Vent: Customer dropped off a Nikon F3 that was "just a little sticky"

The guy said his shutter was a bit slow, but when I opened it up, there was literal honey dripped inside the mirror box (like, someone poured honey into the viewfinder). Has anyone else dealt with food-related camera gunk, or is this a new flavor of nightmare?

3 comments

3 Comments

blair_davis18d ago

Man, that is rough. "Just a little sticky" turned into a full on honey disaster. I had a guy bring in a Canon AE-1 once that he said had "a bit of a smell" and it turned out there was a dried up piece of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich stuck under the film advance lever. The bread was completely fossilized. Honey is a new one for me though, that stuff gets into everything and turns into a nightmare to clean up without damaging anything. I feel for you, that's going to be a long afternoon.

susan_ward18d ago

A little warm water and a ton of patience finally got it all out for me.

danielh814d ago

1986 Ford F-250, first summer after I bought it. AC wasn't blowing cold so I figured it was just low on refrigerant. Pop the hood and there's a half-eaten chocolate bar melted all over the compressor clutch, wrapper and all. The guy who sold it to me said the only problem was a "sticky" clutch. Dried chocolate is basically glue once it bakes onto hot metal. Took me three hours with brake cleaner and a wire brush to get it clean enough to replace the compressor. Honey in a camera sounds like a whole other level of sticky though.