Shoutout to the guy who talked me out of a CLA on my old Pentax

Was about to drop $150 getting a full CLA done on my Spotmatic last month. A guy at the local shop suggested I just clean the mirror box and check the light seals first. Found out my slow speeds issue was just old gummy seals on the shutter release button. Saved me the money and I learned I need to stop assuming everything needs a full tear down. Anyone else ever pay for work they didn't really need?

2 comments

2 Comments

lee_bailey651mo ago

Honestly, the part nobody talks about is how the wrong CLA can actually mess up a camera worse than no CLA at all. I had a friend who got his Yashica cleaned by some random shop and they used the wrong lubricant, now the shutter hangs up in cold weather. Ngl, a lot of these old cameras have been working fine for 50 years with whatever grease was in them originally. Tbh, sometimes tinkering with them is more about making yourself feel good than actually fixing a problem.

the_dakota1mo ago

Funny enough, I've seen the opposite problem too where people skip the CLA and end up wrecking their shutter because they ignored a slow speed issue that was actually a dried up grease problem. Maybe it's just me but I've found that older cameras like that Spotmatic are usually pretty resilient and just need a little basic maintenance to get them running again. Kinda makes you wonder how many cameras get sent off for repairs that could've been saved with a simple cleaning and a new set of seals.