c/camera-repairers

Three hours to find a missing aperture lever that was on my bench the whole time

Spent an entire Saturday rebuilding a Canon FD 50mm f/1.4, reassembled it, watched the blades refuse to close, tore it down twice, then realized the tiny actuating lever had slipped under my matte black work surface mat, has anyone else lost a part that was literally in plain sight for that long?

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olivia398•2d ago

Advice from an old Pentax shooter made me rethink my lens cleaning

A customer who shot film for decades told me I was scrubbing too hard with my swabs, that I should let the solution sit a few seconds instead of chasing dust immediately. I tried his way on a sticky aperture blade and a stubborn front element, the residue lifted way easier. Anyone else get similar pushback on their cleaning routine from the older generation?

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young.kim•3d ago

That 'one screw at a time' advice cost me a whole shutter assembly

A retired guy on this forum told me to disassemble my jammed Pentax K1000 by taking out one screw per step and laying them in a line. Sounded smart, so I tried it last month. Got halfway through the top plate and the screws started rolling off my bench, mixed them up, and now the rewind lever binds every time I touch it. He meant well, but his method only works if you have a magnetic mat and a clean room, which I have neither. Anyone else lose parts following the old-timer playbook and end up paying $80 for a replacement part?

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kellyjones•3d ago

Shutter curtain glue failed after 2 weeks, tried a different trick

Rebuilt a Pentax K1000 shutter last month. Used contact cement like I always do. Worked fine for about 12 days. Then the curtain edge just peeled off mid-roll. Customer was not happy. Turns out the humidity in my shop was too high when I glued it. Re-did it with a tiny bit of heat from a hair dryer before pressing. Held solid after 300 test fires. Anyone else run into glue issues with curtain material in damp weather?

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hugohall•4d ago

Hit 500 shutters replaced this week, never expected that number

I have been repairing cameras in my garage for about 4 years now, mostly old film bodies from estate sales. Last Tuesday I counted my logbook and realized I have replaced 500 shutters, which felt wild since I started with a beat up Pentax that I almost trashed. The weird part is that most of them were the same cloth curtain issue, like people just gave up on them instead of trying a fix. Has anyone else hit a random milestone that made them rethink their whole setup or pricing?

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claire_gibson•4d ago

Shoutout to the customer who brought in a camera full of sand from a beach wedding

They insisted it was just 'a little dust' but I pulled out a full tablespoon of grit from the shutter mechanism, and after three hours of cleaning they actually tipped me $40, so has anyone else had a job that looked like a total loss turn into a decent payday?

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ray136•5d ago

Hit 1500 shutter count yesterday, still get why people ship it off

I passed 1500 shutter actuations on a 1940s Kodak folder I rebuilt twice since March. Most folks here would send that to a shop, but I've had zero issues since I re-cut the bellows and swapped the shutter springs myself. Is there a line where you all stop trusting your own work and hand it over, or is it just about how patient you are?

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the_william•5d ago

Took me 5 years to realize I was cleaning shutters wrong

I always wiped aperture blades from the outside in, then a customer's old Pentax showed up with oil streaks I couldn't shift. Turns out you have to work from the hub outward, and since I switched, I haven't had to send a single lens out for a second pass. Anyone else make that mistake or was it just me?

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paulmitchell•6d ago

Swapped my hand tools for a torque wrench kit after a repair job in Austin

I always tightened shutter curtain drums by hand until a Canon F-1 I fixed in 2022 came back with a slipping advance mechanism two weeks later. That failure cost me the parts cost plus my time, and the customer posted a 1 star review. So I picked up a used torque driver from a shop in Portland for 60 bucks and now I set everything to spec. It felt like overkill at first, but after 8 months I haven't had a single repeat. Anyone else ditched feel-based tightening for a torque tool?

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joel_hall17•9d ago

One customer's old Rolleiflex almost made me tear up at the counter

Guy came in last Tuesday with a TLR his dad used in Vietnam, offered to pay $400 to get it cleaned, but when I showed him the shutter was fine and it just needed new light seals, he just stood there quiet for a minute and said 'I thought it was dead like him,' and I've been thinking about that ever since, has anyone else had a repair that turned into something more personal than just parts and labor?

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anthony_campbell88•10d ago

Doubted ultrasonic cleaning until a $40 fix saved a $900 lens

Got a dusty old 50mm in last Tuesday that was completely fogged up inside. I always figured those cheap ultrasonic cleaners were just for jewelry or whatever, not camera gear. But I had a stubborn helicoid with grit in it and a buddy at the shop swore by the solution mix he uses. So I threw the parts in for 3 cycles at 40 degrees with a drop of dish soap, and the difference was night and day. Anyone else sleep on this tool for years and then kick themselves for it?

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emery_flores•12d ago

Careful with those UV lamps from the thrift store finds

Found two old UV curing lamps at a garage sale in Denver last weekend, wired them up to test on some shutter curtains and they nearly toasted the adhesive. Check the bulb wattage before you plug anything in, a 15W mismatch can cook the fabric fast. Anyone else had issues with refurbished UV gear frying parts?

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roberts95•12d ago

Bought a 'cheap' polaroid back for $60, should have just saved for the real one

Picked up a third-party instant film back for my Mamiya off eBay last month. Ad said it was tested and worked, but the roller pressure was way off so every shot came out with streaks and uneven development. Tried shimming it with tape and card stock for two weeks, total waste of a Saturday. Then the film door hinge snapped, so now I'm out $60 plus $25 for a pack of film that's all junk. Has anyone else had luck fixing these aftermarket backs or is it always a gamble?

