Camera repair - an infinite source of surprise

[NorpA]

Years ago I started to repair my own cameras because the few repair centers still around were pushing back on everything that was not Leica or Hasselblad. It goes without saying that this was a downward spiral. After the first success, I wanted more. Hence I started to buy old abandoned stuff with the idea to bring light through these forgotten gems. Little did I know I could find the remaining of a spider with its web in one of them. This journey is astonishing.

 

[Dralowid]

Surely the question must be what did it eat in there???

 

[NorpA]

Surely the question must be what did it eat in there???

I believe it was a nest, more than a trap for their prey 🙂


In any case I am happy to say I fully recovered this camera. The web was extremely sticky and it was in a position that interfered with the shutter/mirror mechanism. Basically the entire poor thing was jammed because of this little fella in its gears.

 

[Mr_Flibble]

It's an egg sac. Seen those a few times inside cameras and other things like modern electronics.

Still eeeeeew! 😉

Most recently came across one in a Butcher & Son "Midg" Falling Plate camera

Also, groetjes uit Waalwijk 😉

 

[NorpA]

Also, groetjes uit Waalwijk 😉

Ah mooi, je bent in de buurt!


Nice camera you are restoring, I needed to look for it on camerapedia, since the name didn't ring any bell.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

I had a Kodak Retina IV that had a small bug die between the Pentaprism and the focus screen. The Bug was always in focus. Your Spider would have liked that camera.

Have not run into an egg sack yet.

 

[wolves3012]

I found a flea-size bug years ago in between the lens elements of an Industar 50 that I stripped to de-fungus. Judging from where it was, I think it must have dropped in on the production line since I could see no way in or out once assembled.

 

[KoNickon]

If any folks out there also work on typewriters, you'll know that one can find all sorts of things, organic and inorganic, in them. A frequent source of surprise.

 

[Kai-san]

In the late 70's I worked for a company selling and repairing office machines and computers. I worked with computers, but some of my colleges repaired mechanical typewriters and calculators. Whenever they opened one of these machines and found a dead fly inside they used to say: "No wonder this machine doesn't work, the machine operator is dead".

 

[Mr_Flibble]

If any folks out there also work on typewriters, you'll know that one can find all sorts of things, organic and inorganic, in them. A frequent source of surprise.

I have pulled a dictionary out of computer once when I had a PC-repair weekend-job. I think it was Czech to Dutch. That was a surprise 😀

Also found uncooked pasta in another.

 

[peterm1]

As far as I am concerned the title of this thread should be "Camera repair - an infinite source of frustration and despair." 🙂

 

[joe bosak]

We had a repair guy round once for our VCR that had stopped working. He found a few wax crayons, some chewable vitamin tablets shaped like teddy bears, and half a chopstick. Yes, we had kids...

 

[Dralowid]

Sometimes I wonder what might be inside our dog.

 

[Moto-Uno]

Decades ago I caught my very young daughter hiding her sandwich in the vcr tape door 🙁 . Peter