Which is why I'm glad that I see several posts on this thread that refute that assumption.
I think the real issue at hand is that people who repair old cameras and people who repair old electronics are two mutually exclusive groups. The skills are somewhat different, and people often think something they don't understand must be a black art.
Another issue is that cameras probably use some custom components that aren't easily replaceable with off-the-shelf parts and can't be fabricated without industrial facilities. I'm not sure how often these components are the point of failure, but they are something worth considering.
This probably lies at the core of a lot of the misconceptions around electronic cameras. A lot of camera repair people are older and have very little electronics knowledge, and won't know how to troubleshoot an electrical problem outside of replacing an entire board. Most people with electronics knowledge aren't interested in vintage cameras. They tend to be more interested in vintage sound reproduction like hifi, HAM radios, and guitar amps. It's kind of the same problem with appliance repair or automotive mechanics. Most people who do appliance repair and automotive work don't know much about electronics, so if something electrical has gone bad, their only recourse is to swap out the entire circuit board, or scrap the whole thing and call it a lost cause. They can't troubleshoot on a component level, like the hifi guys can. And they don't like to admit that they aren't skilled enough to do the job, so they blame the design of the gear, rather than their limited education. So the notion that electronics can't be repaired, or is too difficult to repair, has kind of creeped into our collective thinking.
I've repaired a bunch of electronic cameras, flashes, and meters. If I ever find a cheap one that's not working, I'll pick it up and can usually repair it and flip it for a decent profit. More often than not, it's either a loose wire, corroded contacts, dirty pot, or $0.30 component gone bad. Every once in a while, I'll run into one with a proprietary part (IC, LCD display, some switches, motors, solenoids, etc.) gone bad that you can't find new. But nine times out of ten, it's something simple, and if I need to replace a part, I'll already have it on hand. Even if it is a proprietary part, it's no harder to repair than any mechanical camera. Because in a mechanical camera, EVERYTHING is proprietary. If something needs replacing in a mechanical camera, you can't go to Mouser or DIGIKey and buy a new one. You're having to pull it from a donor camera.
My point being that mechanical cameras are actually MORE difficult to repair than electronic ones because they are far more likely to require a donor camera for parts. And it can be quite difficult finding donor gear with the correct parts still in tack at a reasonable price to make the repair worth while. Mechanical cameras just have the preception of being easier to repair because of the demographics of your average camera repair person, who likely learned the trade before electronic cameras were old enough to be in need of repair. Most are a lot more comfortable with springs and gears than a soldering iron and oscilloscope.
