Camera Repair Technicians?

[ozphoto]

I was speaking with the guys at my local photo today, and we got onto the subject of camera repair technicians and the slow death of such services here in my hometown. A friend was given a Rollei 35B from their grandfather and it needs some TLC before it's going to be useful, and naturally, they asked me to get it done for them.

Sadly, here in ADL, they are *extremely* thin on the ground - one repair technician has been doing repairs for years, but the wait time is untenable (anywhere from 3 to 12 mths plus!!). The other seems ok, but it seems there are more "cannot be repaired" comments than I'd like - not sure if the gear truly can't be repaired, it's too difficult/no experience with XYZ brand, or it's just not worth their while.

In a nutshell, I'm looking for suggestions from fellow Australian members as to who they use for their Canon EF, Bronica and Rollei gear repairs & CLA.

For those based elsewhere, feel free to mention your favourites as well - if the gear needs to be outsourced OS because nobody wants to touch it here in AUS, then so be it.

Admins - not sure if this is in the right place? Please move if it isn't, as I really struggled where to place this thread. Maybe we could have a sticky for Camera Repairers? The search function returns a lot of hits, but nothing that really helps when you're attempting to find a repairer in your country/another country.

 

[Kevin Caulfield]

Did you try Charles B in Adelaide?

 

[ozphoto]

Did you try Charles B in Adelaide?

Sadly he is so slow with repairs these days I could be waiting for 6-12 mths before getting it back.

 

[Kevin Caulfield]

Sadly he is so slow with repairs these days I could be waiting for 6-12 mths before getting it back.

He does good work, but six months is a long wait.

 

[ozphoto]

He does good work, but six months is a long wait.

Yes, he does do good work, and that's probably why he takes so long, but not so great when you need gear back in a hurry.

 

[TerryMcC]

I had a good experience with Sydney Camera Repairs, they fixed my Nikon S2 and had it feeling great to use again.

 

[ozphoto]

I had a good experience with Sydney Camera Repairs, they fixed my Nikon S2 and had it feeling great to use again.

Thanks - noted and sent an email.

 

[Chan Tran]

If you are a camera repair technician full time, how much do you expect to earn in an hour? How many hours does it take to do a typical repair? If you simply multiply the hourly rate by the number of hours needed to do the job does it exceed the price of another good working camera? Thus I think most of non repairable comments are those that would take too long to fix.

 

[ozphoto]

If you are a camera repair technician full time, how much do you expect to earn in an hour? How many hours does it take to do a typical repair? If you simply multiply the hourly rate by the number of hours needed to do the job does it exceed the price of another good working camera? Thus I think most of non repairable comments are those that would take too long to fix.

Or those that simply can't be repaired due to no parts being available. The guys at my local store have a Nikkor 600mm that the owner needs to have repaired - no parts available, so it's currently a nice $14k paperweight. Unless a donor 600mm becomes available with the part being in good condition, the best the owner can hope for is claiming on insurance.

And then there's the lovely old Leica that came in with a damaged shutter - someone had put their finger through it. :O Again, cannot be repaired as the shutter is no longer available as a spare part, the only hope is coming across another that is totally useless and part it out.

Oh for someone with a love of old cameras and deep pockets who would be happy to invest in the spare parts market, like old cars.

 

[Theo Sulphate]

...
And then there's the lovely old Leica that came in with a damaged shutter - someone had put their finger through it. :O Again, cannot be repaired as the shutter is no longer available as a spare part ...

There must be some material that is available that could be used for the shutter. Possibly the shutter curtains from some other more damaged camera?

 

[ozphoto]

There must be some material that is available that could be used for the shutter. Possibly the shutter curtains from some other more damaged camera?

I mentioned similar, but as it was a rarer version, they indicated that whilst it may be possible, finding the part/s would be a huge undertaking. Maybe AliBaba will see a huge influx of Chinese spare parts for cameras - personally, I'm not concerned with the part being OEM, just as long as I can use the camera in question to create my images.

If I had deep pockets of never-ending green stuff, I'd happily jump on the "spare parts" bandwagon, alas I don't and somehow I don't feel Kickstarter would be quite so supportive of such a venture . . . .

Naturally YMMV.

 

[G1DRP]

I used to be a camera repair technician, mainly working on Mamiya equipment for the UK distributor. Sadly, people went over to the dark side and I’m now employed as a 3D printer (high end) service engineer.