Found a broken leaf shutter on a Mamiya RB67 at a shop in Portland

Was at Pro Photo Supply last week and saw a customer bring in an RB67 with a stuck leaf shutter on the 127mm lens. Turns out the blades had oil residue from a previous lube job. I told them to hit it with a drop of naphtha and work the blades open with a toothpick. Took about 20 minutes. Anyone else dealt with oily shutter blades causing stickiness?

3 comments

3 Comments

henderson.oscar27d agoMost Upvoted

Oh man, oily shutter blades are the worst. I once tried fixing a sticky shutter on an old Mamiya press lens and ended up accidentally launching a toothpick across my kitchen like a tiny wood missile. Had to fish it out from behind the fridge while apologizing to my wife who was convinced I'd finally lost it lol. But yeah, naphtha on a q-tip worked for me too. Just gotta be careful not to leave any lint behind, learned that the hard way when I had to take the whole thing apart again because a fuzzy bit got stuck.

susanm568d ago

Oh totally feel you on the lint thing. I did the same thing with a q-tip that wasn't quite lint-free and ended up with a tiny white fuzzball dancing around inside my shutter. Had to take the whole thing apart twice, which is about as fun as it sounds (not very). And the toothpick launch situation is way too real - I once had a spring shoot out of a lens and land in my coffee mug, which my husband didn't appreciate nearly as much as I did. But hey, we all have those moments where we question our life choices while holding a pile of tiny brass bits lol.

richard_anderson27d ago

Nah, leave it alone. Just clean the whole lens properly instead of half-assing it.