A customer brought in a Nikon F3 with a shutter that sounded like gravel

Last week, a guy walked into my shop with this classic camera, saying he'd bought it at a yard sale in Portland three years ago. I opened it up and found the shutter curtain was completely gummed up with old, sticky grease. I spent two full days carefully cleaning each tiny gear and spring with pure isopropyl alcohol and a set of dental picks. It runs smooth now, but I'm still amazed someone let such a nice piece of gear get that bad. Has anyone else had to rescue an F3 from a similar sticky mess?

2 comments

2 Comments

harper_gibson21mo ago

See this all the time with old tools people find. They buy something solid, then just let it sit and rot in a damp garage for a decade. It's a weird mix of wanting the nice thing but not doing the basic care.

ross.river1mo ago

Oh man, that sticky grease is the worst. Just fixed an F3 last month with the exact same gritty sound, took forever to get all the old lube out.