Broke my own rule about testing used gear at the shop

I bought a vintage Canon AE-1 from a flea market last Sunday for 30 bucks. Looked clean in the case, but when I got home the shutter speeds were all sticky and off by like half a stop. I spent an hour trying to fire it at 1/1000 and it just sounded like molasses. Should I just send it out for a CLA or try the lighter fluid trick myself? Has anyone else had luck resurrecting these old workhorses on their own?

3 comments

3 Comments

diana5121mo ago

Ngl, before you crack it open have you tried just running a few rolls through it? Sometimes those old shutters just need to be exercised a bit. I've had a couple cameras that sounded terrible until I actually put film in them and shot for a while.

fiona_west211mo agoTop Commenter

Wait, you just run film through broken cameras hoping they fix themselves? I mean, I guess it could work for a sticky shutter but if it sounded like grinding gears I'd be too scared of scratching the film inside. I've made that mistake before and ended up with a whole roll of either half-blank frames or weird light leaks that weren't there before.

the_taylor1mo agoOG Member

Three Fuji GS645S shutters died on me before I learned that lesson the hard way.