That guy at a camera swap meet saved me 2 hours of frustration

Last year at a camera swap meet in Portland, I was complaining to a seller about a sticky shutter on an old Pentax Spotmatic I was trying to fix. He just looked at me and said, "Did you check the foam seal first? Bet it's turned to goo." I hadn't even thought of that. I'd been messing with the blades and springs for like an hour before I packed it up to bring there. Got home, pulled the mirror box out, and sure enough the foam had completely melted and gummed up the whole mechanism. Cleaned it off with some isopropyl and the shutter worked fine after that. Now I always check the foam first on any old SLR. Anyone else run into a simple fix that saved you way more trouble than you expected?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_sam2d ago

Exactly that foam rot is the number one hidden problem on those old Spotmatics. I had a similar issue with a Miranda Sensorex where the light seals turned into sticky black tar that got all over the mirror too. Took a whole afternoon to clean it out but after that the camera worked perfectly for years. Its amazing how one tiny piece of degraded foam can totally lock up a whole mechanical system.

amy9742d ago

Friend of mine had a Minolta SRT-101 that sat in his closet for maybe 15 years. He finally pulled it out to use it and the mirror wouldn't flip up at all. The foam around the mirror box had turned into this sticky goo and basically glued the mirror in place. He spent about two hours with q-tips and rubbing alcohol carefully cleaning it all out. After that the camera worked perfectly fine, shutter speeds all accurate and everything. That foam is always the first thing to go on those old cameras.

ellis.susan10h ago

Oh man, "That foam is always the first thing to go" - I used to think people were overreacting about checking foam seals. Thought it was just some obsessive collector thing. Then I found a Yashica at a garage sale, mirror stuck solid, and spent three evenings with goo gone and toothpicks. Now I check EVERY old camera's foam before anything else.