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Tinkering with the insides of a camera when you have no idea what you’re doing sounds like a stupid idea, but it’s safer than you probably think, and easier too. And after all, how will you ever know what you’re doing if you never give it a shot? Read on for some pointers to help you along with your first few tries.

Today’s victim is this Nikkormat FTn. It was my first real camera, and worked like a charm for about a year (after I got it, it’s been ticking for at least forty) before the shutter gave up. While it obviously isn’t built exactly the same as every other camera, this step-by-step disassembly should give you a general idea of what to look for when you take apart an SLR of a similar vintage.

Here’s what I’ve got gathered for the task. From left to right, I’ve got a compass, tweezers, screwdrivers in lots of sizes, a magnifying glass, and a rubber pad (for unscrewing screws without slots)

At least, I think this thing is called a compass. You’ll need it to take apart screws that only have two holes with which to manipulate them. If you’re actually well equipped, I think you’re supposed to use a lens spanner but then you wouldn’t be reading this.

Alright, let’s start. Most of what you’ll want to get at is under the top plate, so all I’m going to show here is how to remove it. You first want to identify all the points where the plate’s connected. I’ve found two screws on the front, one on the side, the advance lever, and the rewind crank. Taking this in order, let’s go with the front screws first. (You can see this picture was taken during reassembly)

What I didn’t show was the washers held in place underneath that came tumbling out when the screws came off.  This is why you should try to work as much as possible with the camera sitting on a flat surface (not held up to your face), and have something underneath to catch falling parts. The ideal solution is a big washbasin lined with a white towel to prevent bouncing and make the bits more visible, but in this tutorial I used a whiteboard, hoping the rim would catch stuff. At any rate, now we can see the old-school aperture indexing mechanism underneath. I don’t think many cameras have this kind of top plate with a separate front plate so there’s not much to see here.

Here’s the next screw, just on the right side of the camera all normal like. Often cameras will have a screw in this spot on either side. Remember to use a correctly sized screwdriver to remove it, or you’ll end up damaging the paint (as I have here), or ruining the screw. You can’t just buy replacements for these most of the time so be careful.

Now for the controls on top. The advance lever obviously blocks the top plate from coming off, so we need to get it out of the way. The circular part is actually a slotless screw on most cameras, so firmly (but gently) apply enough pressure to get a good grip with the rubber pad, and then remove the screw.

A gentle pull on the lever will show you that it isn’t quite ready to come off yet. There’s another screw on top, which you remove by adjusting the compass to the correct size to fit the two holes, and rotating.

Now the lever comes off. Notice the wavy metal washer on top - this slips off easily, so make sure gravity is working in your favor before removing any parts, like I suggested before.

The rewind crank is screwed onto the shaft in a pretty normal way, but if you try to unscrew it you’ll notice it’s impossible to get any grip because the entire shaft rotates. You need to jam the shaft to let you unscrew the top part, which I’ve done with the back of a pair of tweezers. Make sure you’re not damaging the insides when you’re doing this though.

And here’s what’s left behind. The brass ring also needs to come off, which is where the compass comes in again.

Notice that the silver thingy on top actually comes off too. This needs to be in an exact position in order to get the fold out crank to sit right, so be careful during reassembly. I find it best to stack the parts as below, and then screw it back on upside down. Most rewind cranks share this design.

Throughout the process, you should be gently pulling at the top plate to see where it’s still fixed. If you give it a pull now, you’ll find that it’s now free! Provided you’re taking apart an FTn, of course. However, you can’t get giddy yet and rip the plate off because there could be wires attached to the underside of the plate. You’ll see here that I’ve already snapped one.

And now you can see the innards of the camera. Pretty amazing, isn’t it?

Here’s an earlier disassembly experiment of mine, a (thankfully already dead) Yashica Minister-700. It came apart pretty much the same way, but I stupidly didn’t document the process and ended up not being able to put it back together. I then ripped out the lens in a fit of fury and now use it as a loupe. One matter of interest with this camera is that to take off the top plate, you need to get at some screws under the leatherette - it’s facts like these that mean you should really try and look for documentation before taking apart an unfamiliar camera.

Well, that’s about it, everyone! Exploring the craftsmanship of days gone by can be really fun, but remember to be VERY CAREFUL every step of the way, and try not to do this to any camera which has any residual photo-taking value left. As you can see from my examples, mistakes are all too easy to make.

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