Looks like you have never been at the Bièvres photo fair (near Paris, 1st weekend of June). Besides "regular" old cameras pictured below, there are, at ground level, "junk boxes", cameras usually 5€ apiece, that I did not document. One must be there early; there are other gatherers-hunters.It's not that easy to get such devices here in Europe, and if you do, they're quite expensive.
That's right. I buy most things online.Looks like you have never been at the Bièvres photo fair (near Paris, 1st weekend of June).
I have a number of cameras that came to me with sticky or slow leaf shutters; most of these shutters are fairly easy to open up, clean, and reassemble into a working state. It has often been the case I could get a camera with "shutter looks the same at all speeds" or "shutter opens but doesn't close" for $5 to $10 plus shipping, clean up the shutter, double check the focus scale setting, and get a $50+ camera after an hour's work or so (those are cameras that would now be $100-$200 in "film tested, shutter speeds appear accurate" condition).
I've also gotten a number of cameras (like my Contax II) that were sold as "everything works" and came with sticky or very slow shutters and that (like my Contax II) are beyond my confidence level to attempt to repair.
It's a gamble. When I could get non-working cameras from eBay sellers who would admit they didn't work (and were willing to sell under $20 because they got them at yard sales for a buck or less), it was a gamble worth taking; a couple of my favorite cameras (my Voigtlander Rollfilmkamera and my Kodak Reflex II) were in this category. Bargains like these are pretty much gone, though.
All that said, I don't try to do full restorations as above -- I don't generally care if the camera has loose leather or trim, scuffs or dents, as long as it's light tight and the shutter and focusing are accurate, I'm fine.
Then I thought what a waste, and decided to restore it. 3 days later and it was nearly finished, just needed some brass parts, and a new carrying strap..
View attachment 358381
On www.graflex.org Bert Saunders who was a retired Graflex and Graphics repairman told me to remove the shutter from the lens and lightly sprinkle dry graphite powder on the each side of the shutter, cock and fire the shutter a number of times, blow the excess graphite off the shutter and then reassemble the lens. That stopped the shutters from sticking of the lenses he had sold to me.
I'll have to try that
The graphite for locks?
And just a little bit, tiny bit?
And any specific shutters you wouldn't want to do this to?
Uhm....yeah, I buy broken cameras to restore sometimes...
"The Midg" No.3
That looks like a lot of work ahead of you
It was. But I do like the challenge sometimes.
But dont come up with the idea to use graphite from a pencil!
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