xenarobinson•17d agoMost Upvoted

Three years ago I found a cockroach living in a Canon AE-1

Back in 2021 I had a customer bring in an AE-1 that smelled weird. When I popped the bottom plate off, a big cockroach ran out across my bench. It had been living off the foam seal degradation inside the mirror box. Has anyone else found live bugs inside old gear or was that just my bad luck?

2 comments

2 Comments

willow_ellis17d ago

Used to think those "stored in a barn" stories were exaggerated until I found a mouse nest inside a Pentax K1000 someone brought in. The thing had chewed through the shutter curtain and packed the whole mirror box with fabric and droppings. After that I started checking every used camera I touched.

evan_stone17d ago

Oh come on, a mouse nest in a K1000 is gross but it's not like the camera is ruined forever. You can clean out the junk and replace the curtain, it's not brain surgery. I've seen people act like a little dust or foam goo is the end of the world and it drives me nuts. These cameras were built to take a beating, a mouse or a roach isn't gonna kill them. Unless the thing chewed through actual wiring or destroyed the shutter mechanism beyond repair, it's just a cleanup job. People get way too dramatic about a little grime or animal damage in old gear.