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Found a cracked shutter blade on a vintage Nikon F2 at a thrift shop in Austin
I was digging through a thrift shop on South Congress last weekend and spotted a beat up Nikon F2 body for $40. Got it home and started cleaning it up, and I noticed the shutter sounded weird at 1/1000. Pulled the mirror box and found one of the titanium blades had a hairline crack right near the pivot point. Never seen that before on a F2, usually it's the foam or the mirror dampener that goes first. Has anyone else run into cracked blades on these older mechanical shutters? I'm debating if I should try to source a replacement curtain or just part the whole thing out.
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elizabeth_ramirez2d ago
Doubt it's actually cracked, probably just a hair from the foam breaking down stuck in the mechanism.
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cameron_webb2d ago
Man, I feel you on that. I picked up a beat up Canon FTb at a flea market last year for $20 and thought I scored big, but the shutter sounded like a bag of rocks at high speeds. Turned out the blades were warped from someone trying to clean them with a solvent or something. @umak89 is right about thrift stores testing your patience - sometimes the deals end up being more trouble than they're worth. On the F2 though, I'd say check around for a used curtain assembly from a donor body. They're pretty common on eBay for under $100, and swapping them isn't that bad if you've already had the mirror box out. Parting it out could work too, but you might end up sitting on parts for months.
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