TIL you can fix a stuck shutter curtain with a pencil eraser

I've been repairing cameras for about 8 years now, mostly older stuff like Pentax and Canon film bodies. Last week a customer brought in a Spotmatic with the shutter stuck halfway. I was about to tell him it needed a full CLA which would run around $150. But I remembered reading something on a forum years ago, so I grabbed a soft pencil eraser and gently rubbed the curtain track a few times. Fired the shutter and it worked perfectly. Customer was thrilled and I charged him $20 for shop time. Found the original tip on a Pentax forum from 2007 of all places. Has anyone else found a weird fix like that that actually works?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_hannah1d ago

How long does that fix usually hold up for you? I tried the eraser trick on a Minolta SRT once and it worked great for about three months, then the shutter started sticking again worse than before. Ended up having to do the full curtain replacement anyway. Seems like it's more of a temporary bandaid than a permanent solution in my experience.

jade2261d ago

Three months is pretty good actually. If a camera has been sitting around for decades with old grease turning into glue, a little cleaning can buy you some time while you save up for the proper repair. Most people just want to shoot a few rolls for fun, not restore it to museum condition. I've had eraser tricks last over a year on some old Spotmatics. And honestly, if it does fail worse later, you're already looking at a curtain replacement anyway so you didn't lose anything. Calling it a bandaid makes it sound like a bad thing, but bandaids work great when you just need to get through the weekend.