At the end of the week, no special camera-related problem, rather the question:
Who should I entrust my camera to for repair?
Service infrastructure
This has been discussed several times here in the forum: There are fewer and fewer trained specialists for repairing older film cameras.
By „trained“ I mean people who have either completed an apprenticeship or a recognized training course in the field as a camera technician or who have been trained by the respective camera manufacturer.
With the transition to digital, analog cameras quickly lost economic importance, and the service infrastructure was consequently also scaled back.
Today, I am not aware of any official training for camera technicians. So if you are interested, the only option is to learn to repair cameras on your own or to try it together with others, e.g. in online work groups.
Uncertainity
All of this results in uncertainty as to who you should entrust a camera to for repair.
Value
If you have a camera that is valuable to you or has material value and you want it repaired, this can be a problem. Who should I contact, who can guarantee that the work will be done properly?
Unfortunately, the best solution - sending the camera to the manufacturer so that they can repair it to their factory standards - is almost always out of the question. Manufacturers have to work economically and there can be no resources for servicing old products that are today only used by a few people.
Questions
As a collector and user of 1980s cameras, I have asked myself these questions for a long time and often. I have not found any satisfactory answers:
Way out
The decision to try repairing things myself as a private individual with no commercial interests, who only looks after his own cameras, was the way out for me. It also gave me a very nice and fulfilling area of interest.
However, I have no training as a camera technician. My professional background is as a trained public relations worker. I am self-taught when it comes to camera repair and have completed two distance learning courses in electronics.
But repairing it yourself cannot be the solution for everyone who wants to get a broken camera working again.
Who do you trust with your broken cameras?
Who should I entrust my camera to for repair?
Service infrastructure
This has been discussed several times here in the forum: There are fewer and fewer trained specialists for repairing older film cameras.
By „trained“ I mean people who have either completed an apprenticeship or a recognized training course in the field as a camera technician or who have been trained by the respective camera manufacturer.
With the transition to digital, analog cameras quickly lost economic importance, and the service infrastructure was consequently also scaled back.
Today, I am not aware of any official training for camera technicians. So if you are interested, the only option is to learn to repair cameras on your own or to try it together with others, e.g. in online work groups.
Uncertainity
All of this results in uncertainty as to who you should entrust a camera to for repair.
- The trained camera technician who still takes on jobs in retirement or who still works in a repair shop from time to time or runs his own shop?
- The talented hobbyist in the neighboring town who is passionate about fixing a broken camera? Or who has turned his hobby into a career and become self-employed?
- Or the bungler who somehow managed to get everything done for a small sum of money? You just shouldn't look too closely at what he did and how.
Value
If you have a camera that is valuable to you or has material value and you want it repaired, this can be a problem. Who should I contact, who can guarantee that the work will be done properly?
Unfortunately, the best solution - sending the camera to the manufacturer so that they can repair it to their factory standards - is almost always out of the question. Manufacturers have to work economically and there can be no resources for servicing old products that are today only used by a few people.
Questions
As a collector and user of 1980s cameras, I have asked myself these questions for a long time and often. I have not found any satisfactory answers:
- I could not afford the service of still active and trained camera technicians, and they did not accept many orders.
- Talented hobbyists have to be found, but that is a matter of trust. You also quickly run into tax and duty problems, which is out of the question for me. Repair shops rarely provide information about the qualifications of their employees.
- There are often botched jobs, but one bad experience is enough to last a lifetime.
Way out
The decision to try repairing things myself as a private individual with no commercial interests, who only looks after his own cameras, was the way out for me. It also gave me a very nice and fulfilling area of interest.
However, I have no training as a camera technician. My professional background is as a trained public relations worker. I am self-taught when it comes to camera repair and have completed two distance learning courses in electronics.
But repairing it yourself cannot be the solution for everyone who wants to get a broken camera working again.
Who do you trust with your broken cameras?
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