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jake986•15d ago

Paid $45 for a sensor cleaning kit and it saved me a $120 shop visit

I got a speck on my mirrorless sensor that showed up in every shot above f/8. Local shop quoted $120 for a clean, so I grabbed one of those gel stick kits for $45 instead. Took me about 20 nervous minutes to follow the instructions and it worked on the first try. My only regret is not doing this earlier for the older camera I traded in. Has anyone else tried the gel sticks vs the wet method for stubborn spots? I'm curious if there's a case where wet cleaning is actually safer.

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nancycooper•18d ago

That 1980s Minolta shutter got me good yesterday in Phoenix

Picked up an X-700 with a sticky mirror, thought it was just old grease, but the shutter curtain actually snapped mid-test roll. Tore it apart and found the titanium blades had fatigued, nobody warned me about that failure mode. Anyone else seen this on the later X-series bodies or am I chasing a unicorn?

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eva_thompson•21d ago

A customer called my CLA work sloppy, they had a point about my cleaning habits

They said I left a smudge on the rear element and sure enough, I was rushing through the final wipe with a dry cloth. For the last 2 weeks I've been using a lens pen first, then a microfiber with one drop of solution, and I've had zero complaints since. Anyone else get called out on something small that fixed a bigger habit?

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tara793•21d ago

Lens alignment gauges beat feeler gauges on a Canon FD rebuild

I spent last Tuesday regrinding a Canon FD 50mm mount that had a slight tilt. I usually use feeler gauges to check the flange distance, but this time I borrowed a proper alignment gauge from a friend in Pittsburgh. The difference was night and day. The feeler gauge method took me about 3 tries and I still had a soft corner. With the gauge, I got it spot on in one pass. The gauge cost my friend like $180, but it paid for itself on this single job. Anyone else find that dedicated alignment tools are worth the money for older lenses?

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patricia558•23d ago

Custom lens mount adapter from 3 years ago finally bit me in the wallet

I installed a third party adapter on a Nikon F mount back in 2021 for a client. It fit okay, infinity focus was fine, all the usual checks passed. Last week the same lens came back with the mount ring cracked clean through. The metal fatigued over time, nothing I did wrong, but the client was upset and I ate the repair cost as a gesture of goodwill. $180 out of pocket. Anyone else seen these budget adapters fail after a few years of normal use?

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jamesroberts•26d ago

That 1976 Pentax I dropped on a granite counter in Denver last month

The prism housing cracked on impact and I spent 4 hours with a jeweler's file realigning the finder frame before I realized the shutter curtain was also dragging... has anyone else had luck with epoxy on old Bakelite parts or should I just look for a donor body?

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nancy817•26d ago

35 years of fixing cameras and I finally stopped using canned air on shutters

Every old timer I knew swore by it, but after a Rolleiflex came in with oily residue plastered across the blades last month, I switched to a hand blower and haven't looked back, so who else had to learn that lesson the hard way?

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emery_flores•29d ago

The Ricoh tech who told me to stop chasing the light leak was so right

A guy who used to work on Ricoh compacts at a camera show in Sacramento told me a faint orange streak on my XF-30 negatives was a shutter timing issue, not the usual light seals. I thought he was nuts, spent two weeks re-foaming every seal anyway, no change at all. Finally replaced the two tiny clutch gears in the shutter mechanism for $8 from a donor body and the streak vanished on the next roll. Has anyone else had a 'light leak' turn out to be a mechanical problem that fixed itself with a gear swap?

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king.robin•1mo ago

Hit 500 shutters fixed last month, never saw that coming

I was doing inventory on my bench after a Canon AE-1 job and counted my repair log, turns out I crossed the 500 shutter count mark on that one. Did anyone else have a milestone like this sneak up on them, or do you all track your numbers differently?

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the_spencer•1mo ago

Just found out older Canon shutters fail differently than I assumed

Got a beat up Canon F-1 in for a CLA and noticed the shutter speeds were all off at 1/1000 and 1/2000. Dug into the service manual from 1971 and saw the titanium shutter is supposed to be checked for stretched rivets, not just cleaned. I always figured it was dried grease causing slow speeds, but this specific model has a known rivet wear issue that shows up around 50k actuations. Curious if other repair folks here saw the same thing with the F-1 or the F-1n, or if I just got a weird copy that was hammered on.

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torres.grant•1mo ago

Question about a Yashica-Mat I fixed up last week

Picked up a crusty Yashica-Mat at a flea market in Portland for $30. The viewfinder was hazy and the focus was stiff as hell, but after cleaning the lens elements and re-lubing the helicoid with some synthetic grease, the difference is night and day. It went from unusable to taking sharp, clear shots in about 4 hours of work. Has anyone else dealt with stuck helicoids on these old TLRs and found a better lube that stays smooth?

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fiona985•1mo ago

Saw a Nikon F2 from 1975 and a 2024 mirrorless side by side today

I was cleaning out a customer's old collection and put his F2 right next to my Sony A7IV. The F2 felt like a tank, all metal and gears, no electronics at all. You'd set the shutter speed by turning a dial with your thumb, no menus, no batteries needed for the mechanical speeds. My mirrorless felt like a toy compared to it, light and plastic. What really got me was how the F2 had a simple cloth shutter that worked for decades while modern cameras seem to get electronic gremlins after 5 years. Any of you old timers still using mechanical bodies as daily drivers?

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