35mm SLR Maintenence Question

[RoB_m]

the mirror on my old A-1 SLR seems to have some friction when coming back down and makes a kind of screaching noise. i essentially have no control over shutter speed. i called a shop and they said the mirror or spring damper just needed to be lubed but it would cost $50. screw that. seems like an easy enough thing to do yourself. has anyone done this or know how i can do this myself and save some money. i'm a starving student :cry:

[Mthorpe_Davies]

Spend the $50.00 forgo the beer, drugs and chicks for a weekend, otherwise you could stuff it up and end up spending big bucks fixing the self inflicted damage.

[Jon]

The mirror alone won't affect the shutter speed - if you're getting bad exposures, the shutter's sticking and the mirror's not returning until shutter action has (at least mostly) completed. If that's the case, sounds like time for a full CLA. Probably not a terribly bad idea on a camera of that vintage anyway (says he, thinking that his T90 should get same, to say nothing of the F-1n and New F-1). But get it done professionally. I'll poke around inside my computers, but not something important like the cameras.