Stumbled on a 1940s repair manual that says to use lighter fluid on shutters

Found a PDF of a Kodak service guide from 1946 and it straight up recommends lighter fluid to clean sticky shutter blades. I always thought that was a myth but there it is in black and white. Anyone still do this or is it just asking for trouble with modern coatings?

2 comments

2 Comments

holly6310d ago

That's actually pretty wild to see it written down in an official manual. I used to roll my eyes at people suggesting lighter fluid for camera gear, figured it was some old wives tale that would wreck modern coatings. But honestly, seeing that old Kodak guide changed my mind a bit. Those guys were professionals who knew their materials, and if they said it worked on shutters back then, it probably did. I still wouldn't try it on anything newer than like 1965 though, and definitely not on any coated blades. The old lubricants were different, mineral oils and stuff, so lighter fluid was actually a safe solvent for them. Modern stuff has synthetic greases and coatings that lighter fluid could soften or strip away completely. So it's not that it's a myth, it's just that it's obsolete advice for anything built after the 70s.

sandra_black10d ago

My buddy tried lighter fluid on a shutter from the 50s and it worked perfectly, gummed up and all. Took it apart, cleaned it, and the thing ran like new. But then he got cocky and did it on a Nikon from the 80s and that shutter never worked the same again.