28
Had a customer bring in a Minolta from 1973 with a stuck mirror
Old guy came in last Tuesday, said the mirror hadn't flipped up since 1989. He'd been storing it in a basement in Cleveland for 34 years. I charged him $45 to free it up and clean the foam. Anyone else deal with cameras that sat that long in bad conditions?
2 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In2 Comments
valthomas1mo ago
Read on a repair forum once about a guy who found a Rolleiflex in an attic that had been there since the 70s, foam turned into basically black goo that glued the mirror down. Sounds like your Minolta had the same problem but not quite as bad. The Cleveland basement probably had a mold issue too, I bet that thing smelled when you opened it up. Good on you for only charging $45 though, most shops would have doubled that just for the labor. Thirty four years is a long time for foam to sit and turn into sticky garbage. Those old mechanical shutters are tough though, once you clean them up they usually keep working.
10
emery9651mo ago
Thirty four years of foam turning to goo, you ever wonder if some of that old gear has hidden corrosion from being sealed up with that stuff for decades?
8