Camera/Lens repair.

[Mike Kennedy]

I just got a wonderful pair of S.K.Grimes spanners. Man, these things are well made.
In the near future I would like to start repairing some of my old "beaters". I began with the easy stuff like replacing light seals (thank you Mr. Goodman),and ridding shutters of oil. With the spanners I can de-fungus a few lenses and clean their internal glass.
Are there any good books around on how to fix old manual focus cameras? Yashica,pentax,nikon.
I've heard about Ed Romney's material but my APUG search turned up one thumbs down on his stuff.
All help will be greatly appreciated.

Thank You

 

[John Koehrer]

Thomas Tomosy has a couple of books around, "Restoring Classic & Collectable Cameras" "Leica Camera Repair Handbook" & I believe something on Basic camera repair. You should be able to find them at Amazon.
Also, Microtools has some manuals but they assume familiarity with basic techniques of Camera Repair.

 

[Mike Kennedy]

Thanks John,I shall check out those leads.

 

[barryjyoung]

I thought Romneys books were good until I found the two real sources of usable information.

Tomosy is top notch, but the model specific manuals from National Camera Repair are the ultimate authority as far as I am concerned. They are of course out of print and fetching very lofty sums on ebay. They are the best I have seen. I would reccomend starting with the Tomosy manuals.

 

[barryjyoung]

Thomas Tomosy has a couple of books around, "Restoring Classic & Collectable Cameras" "Leica Camera Repair Handbook" & I believe something on Basic camera repair. You should be able to find them at Amazon.
Also, Microtools has some manuals but they assume familiarity with basic techniques of Camera Repair.

Right on John....When you move to Montana, will it just be you and the pygmy pony over by the dental floss bush? That song was awesome in concert.

 

[John Koehrer]

Right on John....When you move to Montana, will it just be you and the pygmy pony over by the dental floss bush? That song was awesome in concert.

I've made a note to myself Not to eat the yellow snow. Now if I just remember to bring the notebook along.

 

[Mike Michaelski]

Mike,
If you don't try to fix everything, but will focus on a few specific models, you should be able to pick up the proper repair and service manuals, maybe on e-bay, but more likely from Finger Lakes Photo Books or Craig Camera. Issues of the SPT Journal and the Camera Craftsman magazine are also good sources of how-to information. Just be aware that some 'repair manuals' are nothing more than detailed parts lists with a short note in the front to take things apart in the number order presented in each of the diagrams. The National Camera manuals specific to a particular model are quite detailed and useful. If you are working on the Minolta SRT series, get the repair manual on the SRT 101 first, as the body casting was the same on all 21 models in the SRT series (and thus all the sub-assemblies fit together the same way). HTH.
Mike M.

 

[barryjyoung]

There are a ton of repair manuals by National Camera Repair and Thomas Tomosy on ebay right now.

Check this out.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...MESE:IT&viewitem=&item=150081389700&rd=1&rd=1

Barry Young
Young Camera

 

[Ishotharold]

But a humble offering here....

completed in 2 weeks while home for break. So many things I will do differently next time but this one was a gift for a good friend and needed to get done .

 

[Ishotharold]

so you all don't think I'm crazy, this was supposed to go in the "show us your camera" thread. either a hiccup in the system or in me, either seems quite feisible, mod please delete.

 

[elekm]

Some books from the late Ed Romney were simply photocopied factory manuals with some handwritten notes scrawled in the margins.

I heartily endorse the Tomosy books.

 

[Nathan Smith]

I have used both the Tomosy and Romney books. They're both worth having. Tomosy's more thorough and readable, but Romney's got a lot of good information as little notes or nuggets spread throughout. Both are aimed at amateurs - this is in some ways both good and bad. The Nat Cam books are aimed at professionals and are better.

I've learned a lot about fixing shutters but when there's a shutter I really care about I send it to Carol Flutot, she's both inexpensive and reliable.

Having said that, another great thing to pick up is an inexpensive ultrasonic cleaner from ebay - a quick Ronsonal flush is ok to get a frozen shutter moving again, but a thorough clean and lube will really fix it.

Nathan