Prism cleaning on a film SLR - vintage camera repair to Mamiya 528AL - dead fly on prism fixed!

[@kodithebear]

It’s so interesting to see the insides of these machines! Makes you appreciate even more how they are true wonders of engineering. Good job fixing it up!

[@the120ist]

I know, they are amazing inside. I got a bit over excited about the prism. But this was built in the late 70s, and it is an impressive, immaculately engineered piece of glass. Glad the fix was easy, or I might have just screwed the top straight back on again!

[@KaleWB]

loving your channel mate ! your vids helped me decide to buy a bronica s2 :) keep it up

[@the120ist]

Great to hear, thanks! You're going to love that bronica, still my favourite camera, no matter what else I try, including Hasselblads! I've got to take my S2A apart again tomorrow, replace the mirror foam and install a new upgraded focusing screen. Video coming soon!

[@tilica5353]

Thank you for this video .I repair my cam with your indicacions .

[@the120ist]

Glad it helped! I keep meaning to put out more camera repair videos.

[@SammyTurnsky]

Very helpful! Just curious, what brand of caliper are you using?

[@panther105]

Customer: "Waiter.!! What's this fly doing in my soup. !?!" Waiter (peering over the bowl): "I believe he's doing the backstroke, sir".

[@the120ist]

I think this one was trying to get into the photo! A fly with a taste for fame....

[@TomekKogutah]

Good work mate! Wasn't so complicated :) but that wow stick sound was causing teeth ache kind of. Or it was just my mind playing tricks on me?

[@the120ist]

Ha ha! The wow stick! I still can't get used to the name. But you know what, it really is a go to tool for me. I get more purchase with that than I can with any manual screwdriver. And the smaller head screwdrivers always have tiny bodies, if you know what i mean? So getting some torque behind them is difficult. Takes a bit of getting used to, but the wow stick is great!

[@MindbodyMedic]

No first contact polymer here 😂

[@justnoted2995]

I'm sure you are still regretting that unfortunate scratch... the reason for it happening is the long legs of your caliper, you need shorter ones for more control

[@the120ist]

I regret every scratch I have ever made on a camera. In fact I could probably recall each and every one. It pains my soul when it happens. I've learned a lot since this video!

[@oCorvus]

what did you use to wipe the prism clean? I just tried cleaning mine with 99% isopropyl alcohol and it left streaks. Any idea how to remove these?

[@the120ist]

I've never had much luck with isopropyl alcohol, I always get streaks from it. I use denatured ethyl alcohol and that seems to work a bit better. Alternatively, Zeiss lens wipes are amazing, worth picking up a box off amazon!

[@oCorvus]

@@the120ist okay thank you so much! I ended up using one of my Visible Dust sensor cleaning swabs and removed my streaks. But I’ll definitely have to pick up some zeiss cleaning wipes.

[@the120ist]

@@oCorvus Glad you got it sorted! I buy those Zeiss wipes in the big 200 boxes and get through about one a month! They're amazing!

[@ianwilkinson4602]

Where are your white gloves? I have done this sort of thing so many times, as the result of buying cheap and spares or repair cameras, jammed shutters, winding mechanisms, totally seized innards, torn or snapped shutters curtains or ribands, on a wing and a prayer or needs must scenario, it's amazing what you can achieve even as an idiot :-) me not you. I have become somewhat of an expert on the Exa 500 after repairing four of them.

[@the120ist]

Oh dear.... you caught me! No white gloves... I look back at this video, only 9 months ago, and how much I've learned since then! I'm still just as amazed buy the workings of a camera, but I've got a little better at taking them apart! Learning by doing.....!

[@ianwilkinson4602]

@@the120ist I have always found cameras and analogue photography utterly fascinating, but when you have to work on them that is when you truly appreciate them, the clockwork complexity is just mind bogglingly beautiful. I feel the same about valve radio equipment, my first love, I am a radioham too. Although I have had a camera of one kind or another since the age of 13, I only started collecting cameras and all that goes with them 14 months ago, it has been a steep learning curve, without people like you I would still be floundering in the dark :-)

[@the120ist]

@@ianwilkinson4602 Ha ha! So it's helping you to watch me floundering in the dark instead!!! So long as we're all learning together and moving forwards! It definitely is a steep learning curve. But I find it exciting that there's so much ahead of me. So many aspects of cameras that I'm not brave enough, or have had a reason, to tackle yet, but I know I will one day. I have a couple of old seized up shutters that are on a shelf just in the corner of my eye... I'll get to them!

[@ianwilkinson4602]

@@the120ist Good morning, thanks for the reply. Other events recently have taken precedence over cameras, devastating I would describe them. I love everything about analogue photography, but the feeling I get when I fix a defunct camera is fantastic. My ministrations however are nor always sucessful [ suprise,suprise ] but I keep going, it is fun. I collected the Houghton-Butcher Ensign Selfix 20 folder 6x9 format, I am more than pleased with it, it even had a unused Kodak CX120 loaded in it circa 1974 at the latest, as it was discontinued in that year, it is now in the fridge.I don't know what material they used on the bellows, it looks canvass like?? but when I checked for light leaks I could see the led light THROUGH the fabric? they have had two coats of the flexible paint I mentioned and that seems to have done the trick, time will tell. I also bought a non-working AKW Arette P 35mm camera, my third, with a shutter fault [ they are awkward in that respect] a really pretty camera, I found there was nothing wrong with it :-) not being wound to its full extent I guess. I have noticed the video you spoke about but haven't had time to watch it. I don't know how you find the time to make the great videos that you do. Cheers