Debate: When do you call it quits on a stubborn shutter repair?

I picked up a Nikon F2 that had a shutter capping at 1/1000th. Thought it would be an easy clean and lube job, maybe two hours tops. Five hours later, I had the mirror box apart three times, still couldn't get consistent speeds. My buddy says anything over three hours on one issue means you're chasing ghosts. But I've also had repairs where I pushed through the eighth hour and finally found a bent gear tooth. Where's the line for you all? Do you set a hard time limit or just keep going until you find the problem?

2 comments

2 Comments

joseph_torres9d ago

Man, three hours is my hard stop for sure... once I start getting frustrated I just make more mistakes. The F2 can be a real pain with that vertical travel curtain too, I've been there. If I can't figure it out in a couple hours, I just box it up and come back fresh the next day.

rubyk869d ago

Oh man, I'm the opposite of your buddy. I've pulled all-nighters on stupid shutter issues before. That F2 vertical travel curtain is exactly why you can't set a timer on these things. I once spent nine hours across two days tracking down a slow 1/500th on a Nikon F that turned out to be a microscopic burr on a spool shaft. If I'd stopped at three hours that camera would still be sitting in a box. Your buddy's right that frustration makes mistakes, but you learn more from the eighth hour slog than you do from the easy fixes. Sometimes the ghost is real and you just have to chase it until it lands.