Refurbished a 1969 Canon FTb with a $12 CLA kit, totally skeptical it'd work

Found this old FTb at a thrift store in Spokane for $8, shutter was stuck and the lens had haze. Bought a cheap cleaning kit online after watching a guy on YouTube fix the same model, figured I'd waste an afternoon but learn something. Took me two tries to get the curtain speeds right, but after swapping the light seals and wiping the fungus off the glass, the camera fired like new. I ran a roll of Portra 400 through it last week and every single frame came out sharp, no leaks, no sticky shutter. That was the moment I stopped thinking CLA kits were just snake oil and started trusting the process. Has anyone else had good luck reviving a body they were ready to throw away, or is this just a one-off thing?

1 comments

1 Comment

dakota_rivera15d ago

Patience and a flathead screwdriver fix most old cameras.