Hot take: not every shutter drag needs a full CLA

I was in my shop last Tuesday fixing a Pentax Spotmatic that had shutter lag at 1/1000, and I just cleaned the brake mechanism with lighter fluid instead of rebuilding the whole thing. Three months later the customer says it's still running perfect. Am I wrong for not doing the full CLA on these older cameras when a localized fix works fine?

2 comments

2 Comments

beth_baker691mo ago

Mate of mine had a Canon FTb that was doing the same thing, slow at the high speeds. He took it to a shop that wanted to charge him for a full overhaul. He just said no thanks, dabbed a bit of Ronsonol on the brake drum himself while watching a YouTube video, and the thing's been fine for over a year now. I get that a full CLA is the textbook answer every time, but these old mechanical shutters are pretty simple. One sticky brake isn't a sign your whole camera's about to fall apart. If the slow speeds are fine and the curtains aren't bunching up, you're probably just wasting money and time on the full strip down.

hugo_gonzalez681mo ago

Yeah @beth_baker69, totally agree. Most people overthink it.