That old repair guy at the camera show taught me a lens trick

I was at a camera swap meet in Portland last spring and an older gentleman showed me how to reglue a loose lens element using just a dab of nail polish. He said he learned it from a retired Kodak tech back in the 70s and it saved me from tossing a perfectly good 50mm lens. Has anyone else tried something like nail polish for small repairs or is that too risky in the long run?

3 comments

3 Comments

oscarhart1mo ago

Yeah totally, I've had good luck with that trick too - @daniel_martin you're spot on about it holding up.

daniel_martin1mo ago

Wait, is this really the kind of problem that needs a long term fix like that? I mean, a loose screw on a camera body isn't exactly going to cause the thing to fall apart mid-shot unless you're really rough with it. I've had a screw wiggle loose on my old Nikon and just tightened it with a tiny screwdriver once and it was fine for like three years. Feels like we're overcomplicating something that probably just needed a quick turn or two. Not saying it doesn't work, but people act like a camera is going to explode if you don't seal every joint with epoxy or something.

daniel_martin1mo ago

Used nail polish once to fix a loose screw on my old Pentax body and it held for years.