What's the first camera you "fixed?

John Koehrer · Jan 23, 2016

Title should be clear enough.

Mine was a Bantam Special needing shutter work.

AgX · Jan 23, 2016

Maybe you better had had asked "What was the first camera you spoiled?"
Typically successful repair needs knowledge and experience. One learns by ones mistakes...

Well, I have not actually spoiled any so far. But got some cameras lying in waiting half-repaired. Waiting for me making a proper tool, a proper spare or, as indicated, acquiring experience on tricky manipulations on less risky samples.

Truzi · Jan 23, 2016

My Sears KS-2 (rebranded Ricoh XR7). The shutter was jamming randomly, the rear door had a light leak, and the plastic spacer for the rewind crank broke.

I took it to our local pro-shop chain which advertised film camera repair. I became angry when they could not fix it after three tries, and decided that I, too, could not fix it after three attempts. I was wrong - I got it on the first one. What clued me in was they attempted to repair the light leak by swapping on a different (and leaky) back door. I didn't know much, but knew that was not how you repair this kind of leak.

It turned out that miniscule bits of degraded foam light seal were making the shutter stick. I cleaned it up and replaced the foam with yarn and felt, and have had no issues since. They had also replaced the plastic spacer and rewind shaft with the wrong size; oddly, it only slipped with Kodak cartridges. I replaced it with the correct parts.

Alan Gales · Jan 23, 2016

AgX said:
Maybe you better had had asked "What was the first camera you spoiled?"
Typically successful repair needs knowledge and experience. One learns by ones mistakes...

Well, I have not actually spoiled any so far. But got some cameras lying in waiting half-repaired. Waiting for me making a proper tool, a proper spare or, as indicated, acquiring experience on tricky manipulations on less risky samples.

That's a good one! Using the proper tools working on anything is important.

I did some repairs on an old wooden 8x10 camera. It was pretty easy though. I've also replaced foam seals in 35mm cameras. Again a no brainer. Tearing apart a 35mm or medium format camera is probably like rebuilding an old carburetor. Lots of little parts!

I've got a Packard shutter apart right now that I have cleaned and need to put back together.

AgX · Jan 23, 2016

Actually I did spoil something. Aside of using the right tools I am very critical on using the right solvents.
But during my standard cleaning procedure I once rubbed off printed markings on a scale, in spite of using the most harmless cleaner. But in that very case the printing and the varnishing had been done with a most soluable binder, in contrast to any other camera or any other mechanical item I ever worked on.

You can't be too suspicious.

Alan Gales · Jan 23, 2016

AgX said:
Actually I did spoil something. Aside of using the right tools I am very critical on using the right solvents.
But during my standard cleaning procedure I once rubbed off printed markings on a scale, in spite of using the most harmless cleaner. But in that very case the printing and the varnishing had been done with a most soluable binder, in contrast to any other camera or any other mechanical item I ever worked on.

You can't be too suspicious.

I agree.

When first trying a solvent on an item it's a good idea to try it on somewhere that doesn't show if possible. Using solvents can be very tricky. I've made mistakes too on other items besides cameras. Live and learn I guess.

gone · Jan 23, 2016

It was an Argus C4. Everything came apart and went back together w/ just one tool, a flat blade screwdriver. Worked a treat after cleaning, colimating the lens, and resetting the rangefinder. If I had a dollar for every shutter that was fixed with lighter fluid, and every Agfa's frozen focus that was fixed with stronger solvents, I could buy a Leica. Always been handy w/ tools (ex tool and die maker). In car shops, our sign read "We Don't Work On Cars, We Fix Them". We probably should have added "Except for Fiats" though.

BradleyK · Jan 23, 2016

First, and only effort: I picked up a pair of "as-is"/"for parts" Nikon F2s (sans prisms) several years ago on eBay. One was cosmetically almost mint save for a really deep and wide dent on the top right deck (beneath the film advance lever) which encumbered the film advance lever; the second body had a badly wrinkled shutter and a nasty dent on the base (bottom left) of the camera. So, I removed the deck from the second body and transferred it to the first. Pleased with myself (being facetious here), I then sent the body to the inimitable Mr Sover Wong for a CLA; said camera, equipped with a DE-1, is now on active duty - always loaded with either Tri-X or HP5+.

This little "success," aside, my days as a repair person are done: there is no use tempting fate when you are a charter member of the Mechanically Declined Club.

summicron1 · Jan 23, 2016

I did manage to get the odd argus working again, in my youth, but for anything more complex -- an Exakta? -- I discovered that I lack the mental agility to deal with small parts. My impulse, when things go flying, is to jam them all back in their somehow, put the cover back on, give the whole thing a shake and pray.

This system has a very low success rate.

removed account4 · Jan 23, 2016

speed graphic ( pacemaker ) focal plane shutter
and then the focal plane shutter a
few years later of a graflex slr ( series D RB )
and a few years ago the focal plane shutter
on a graflex 3A

Bipin · Jan 23, 2016

My first camera that I had fixed was a RB67; specifically its 6x7 back. The back wasn't advancing reliably and there was a rattling sound for the few times it did transport the film properly. I figured a screw was loose, and sure enough, when I opened it up, a tiny little black screw (no more than 2mm in length) was stuck between gears. I looked at some images online, figured out where it should go, and all was well. My "proudest" fix though was bringing a Mamiya Super 23 back from the dead. I bought the thing for $30 as-is, cleaned out the whole rangefinder mechanism, polished the metal on the outside, replaced the leatherette, patched a couple holes in the bellows, and installed a Graflok back. It works beautifully now - the best $30 I ever spent, no doubt.

