Overheard a customer say their camera was fixed with a rubber band...

I was at a coffee shop near my shop in Portland last week and this guy was telling his friend how he fixed his old Pentax Spotmatic with a rubber band because the foam seal kit was backordered. Said it's been holding for 6 months with no light leaks. Made me wonder how many of us are using weird temporary fixes that end up lasting forever. Has anyone else found a random household item that actually worked better than the proper part?

2 comments

2 Comments

brian3032d agoTop Commenter

Oh man, that brings back memories. I had an old Canon AE-1 that had a shutter button that started sticking, and I fixed it by rubbing a pencil tip on the contact point. Graphite worked as a dry lubricant and it never stuck again for the three years I used it. I bet half my camera repair kit is just stuff from the junk drawer. Makes you wonder what other "wrong" fixes people have stumbled into that actually work better than the real deal?

theagarcia1d ago

Oh man, the pencil trick is gold for sticky shutters. @brian303 I actually did the same thing on my old Nikon FE2 when the advance lever started getting rough. I figured graphite was safe since it doesn't attract dust like oil does. Another "wrong" fix I swear by is using a rubber band to tighten a loose flash hot shoe. Wrap it around the base, trim the excess, and it holds way better than any adhesive pad I've tried. Also, rubbing alcohol on a q-tip for cleaning battery contacts is basic but people still overthink it.