Shoutout to the old guy in Tucson who showed me how to fix a stiff focus ring with a hair dryer

Phoenix Martin · 2026-09-10T13:50:07.462697+00:00

A guy brought in his dad's old 50mm lens last week, said the focus ring felt like it was full of glue. I was about to tear the whole thing down when an old repair guy named Walt, who I met at a camera swap in Tucson, walked me through it over the phone. He told me to warm the barrel with a hair dryer on low for about 90 seconds and work the ring back and forth, said the old grease just gets hard after 20 or 30 years of sitting in a closet. I did it and the ring freed up in under 2 minutes, no teardown needed. The guy picked it up and almost cried because it was his dad's lens. Walt passed away 6 months ago and I still think about that call every time I get a stiff focus ring. Has anyone else had luck warming old helical grease instead of pulling the whole barrel apart?

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Shoutout to the old guy in Tucson who showed me how to fix a stiff focus ring with a hair dryer | Camera Repairers - Vivisector