Just couldn't leave it alone, could ya? (for a laugh)

[Robert A. Zeichner]

Isn't experience a wonderful thing? It enables you to recognize a mistake when you've made it again!

[David Willis]

My mother knew an ear-nose-throat doctor who said he paid for his house with Q-tips. Seems people kept forgetting not to stick Q-tips in their ears and had to pay him a visit.

I have a feeling Mr. Grimes has seen this more than once.

DW

[Neal Shields]

In defense of amateur camera repair.

To my mind, there is something special about anything as precision as a camera that was built by direct labor. People put part of their lives into these old shutters and camera bodies. In the late 50?s a friend of mine visited the Bolex camera factory and was shown a room where about 20 women sat around and talked and did final assembly. He said that they were so fast you could hardly see their hands move.

There are many old cameras that will never be fixed unless amateurs do it, because of the economics. It takes a long time to take these things apart and put them back together. And those that can do it consistantly are few and far between. When you can buy a new shutter or complete camera that some robot assembled cheaper than fixing what you have, very few people are going to spring (pun intended) for the repair.

However, your not supposed to start with your Linhof!

Ebay is an excellent source of junk cameras. If you can?t get one of those back together you just tell people you brought it for the parts. This is usually true, because if you don?t believe in a parallel universe now, you will after an essential spring disappears in to it. (Some German with a nasty sense of humor made tiny screws out of brass so you can't get them out of the carpet with a magnet.)

I repair cameras as a hobby, and fix more than I break. I have cameras that I couldn?t afford, if I had to buy them in working condition. Often however, I buy a camera for $75, put 20 hours of labor into it, and end up with a $200 camera. Obviously you can?t repair cameras to save money.

Tips: Don?t even try without a magnifying hood. Get good tools, some things just can?t be done without them. Take Polaroid?s as you take things apart. Have compartmented trays for screws. Cameras and shutters, are composed of many individual systems, take the time to understand what they do. Then when they don?t do it, why, will tend to be obvious. Beware, left handed screws (usually in the end of shafts.) Use the internet, there are some great, specific camera repair pages. Strap type lens wrenches are better than nothing, but just barely. The Germans used grease that turns to glue after about 50 years. (Try warming it, but not enough to break the front element on a Leica Hectar 135mm lens.) Remember, you can?t figure out where all the springs go, but you can figure out where a single spring goes. Look for witness marks on parts. After two parts rub together for thousands of times, they tend to mark each other. The only spring that I have found that will ?just fall out? is the high-speed spring. It slips down over a post and is engaged by the shutter speed dial on the curved end. Any other spring that just falls out, was probably the problem. Look for a small notch that doesn?t have the end of a spring captured in it and that is probably where it came from. When the little bird in your head screams "don't". Don't. He is always right.

Neal

P.S. anybody want to sell a basket case?

[dan nguyen]

Let me see... those 4 shoe boxes on the shelve there... in the #1 a 35mm reflex in pieces (can't remember what's wrong with it)..in #2 same camera (also in pieces) bought for parts for #1... #3 and #4 lenses in various state of repair... I'll make it...I'll make it... just give me the time would ya... LOL

[Jim Galli]

Ahh...Doug. Opportunity knocked and you missed it. After the thing's in pieces and a few are lost forever in the carpet etc. you scoop the remains onto a white background, take some digital pictures and put it BACK on Ebay! Be blatantly honest. Now you've got 98% of the rest of us who have too much testosterone to admit we can't fix it either and we all bid against each other trying to get this fabulous bargain to fix and make money on. You'd have probably got more than you paid in the first place. Best regards. Oh, David, the 50 f1.4 is a great focus loupe. J

[Andrew Held]

Steve Grimes can fix the shutter. Like the Library of Congress, he has the latest, the last, the rarest and most obtuse. Unlike the library he can do more than simply put things in piles, he can fix them. You might want to email him to see if he thinks it is worth it. www.skgrimes. com.

[Douglas Gould]

Obvioulsy, this thread is getting too long. As I stated in my opening post, I have already mailed the darn thing to SK Gimes...

Thanks for all the replies!!

Doug

[Victor Randin]

Shame on me! I began earning as a long-range driver on heavy tracks at Margin North and had repaired my tracks a lot. Yesterday I was in a hurry when changing a rear right wheel on my car 928 S2 and forgot to mount it properly. I have lost a wheel in a mile making a left turning. To my happiness nobody and nothing was damaged except my car. At least it?s sufficiently safely to change a wheel in the Compur :?)

[Andrew Cole]

I agree with Neil, there's nothing wrong with attempting to fix these by yourself, but you shouldn't start with an expensive piece of equipment (i.e. one that you would be upset to throw in the trash).

A large format shutter recondition is only $40 or so (I think), well worth it under most circumstances.

[Brian Allen Kuehn]

It IS possible to repair these things yourself. Several years ago, I ordered Ed Romney's book on basic camera repair. I started with simple, cheap folding cameras purchased mostly on EBAY. I progressed to more complicated leaf shutters, and got to the point where I can now competently service most leaf shutters. This evening, with about 20 minutes work, I cleaned and lubricated a gummy kodak flash supermatic shutter that came with a 101mm Ektar lens for 2x3. It is now working perfectly.