I'll take a CLA over a full refurbishment any day of the week

I've been fixing cameras out of my shop in Omaha for about 8 years now and I see too many folks jumping straight to a full shutter replacement on old Spotmatics. Last month I had a Pentax SV come in that someone said needed a total rebuild, but after a solid CLA and some careful lubrication work on the slow speeds, it ran smooth as butter for about $60 less than what they quoted. Has anyone else found that a good clean and lube fixes more problems than people give it credit for?

3 comments

3 Comments

davis.casey1mo ago

Totally agree. I've had a beat up Minolta SRT that just needed the speed dial cleaned and it ran perfect for years after. People get sold on full overhauls way too fast when a good clean and lube does the job. Saves everyone time and money.

the_daniel1mo agoMost Upvoted

Wait but don't old lubricants get sticky and gum up the shutter timing after enough years though? @james533 your point makes sense for some stuff but I've seen cameras seize up completely from dried up grease in the slow speed mechanism, no amount of cleaning alone fixes that. A proper CLA isn't always about selling you something you don't need, sometimes it's the difference between a camera that works now and one that'll still work in ten more years.

james5331mo ago

Read somewhere that CLA is mostly a myth for most cameras unless they're actually broken.