Just wasted 3 hours on a sticky aperture blade that wasn't sticky

Spent all morning cleaning a Canon FD 50mm that kept hesitating at f/8, turned out the grease on the cam ring had turned into glue after sitting in a hot storage unit. Anybody else ever chase a phantom oil problem for way too long?

3 comments

3 Comments

hill.david2mo ago

A sticky aperture blade is annoying but 3 hours is a bit much.

the_john2mo ago

Ask him if the camera was making any weird sounds when the shutter fired. A dragging curtain can sound almost like a cloth tearing, and a sticking mirror gives this dull thud instead of a crisp snap. I had a Nikon where the mirror was hanging up and it was a full rebuild to fix it, but it was obvious once I listened carefully. If he didn't hear anything off, then maybe it really is just the aperture blades being slow from old grease. But three hours is way too long for aperture only, something else is definitely wrong.

wendy_bell832mo ago

Three hours means your shutter curtain is also dragging or the mirror is sticking on its way up.