c/camera-repairers

Found a stash of old camera repair manuals at a yard sale in Cincinnati

I was driving through Ohio last weekend and stopped at a neighborhood yard sale. In a dusty box under a table, I found about 15 old repair manuals from the 70s and 80s, mostly for Pentax and Minolta SLRs. The guy selling them said they were his dad's, who ran a small repair shop out of his garage. I bought the whole box for 20 bucks. It's amazing how much detailed, hand-drawn schematics and adjustment procedures they packed into those booklets. Has anyone else found a good source for this kind of vintage technical info?

Had a Canon AE-1 shutter curtain jam right as a client walked in

I was in the middle of a CLA in my home shop when it just froze up. Anyone know a solid method for freeing those without stressing the ribbon cables?

Saw a camera shop in Portland with a 'no vintage' policy on the door

I was walking around the Pearl District last week and stopped by a place called Focus Point, only to see a printed sign saying they won't even look at any film camera made before 1990. The guy at the counter shrugged and said 'parts are a headache and people don't want to pay.' I get that some jobs are tough, but does turning away a whole chunk of the craft hurt the trade in the long run?

I was convinced a $20 ultrasonic cleaner from Harbor Freight was a waste of money for camera parts.

After cleaning a Canon AE-1 shutter assembly by hand for the third time last month, I gave the cleaner a shot and it removed grime I couldn't even see. Anyone have a better solvent mix than just distilled water and a drop of Dawn?

Heads up on those cheap lens spanner wrenches from online marketplaces

I bought a $15 set off a popular site to save cash, but the tips bent on the first tough lens ring, nearly scratching the glass. Switched to my old $80 set from a real tool supplier and it popped the ring off clean in seconds. What's your go-to brand for spanners that won't let you down?

Back in 2015 I'd spend an hour cleaning a mirror box with a brush and blower, now I just dunk the whole assembly in an ultrasonic tank for 10 minutes.

Pro tip: I switched from tweezers to a vacuum pen for sensor cleaning

I used to spend forever trying to grab tiny dust specks off sensors with tweezers, but after dropping one into a Nikon D850 last month, I switched to a vacuum pen. It's way faster and I haven't had a single scratch since. Anyone else made a similar change for cleaning jobs?

The weirdest camera I ever fixed was a Polaroid SX-70 that smelled like bacon

Honestly, a guy brought it in last Tuesday saying it wouldn't focus and had a weird smell. Tbh, I opened it up and found a greasy, crystallized mess inside the bellows. Over about six months, he'd been using it at his breakfast food truck in Austin and the constant grease vapor had coated everything. After a full clean with isopropyl and replacing a spring, it works fine but still has a faint pork scent. Has anyone else had to fix gear damaged by kitchen air?

PSA: The antique mall in Canton has a whole case of old Polaroids with the film packs still inside.

I saw at least twenty of them, and the packs are probably dried out, but the rollers and bellows might be salvageable for parts. Anyone ever try to rehab one of those old folding models?

Warning: That vintage lens mount repair in Chicago went sideways fast

Had a Contax G2 come in with a bent bayonet. Tried a gentle realign, heard a tiny crack. The whole flange gave way. Anyone know a solid source for those specific titanium parts now?

A customer's complaint about my shutter curtain cleaning made me switch to 99% isopropyl instead of 91%

They said the slight water content in the 91% left a residue that caused inconsistent travel speeds, so now I only use the higher purity stuff on my bench and it's been solid for about 6 months, anyone else have a go-to solvent for vintage focal plane shutters?

Question about using a dental pick versus a proper spudger for ribbon cables

So I was fixing an old Canon AE-1 last week, and I needed to get under this tiny ribbon cable connector. My good spudger was across the shop, and I saw a dental pick I use for cleaning gunk out of tight spots. I thought, 'same shape, right?' Wrong. The pick slipped, gouged the cable's plastic housing, and I spent the next hour trying to find a replacement part online for about $12. When I finally used the right spudger on the next camera, it popped the connector up smooth as anything with no risk. The flat, blunt edge makes all the difference. Has anyone else learned the hard way that some tools just aren't close enough substitutes?

I finally gave in and bought a $400 stereo microscope for my bench last month

For years I just used a cheap loupe, but the difference in spotting tiny shutter blade oil spots or hairline cracks in aperture rings is huge. I found a problem on a Nikon F3 that I would have totally missed before, a tiny bit of brassing on a gear tooth that was about to cause a jam. How many of you use one, and did it change your work as much as it changed mine?

