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Serious question, I chose to replace a shutter curtain on a 1970s SLR instead of buying a donor body.
The curtain on a Pentax Spotmatic was torn, and a local shop quoted me $150 for a full donor camera. I spent about 4 hours carefully doing the swap myself, and it actually worked perfectly on the first try. Does anyone think using donor parts is always the better choice, or is a careful repair sometimes worth the effort?
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cooper.max2d ago
Honestly, that donor body quote is wild. I had a similar thing with an old Konica. The film advance was shot, and a guy wanted eighty bucks for a parts camera that was probably just as broken. Spent a weekend with a screwdriver set and a YouTube deep dive. Felt like a total win when it cranked over. That shop price just makes the DIY fix taste even sweeter.
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gray_patel1d ago
But what if you messed it up and wrecked both cameras? That donor body is a sure thing, a complete working camera you can just pick up and use. Your four hours have a value too, and not everyone has the skill or steady hands for that kind of tiny work. Sometimes paying for the known good part is just the smarter move to save the headache.
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