Walked into a camera shop in Portland and found a Rolleiflex with a spider living inside

Popped open the viewing hood to check the glass and a little wolf spider scrambled out across the focusing screen. Anyone else ever find critters nesting in old gear, or just me?

3 comments

3 Comments

mark_chen6217d ago

So you're really that shook up over a spider in a camera? It's not like it bit you or set up a permanent residence. That thing was probably more scared of you than you were of it, and it bounced the second you popped the hood. Old gear sits around in storage, garages, or dusty shops for years. Bugs and spiders are gonna find their way in. You said it yourself, it was a little wolf spider. Not a brown recluse or a black widow. Just a regular spider. Clean the glass, blow the dust out, and move on.

the_oliver17d ago

Hang on, did you just say the spider "bounced the second you popped the hood" like it was some kind of acrobat? I must have read that wrong. I'm sitting here picturing a little wolf spider doing a backflip out of a Pentax K1000, landing on its feet, and just scurrying off like it's late for a meeting. That's not a spider, that's a ninja. I half expect you to tell me it left a tiny note saying "sorry for the mess." That's wild.

kevin33117d ago

@mark_chen62 I gotta push back a little on the "not a brown recluse or a black widow" thing. Wolf spiders aren't medically dangerous like a recluse, sure, but they can still bite if they feel trapped. And that bite stings like a bee sting for some folks. Plus, having a spider living in your viewing hood means there's a good chance it was leaving egg sacs or web gunk inside the lens mechanism. That's not just "blow the dust out" territory, that's a full CLA job if the silk gets on the shutter blades. So yeah, it's not a deadly spider, but for a vintage Rolleiflex, a wolf spider could cause more damage than a deadlier spider that just wandered through.