland camera show fix a stuck film advance with a drop of lighter fluid

He didn't even take the top plate off, just worked it into the mechanism. Has anyone else used that method on old SLRs?

I still think using a digital multimeter for every light meter check is overkill

I was in my shop in Spokane last week fixing a Pentax K1000, and the owner insisted I test the meter with my Fluke 87. The needle was off by a tiny bit, maybe 5%, but the photos came out fine. When did we stop trusting the camera's own test and start needing lab-grade tools for a simple check?

Am I the only one who gets a customer who brings in a camera they 'fixed' with a kitchen knife?

Last week a guy walked into my shop in Portland with a Nikon F3 he tried to pry open with a butter knife, and now the film advance is locked up tighter than a drum, so what's the most creative 'home repair' disaster you've had to undo?

Cleaned my 500th camera shutter mechanism yesterday and it hit me how much the job has changed

Rant: I chose to replace the entire shutter assembly instead of trying to salvage the old one

The client's Nikon F3 had a classic curtain tear, and I could have spent hours patching it. I swapped the whole unit for a new-old-stock part from a supplier in Japan, and it's been flawless for a year now. When do you guys decide a repair is more trouble than it's worth?

Showerthought: I used to think a cracked ground glass was a quick fix, but a Leica M3 taught me otherwise

Last week, a local shop sent me a Leica M3 with a cracked focusing screen. I figured, no big deal, I've swapped a dozen of these in other cameras. But the M3's screen is held in by this tiny, spring-loaded metal frame that's a nightmare to get back in without scratching the new glass. I spent two hours, ruined a $80 replacement screen, and almost lost the tiny spring into the mirror box. What changed my mind was watching a 20-year-old video from a retired repair guy in Germany. He used a strip of thin tape to hold the frame open while he slid the glass in. Tried it on my second attempt and it clicked right in, no scratches. I guess some old tricks are still the best ones. Has anyone else found a better method for those vintage Leica rangefinder screens?

TIL a drop of isopropyl alcohol can fix a sticky film advance lever

Had a Canon AE-1 come in last week with a lever that felt gritty and wouldn't return all the way. I was about to start a full teardown to get at the spring, but on a hunch I put one tiny drop of 99% isopropyl on the lever's pivot point and worked it back and forth. The old grease dissolved and it's been smooth for three days now. Has anyone else tried this trick on other models, or is it a bad idea long term?

Back when I started, I'd clean shutter blades with a cotton swab and lighter fluid... now I use a specific brush and pure naphtha after a bad smudge on a Leica M3.

Cleaned a Canon AE-1 mirror with a cotton swab and now the viewfinder is foggy

I was fixing a sticky mirror on a customer's camera and gave the mirror a gentle wipe with a dry cotton swab. The next day, the whole viewfinder looked like it had a permanent haze. I think I might have disturbed some old sealant or coating. Has anyone seen this happen before and know a fix that doesn't involve a full prism replacement?