Rant Alert
Rant Alert
The majority of the people on this forum learned the term "CLA" online, barely understand what it means and are far too eager to send everything they buy off immediately for a "CLA".
First of all, it is better to leave well enough alone, and if something is wrong, you get it "repaired".
Everybody is "CLA" happy. There is no point in dismantling old mechanisms and having some bozo do a "CLA".
Do very minor repairs as needed. If it's working, don't "fix" it. As you can see, once someone who doesn't know what they are doing destroys something, Humpty-Dumpty doesn't go together again.
If there was a minor spot of fungus in an old lens that didn't make a difference in the images the lens produced, I would not have it opened up and messed around with.
Obviously, based on your comments, everyone who is sending equipment off to be cleaned is wasting their time and money since it really isn't necessary.
That may in fact be true if you are habitually buying equipment that is new or has been in regular use so is already working.
But the reality is, some of us buy equipment that has sat around for a long time without being used. Lenses fog over time, camera shutters gum up without use, there are lots of problems that can occur when equipment is left to sit for long periods of time. I really doubt that most of us are spending a lot of money fixing things that don't need it though there are almost certainly some who do.
Now, where the price paid was very low, and the equipment is not exactly rare or valuable, I don't mind fiddling around, taking things apart and cleaning it myself. I have done it before and will almost certainly do it again. Sometime it works, sometimes not. But I am not trained nor experienced doing this so if I paid more, or the equipment is more complex, rare, or valuable, I will certainly send it to a recommended and experienced repair person to go through it, clean it and get things working properly again.
Depending on what they have to do that could be a repair, a cleaning, some adjustment, or lubrication. Maybe it involves all of those activities. The term "CLA" is probably an internet term and phenomenon, I don't know, but the activities involved were happening way before the internet ever came along. And for that matter, I strongly suspect that there have been ham-handed and worthless repair technicians around for just about as long.
But there is absolutely nothing wrong with getting an old camera cleaned and fixed if that is what you want. Face it, most film cameras are not getting any younger and we know for a fact that most people are not using them any longer. It just stands to reason that more and more of them are reaching the point where they may need some attention when they arrive in your mailbox.
End of Rant:bang:
