Serious question, why does everyone replace shutters before testing the actual problem?

Last month a client brought in a Nikon F5 that was 'dead' and every other shop said swap the shutter. I spent 10 minutes checking the mirror box switch and it was just a bent tab, cost them $40 not $400. Am I missing something or is this trade getting lazy?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_henry22d ago

Had a similar thing with an old Mamiya RB67. Couple shops said the mirror was sticking and needed a full CLA. Turned out the foam bumper just got gummy. Scraped it off with a toothpick and put in a new strip of self-adhesive felt for like two bucks. Worked perfectly for years after that. People skip the simple stuff and jump straight to the expensive fix.

wren_smith4422d ago

Same thing happened with my friend's old Bronica. The mirror would hang up and a shop quoted him $300 to fix. I told him to just check the foam first. Used a toothpick and some isopropyl alcohol to clean the old stuff off. Stuck a piece of adhesive felt from a craft store on there for maybe a dollar. That was four years ago and he's still using it without issues. Sometimes the simple fix is all you need.