Tried two different ways to clean a sticky shutter on an old Canon AE-1

Last week I had this AE-1 with the classic slow shutter. First, I tried the old 'lighter fluid on a q-tip' trick I've used for years. It worked for about a day, then the problem came back. So I bit the bullet, took the whole top plate off, and gave the shutter mechanism a proper clean with proper watchmaker's oil and a tiny brush. That took an extra hour, but the shutter's been firing perfectly for a week now. The quick fix is just that, quick, but it never lasts. Anyone else find that taking the extra time for a full clean saves you a callback later?

Heard a customer call a lens fungus 'patina' at the swap meet

They were trying to sell a 50mm f/1.8 with obvious haze for $150, saying it added character. Anyone else run into creative descriptions for gear that's just plain broken?

Remember when you could just pull a shutter curtain back into place with a toothpick?

I was fixing an old Nikon FM2 last week, the shutter was hanging up. Back in the day, a stuck curtain on a cloth shutter was often just a bit of grit. You could gently nudge it with a plastic pick and it would snap right. I tried that on this FM2 and it did nothing. After an hour, I finally got the nerve to take the top plate off. The problem was a tiny, worn plastic gear in the timing train, not the curtain at all. I had a parts body from a thrift store find, so I swapped the gear. It took me three tries to get the spring tension right, but it works like new now. Makes you miss the simple fixes. Has anyone else run into this specific gear failure on the FM2?

A customer in Portland told me to stop using canned air on shutter blades

He said the propellant can leave a residue that gums things up over time, and now I just use a blower brush. Anyone else make that switch?

PSA: A dab of clear nail polish saved a stripped screw on a Canon AE-1

Had a tiny screw on the film door hinge that was completely stripped, couldn't get any grip. My choices were to drill it out and risk the threads, or try a trick I read about. I put a tiny drop of clear nail polish in the screw head, let it get tacky for about 30 seconds, then pressed the screwdriver in hard. It worked perfectly, the screw came right out. Anyone have a better fix for these tiny brass screws?

Had a customer bring in a 1978 Nikon F2 with a shutter that sounded like a bag of rocks. Took me three days to find the one tiny spring that jumped ship.

I thought those cheap lens cleaning kits from online were all junk

For years I told customers to avoid the ten dollar sets with the microfiber cloths and liquid. I figured they would just smear or scratch the glass. Then a regular brought in a clean, old Canon lens he had fixed up himself using one. He showed me his method: a single drop of the fluid on the cloth, never on the lens, and gentle circles from the center out. The result was spotless. I tried it on a test lens with a kit I bought, and it worked perfectly. Has anyone else found a specific brand or method from these kits that actually does the job right?

Appreciation post: A drop of lighter fluid fixed a stuck aperture ring on a Nikon F2

I was ready to order a new part, but a local collector told me to try it and it worked perfectly after letting it sit for an hour. Anyone have a better solvent they swear by for this kind of gunk?

Just realized I've been using the wrong screwdriver for shutter springs for years

Had a Nikon F3 on the bench yesterday, trying to get the shutter curtain tension right. Was using a standard Phillips #1, cursing because the spring kept slipping. My buddy walks by and goes, 'Dude, that's a JIS screw, not Phillips. You're stripping it.' Felt like an idiot. He handed me a JIS #1 driver and it clicked right in, no fight at all. Anyone else have a basic tool mix-up that took way too long to figure out?

My old boss told me to never touch a Contax G2 rangefinder myself

He said the focus coupling was a nightmare and to just send them out. Honestly, I got a G2 in last week and thought, how bad could it be? Tbh, it took me three hours just to get the top plate off without breaking a ribbon cable. I had the whole thing apart on my bench in Austin and realized he was totally right. Anyone else ever get stubborn with a camera they were warned about?

Showerthought: I just read that a 1970s Nikon F2 shutter can fire over 150,000 times

Found it in a really old service manual pdf from a forum archive. I mean, that's a crazy number for a mechanical part from that era, idk. Makes me wonder how many of the ones I see are even close to that count. Has anyone actually logged the cycles on a well-used F2 before a major service?

A collector in Savannah told me my lens spanner was leaving marks, so I switched to a nylon-tipped one for vintage glass.

He pointed out the tiny scratches on the barrel of a 1960s Nikkor and said, 'You're fixing the focus but etching your signature,' which convinced me to order a set of those softer-tipped tools the next day, so what's your go-to for delicate disassembly without damage?