I occasionally take this approach, but it's a chore to scrub through a few hours' long video to find the right frame. It can save your bacon though! I filmed some teardown shots when I repaired an alexa mini. That is a true masterpiece of a camera :D

That sounds like fun. I took a few courses in optics because I wanted to explore the art of lens making. Hats off to you sir!

The Nikon AI/AI-S era lenses are fun to repair, but this sigma was not too bad. I've repaired some very intricate panasonic / olympus consumer lenses that were far more complex.

Thanks for stopping by! :D

Thanks for the kind words!

Thanks for the input about Rodico! It sounds pretty useful. I've used mounting putty / blue-tack when assembling PCBs, but not much more than that. I've seen the card board trick used many times to ease in painting engine valve cover bolts.

It also has an interesting capability to absorb smudges and oils, I use it to clean watch dials, just dragging the putty over the surface.

A large focus throw and more importantly, focus consistency, is paramount for cinema lenses. When you rack focus, the lens needs to show the same field of view every time, no questions asked. The early red pro cinema lenses had a design flaw where the focus rings would come loose over time and ruin shots. Someone clearly forgot the threadlocker.

Indeed! I've had the privilege and honor of collimating a Cooke s4i. It's a thing of beauty, joy forever.

Thanks! After many lens teardowns with screws of varying lengths and magnetism, tape is truly king!

If companies could just distribute the repair manuals I'd be happy as a clam :D I'm all for automated repair!

That seems like a small thing that I as a users of lenses would see as a benefit (more folks who could fix my lenses) even if I don't have the inclination to do it myself. Wonder why manufacturers don't do this? (The majors seem pretty hostile to their user base, but smaller companies like Sigma you would think might care more?)