Showerthought: That four week wait for a tiny Pentax screw

Sandra Rivera · 2026-02-27T15:41:50.622778+00:00

A Pentax K1000 came in last week. Aperture lever was stuck. Needed a specific screw. Looked all over my parts bins. Nothing. Had to order it online. Seller was in Europe. Took almost a month to get here. Camera sat on my bench the whole time. Drove me nuts seeing it there. Fixed it in ten minutes once the screw arrived. The wait felt longer than the repair. How do you guys cope with slow shipping for small parts?

kim.xena7mo ago

The wait really teaches you patience, doesn't it?

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sethgonzalez7mo ago

Ugh, that wait is the actual worst. It turns a tiny fix into this huge mental block. You stare at the thing every day and it just mocks you. All that delayed gratification for like two turns of a screwdriver. Makes the final fix feel kinda anti-climactic after all that angst. Still, at least it's over now.

3

the_andrew7mo ago

@kim.xena said the wait teaches patience, but I don't buy it. In my experience, it just makes you fixate on the project more. I had a similar thing with a film advance lever screw last year, took a month from Japan. You just get more impatient staring at it.

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