My Pentax 6x7 mirror box finally locked up on me mid-shoot last Saturday

I had a paying client in Seattle on a Saturday morning shoot. The mirror jammed at frame 7 and I thought I was toast. Turns out the foam bumper had turned to sticky goo and was grabbing the mirror mechanism. I cleaned it out with isopropyl and a cotton swab right there on site. Got the camera working again in about 15 minutes and finished the job. Has anyone else dealt with that old Pentax foam degradation yet?

2 comments

2 Comments

riverknight13d ago

My buddy's mirror jammed at a wedding in Portland and he fixed it with a q-tip and rubbing alcohol too.

rowan84913d ago

and honestly it's weird how many things in life are just like that, you know? like when my car's AC stopped working and it turned out to be a leaf blocking the drain, or my laptop getting slow and it was just a background update stuck. so much stuff we freak out over is just a little gunk or a tiny thing getting in the way. idk, it's like most problems are small once you actually look at them instead of panicking first.