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Pro tip: That 'tiny' drop of oil on a shutter blade is a bigger deal than I thought
I was working on an old Nikon F2 in my home shop, just a basic clean and lube. The shutter was dragging a bit, and I figured a tiny bit of oil on the pivot points would fix it. I used a needle to apply what I swear was a microscopic drop of Nyeoil 140. Two days later, the customer called back furious. The shutter was completely stuck open. I had him bring it back, and sure enough, that oil had crept across the blade and onto the magnet that controls the second curtain, gumming the whole thing up. I spent the next six hours, with a magnifier and heptane, cleaning every single part. I ate the cost of the extra labor, obviously. Has anyone else had a shutter magnet get wrecked by oil creep, or is there a better lube for those old focal plane units that won't travel?
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piper_kim2mo ago
My 1975 Canon FTb shutter froze from a single drop of oil.
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the_jennifer1mo ago
Oh @piper_kim, same thing happened to my grandpa's Pentax Spotmatic and he ended up using WD-40 on it lol.
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joel_jones2mo ago
Honestly, that sounds like a freak accident more than a rule. Mark436's buddy's Leica is just another case of bad luck, not proof you should never use oil. A tiny, proper amount in the right spot shouldn't just go walking off like that if the camera is clean to start with. Sometimes these old things just fail.
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