Spent 3 days chasing a shutter squeak on an old Pentax K1000

Honestly, I thought it was just a dry gear, but after cleaning and oiling everything, the sound came back after 24 hours. Tbh, the real fix was a tiny piece of foam inside the mirror box that had turned to dust, which took me another full day to figure out. Anyone else run into weird squeaks that weren't the usual suspects?

4 comments

4 Comments

tarabell1mo agoRising Star

and honestly, i think that kind of obsessive hunt translates to other stuff too. like, i've been fixing an old lamp where the switch kept sticking, and it turned out to be a tiny speck of corrosion on the contact inside. you just get this radar for weird little sounds and sticky spots after a while, don't you? once you've tracked down a phantom shutter squeak, every mystery noise in your house feels personal.

william8644mo ago

My old Nikon FM2 had a weird click on the advance lever. Not the ratchet, something else. Drove me nuts for a week. Ended up being a tiny, broken spring in the film counter mechanism. That sound was just echoing through the whole body. Felt so good to finally spot it.

miller.rowan4mo ago

Oh man, that hits home. My old Pentax K1000 developed a tiny, high-pitched squeak on the shutter release. Sounded like a dying mouse. Took me forever to trace it to this little bit of dried grease on the mirror return gear shaft. Cleaning that off with a toothpick and some lighter fluid was the best feeling. That quiet "snick" after was pure relief.

lilya764mo ago

That quiet snick after fixing a camera is better than any new gear sound. Makes the whole hunt worth it.