Showerthought: A retiree told me he misses film canisters because they were easier to fix than tiny ribbon cables

Miles Hall · 2026-09-23T07:50:03.081885+00:00

I was at a camera swap in Pasadena two weekends ago and got talking to a retired repair guy named Walt who ran a shop for 34 years. He pulled a 5 cent plastic film canister from his pocket and said, "You could pop one of these open on a Tuesday and have the shutter running by Friday, no schematic needed." It hit me because I had just spent 6 hours fighting a flex cable in a mirrorless body with a 0.5mm pitch connector that I could barely see. Walt's point was not that old gear was better, but that the job used to be more about hand feel and less about guessing what a tiny board wants. Curious if anyone here still keeps a junk drawer of old bodies just to practice on, or am I the only one?

💡Thought Shares

Loading…

Showerthought: A retiree told me he misses film canisters because they were easier to fix than tiny ribbon cables | Camera Repairers - Thought Shares