Sirius Glass · Jan 23, 2016

AgX said:
Actually I did spoil something. Aside of using the right tools I am very critical on using the right solvents.
But during my standard cleaning procedure I once rubbed off printed markings on a scale, in spite of using the most harmless cleaner. But in that very case the printing and the varnishing had been done with a most soluable binder, in contrast to any other camera or any other mechanical item I ever worked on.

You can't be too suspicious.

When I was 12, I took apart a crappy TLR. After I laid out the parts my father said, "It looks like you have enough parts to build a camera." After complete disassembly I played with the parts and later threw them out.

More recently I patched a Graflex focal plane shutter successfully.

DWThomas · Jan 23, 2016

Hmmm - not sure of the exact time lines, but a few decades ago (1970s?) I picked up a Flexaret III TLR with a stuck shutter -- for $5 at a flea market. I managed to get the shutter operational, and even successfully replaced a missing flash sync contact by fashioning something from a gold plated Kovar transistor lead. :confused:

I have also twice had my Argus C-3 apart for a CLA, can't recall when the first occurred. In recent history I disassembled, cleaned, and restored the operation of the aperture blades in the 50mm Coated Cintar lens on that goody (within 12 hours of taking it out for an Argus Day shoot), I have also cleaned and calibrated the rangefinder. Of the C-3, I've said in the past "how many cameras can you repair with naught but a screwdriver and needle-nosed pliers!"

I vaguely recall opening up my Minox B to fish some fuzz out of the shutter too -- but a long time ago. (Bought it in 1963, so somewhere between then and now. )

There's a few light seal operations in more recent times (and one in the queue as I e-speak).

benjiboy · Jan 23, 2016

I've got an agreement with Stuart the camera technician at my local; pro dealers who services my photographic gear occasionally, he doesn't take pictures, and I don't try to repair my equipment.

Sirius Glass · Jan 23, 2016

benjiboy said:
I've got an agreement with Stuart the camera technician at my local; pro dealers who services my photographic gear occasionally, he doesn't take pictures, and I don't try to repair my equipment.

I did not know that your equipment needed fixing. Does your wife know? :confused:

benjiboy · Jan 23, 2016

Sirius Glass said:
I did not know that your equipment needed fixing. Does your wife know? :confused:

My wife is well aware of the functionality of my equipment Steve which an my mid seventies sometimes even surprises me

Sirius Glass · Jan 23, 2016

Keep your end up. :devil:

Vonder · Jan 24, 2016

Came very close once. Fixed an AE-1 Program that arrived with a cracked viewfinder. I had a dead AE-1 and took a chance they'd be interchangeable and they were. Got the camera back together. Even fixed the broken battery door. Then I decided to fix the Canon squeal - with WD-40. It worked, but only for a while. After a while the camera started acting wonky. I'm guessing I used too much WD-40 and it got to places it shouldn't be.

So darn close... and then did a dumb thing. I knew before I did it that the WD-40 trick is pretty risky. Such is life, when you already have two perfectly working AE-1 Programs and you're lazy trying to fix a third.

nosmok · Jan 24, 2016

That would be an old Kodak Senior 616. It had a lens that wouldn't focus at infinity and a bunch of light leaks. Everything got fixed, but it took some plumbing washers, expensive mylar tape, black yarn, and misguided determination.

Ian Grant · Jan 24, 2016

First camera I fixed was a Leica IIIa, the flash synch had stopped functioning. It's still working 48 years later

These days I restore cameras on a regular basis and have a back-log.

Ian

benjiboy · Jan 24, 2016

Kitchen table home camera repairers are like surgeons you only hear about their successes, they bury their mistakes

Vaughn · Jan 24, 2016

Can't remember, could have been the rewind lever coming off a 35mm camera. Actually, more likely it was repairing the springs on the film back of a 4x5 Calumet camera -- students would always pull way too far back trying to get the film holder out and mess up the back and its springs. I had a great tool that helped me get it back together -- found it on the highway one day as I commuted by bicycle. It looked like an ice pick with the tip bent 90 degrees.

My fingers are too big for the insides of a camera, but I was always repairing enlargers (more my size!), rebuilding the Tota lights (students would melt them down by turning them on with the barndoors still shut...1000W creates a lot of heat fast!), replacing parts on Bogen tripods, and other fun stuff like that.

But I could be a miracle-worker as far as the students were concerned when I'd slip a new battery into their cameras (or sometimes just clean the contacts) and hand them back their working cameras! Ah...the simple victories!

Truzi · Jan 24, 2016

Vaughn said:
But I could be a miracle-worker as far as the students were concerned when I'd slip a new battery into their cameras (or sometimes just clean the contacts) and hand them back their working cameras! Ah...the simple victories!

I've purchase a lot of parts-cameras compatible with my Sears KS-2. Often on ebay they were sold cheap as non-working, and I found they only needed a battery, and perhaps a re foaming.

As for burying failures, one of those parts cameras came with a broken telephoto; the aperture ring moved but did nothing. I figured I had nothing to lose, as I didn't need it anyway, and I wanted to put the filter ring on a pinhole camera. I didn't even completely disassemble it - only removing a few items before giving up. Too many little parts and "springy-things" fell into the body. The lens is buried in the spare bedroom.

Pioneer · Jan 24, 2016

My 11x14 Century. Total rebuild including new bellows, new finish, etc.

Ashfaque · Jan 26, 2016

I took apart a point and shoot camera (probably an Olympus or a Nikon) and managwd to take the lens assembly unit (including the aperture) and the viewfinder without ruining them. They might become handy in future DIY projects. Does this count?

What's the first camera you "fixed?

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