11
PSA: I had a light leak for 2 years because I was cleaning shutter blades wrong
Ive been fixing cameras for like 6 years now and always used isopropyl alcohol and a qtip to clean sticky shutter blades. Worked fine or so I thought. Last month a customer brought in a Nikon FM2 with a light leak and I opened it up and saw these tiny scratches on the blades from my cleaning method. That got me thinking back to all those times I blamed light seals or mirror box foam when the real issue was me damaging the blade coating. Now I only use a dry microbrush or a silicone swab with no liquid at all. Anyone else figure out they were causing more harm than good with their cleaning habits?
3 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In3 Comments
piper_kim1mo ago
Did you read that one article on learncamerarepair.com about how isopropyl can strip the coating?
1
lilya761mo agoTop Commenter
Fumbled my first sensor clean so bad I coulda used the article as a paper towel.
6
the_elliot1mo ago
Wait, did your friend try to clean a sensor with isopropyl and ruin the coating? @piper_kim I heard a story once where a buddy of mine used the wrong kind of alcohol and his camera lens looked like a foggy window for a week. He ended up having to send it in for a professional cleaning.
5