I still think old shutter gears beat new plastic parts for longevity... but am I wrong?

I got a 1970s Pentax Spotmatic that had a sticky shutter on me about 2 weeks ago. I swapped in a modern replacement gear from a parts kit, and it jammed 3 times in the first roll. My gut says brass gears with a dab of oil last forever, but every forum I dig up says new polymer parts are the way to go now. Has anyone else had better luck sticking with the old metal gears on a rebuild like this?

2 comments

2 Comments

diana_park1d ago

Idk 'idk why everyone's so quick to ditch the old stuff' kinda sums up modern life throwing away things that still work fine lol.

emma3491d ago

Oh man, that sucks. I feel your pain with that sticky shutter, that's the worst feeling when you think you fixed it and it just jams right away. I mean, I've got a couple of old Yashicas with brass gears that have never given me a single problem, and I've run probably a hundred rolls through them. Those new plastic parts just seem too brittle or something, maybe they don't mesh as well. I'd stick with the metal every time, especially if you can salvage the originals and just clean them up. idk why everyone's so quick to ditch the old stuff, it worked for decades for a reason.