Old timer at a camera show told me to stop using compressed air on shutter curtains

Guy must have been 80, looked at me cleaning a Nikon F2 and just shook his head. Said I was blasting dust deeper into the mechanism. He was right. Six months later that same F2 came back with a sticky curtain. Have to take the whole mirror box out now because of what I did. Anyone else learn that lesson the hard way?

3 comments

3 Comments

wadea531mo ago

And a rubber bulb still works fine for most stuff, I just give it a few extra puffs. On those old F2s the curtains are thin fabric, so even a small burst of air can unseat the adhesive holding the curtain tape. If you ever have to work on one again, watch out for the felt light seals too, those turn to sticky goo after 40 years.

kevin_hernandez831mo ago

Oh man, I did the exact same thing with a Pentax Spotmatic years ago... blasted the curtains and it just sounded wrong after that. Ended up having to send it to a repair guy who charged me more than the camera was worth to fix it. Learned my lesson real hard, now I just use a rubber bulb blower and call it a day, haha.

jana_henderson521mo ago

$85 for a repair on a $60 camera. That stung bad. Still have the Spotmatic though, sits on a shelf as a reminder. Rubber bulb is the way to go now, just takes longer to get the dust out.