That moment I dropped a shutter assembly and watched it bounce

Last Tuesday I was working on a vintage Pentax Spotmatic in my home shop near Portland. I had the shutter assembly out on my mat, doing a routine cleaning, and my cat jumped up on the table. The whole thing slid off and hit the floor, springs and tiny screws went everywhere. I spent three hours on my hands and knees with a magnet and a headlamp finding all the parts. Got it back together and the shutter speeds are actually more consistent now than before. Has anyone else ever had a repair go sideways and end up better than it started?

3 comments

3 Comments

claire_gibson23d ago

The magnet trick probably saved you, but odds are you realigned some shifted components when you put it back together. Those old Spotmatics have a known issue where the escapement mechanism gets slightly cocked over time from gravity and wear. Dropping it might have actually knocked everything back into true. Happened to me with a Nikon F years ago, dropped the mirror box, came out smoother than factory.

mila_campbell2523d ago

Yeah @claire_gibson is spot on about that escapement thing. I had a Spotmatic that started developing a weird lag in the shutter timing around 1/60 and I tried the magnet trick, but what actually fixed it was accidentally dropping the whole camera body onto a carpeted floor. Came back with snappier action than I'd ever seen from it. Sometimes those old cloth shutters just need a little shock to get things realigned where shims and tweezers can't reach.

blair_martin23d ago

Man, I totally feel you on that one, sometimes these old cameras just need a good thump to wake them up!