Tried to fix my grandpa's old film camera from 1978 and the shutter curtain completely fell apart

I was cleaning out his attic last Saturday and found his old Pentax K1000, thought I'd be careful but the cloth curtain just disintegrated when I touched it. Anyone know if those are even fixable anymore or is it just a display piece now?

2 comments

2 Comments

shane_moore8712d ago

Man I had a buddy who tried fixing his dad's old AE-1 and the exact same thing happened. He took it to a local camera shop and they said the shutter curtains are pretty much cooked after like 40 years of sitting. They told him it's technically fixable but would cost more than the camera is worth.

the_wesley12d ago

Yeah @shane_moore87 is spot on with that. I read somewhere that those cloth shutters from the 70s basically turn to dust after a few decades of sitting in a closet. Unless you've got a shop that specializes in vintage camera restoration you're probably better off keeping it as a display piece or maybe turning it into a cool bookshelf prop.