DIY repairing cameras: Break in the workshop against emerging uncertainty

Andreas Thaler · Jul 10, 2025

It's been a few weeks now since I last worked on my last camera. It was a Canon T90, which I now have the most repair experience with.

To recover after an intensive period of repair work and to do other things, I'm currently taking a summer break in the workshop.

And already the memories are starting to fade: what I did and how, what problems occurred, how this and that went, etc.

It's good that I have my repair log and my reports here. But I'm left with a feeling of uncertainty; every day I take a break makes it worse: Will I be able to do it again, how should I go about it, shouldn't I better have stayed in training?

This, too, is something that occupies the DIY repairer

Model71 · Jul 10, 2025

a personal video brain-dump may help capture the fleeting memories.

Andreas Thaler · Jul 10, 2025

Model71 said:
a personal video brain-dump may help capture the fleeting memories.

I'd have to go through hours of footage

I have a good visual memory, so I can handle the project photos.

It's more of a psychological problem.

You should stick with it every day. But do I want to do the same thing every day?

Andreas Thaler · Jul 17, 2025

A month's break was good.

After half an hour, I was back in the swing of things and was able to complete the work calmly and with full concentration.

Highly recommended!

250swb · Jul 18, 2025

I have a job where after taking time off I get back to the bench and wonder 'what do I do now?' Or if I have to duplicate a detailed project six months later and can't immediately remember what I invented to do certain jobs or the sequence I did them in. But it all comes back from the depths of the memory and to be honest getting rid of some memories makes me re-evaluate what I did the first time and discover better techniques. Given we are all learning anyway a particular job can never be done in exactly the same way, or as Heraclitus said 'no man ever steps into the same river twice for it's not the same river or the same man'.

Andreas Thaler · Jul 18, 2025

250swb said:
I have a job where after taking time off I get back to the bench and wonder 'what do I do now?' Or if I have to duplicate a detailed project six months later and can't immediately remember what I invented to do certain jobs or the sequence I did them in. But it all comes back from the depths of the memory and to be honest getting rid of some memories makes me re-evaluate what I did the first time and discover better techniques. Given we are all learning anyway a particular job can never be done in exactly the same way, or as Heraclitus said 'no man ever steps into the same river twice for it's not the same river or the same man'.

Perhaps it also has something to do with one's own performance expectations, which makes one fear longer breaks. Yet recovery is a part of performance.

Or one compares one's brain to a computer that "never forgets."

I hope I continue to learn so I can get rid of this nonsense

250swb · Jul 18, 2025

Andreas Thaler said:
Perhaps it also has something to do with one's own performance expectations, which makes one fear longer breaks. Yet recovery is a part of performance.

Or one compares one's brain to a computer that "never forgets."

I hope I continue to learn so I can get rid of this nonsense

I'm a professional model maker, and just a weekend off and I start getting desperate to fiddle with something, I think it's the part of the brain that solves puzzles at work. If I say 'I'll only do ten minutes' it turns into an hour, or a day.

Andreas Thaler · Jul 18, 2025

250swb said:
I'm a professional model maker, and just a weekend off and I start getting desperate to fiddle with something, I think it's the part of the brain that solves puzzles at work. If I say 'I'll only do ten minutes' it turns into an hour, or a day.

It's a conflict.

Peak performance can only be achieved with regular training, no matter what you do. Recovery is part of it.

But the brain has its own way; I, too, am constantly chewing on unresolved problems. This often leads to progress, but exhaustion is already lurking.

I'm coming off a severe burnout, and I should also know that everything in life is powered by one single battery. You also need sufficient energy for life's vicissitudes, which you can't plan for.

Perhaps it's also a generational issue.

Born in 1966, from an early age, we were only focused on achievement. Building something, achieving something. It was very unhealthy without balance and unbridled thinking. But at least that wasn't an issue in school, where only grades mattered.

Things were freer at university, and then at work, even worse.

After all, many of our generation achieved something, and many ruined themselves.

Andreas Thaler · Jul 18, 2025

What does this mean for repairs? Working on the same camera or lens model every day until you can sleep while doing it? Becoming a specialist?

That might be interesting if you make a living from it, as a job. But as a hobby, it quickly becomes boring. You're looking for the challenge of creating something that only a few can do. So you move from one project to the next, forgetting the details.

Maybe you should do nothing at all and meditate.

Thinking must be limited

DIY repairing cameras: Break in the workshop against emerging uncertainty

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency