Inflation on Steroids - Camera Repair and Service Pricing

[StanMac]

The same services I paid $85 to $110 for a bit over a year ago have almost doubled this year. Shutter service on a vintage rangefinder that cost me $85 February a year ago are now $165 (from the same repair service). A CLA and foam seals replacement on a fully working but aging mid-70s SLR is now $165 vs $110 in 2020. An Agfa Isolette III overhaul (new bellows, focus, shutter, and rangefinder cleaning and calibration) was $165 less than 3 years ago. A recent quote on a Fujica Super 6 for a new bellows and shutter CLA was $425. I know the Fujica has a coupled rangefinder but that much difference in price is a bit astounding. A referral to some repair services for the Fujica from the Photrio community would be appreciated so I could check affordability. I really would like to get that camera working as it is in near excellent cosmetic condition.

I know that if I’m going to collect cameras I need to learn how to service them, but this old dog’s arthritic paws makes zipping my pants a chore. I have several cameras waiting in line for servicing to put them in usable condition but at these prices they may have to be relegated to being shelf queens.

Stan

 

[Sirius Glass]

Camera repair people have to make a living wage, so thank you for keeping the economy going.

I guess this shows that film is not dead.

 

[Pieter12]

Supply and demand. There are fewer camera techs and more old film cameras out there now.

 

[Rayt]

I am just glad these people are still at it.

 

[cramej]

What's happening is that the cost of service often far exceeds the value of the camera just to keep it working. Thus relegating an otherwise nice camera/lens/whatever to parts, shelf queen or the trash bin, driving up prices for working pieces (and broken ones, too!). Why spend $150 to CLA a $50 camera when I can buy 3 more working ones for the same amount? Even worse, some techs will only service specific models from a brand - usually the ones that don't need the service - so you end up back in the same situation. It's enough to question one's sanity.

 

[Pieter12]

I am just glad these people are still at it.

There seems to be a shortage of qualified technicians plus I have noticed that the two techs I regularly use have started to severely limit the cameras and camera models they will work on. Might be parts availability or difficulty servicing.

 

[Pieter12]

What's happening is that the cost of service often far exceeds the value of the camera just to keep it working. Thus relegating an otherwise nice camera/lens/whatever to parts, shelf queen or the trash bin, driving up prices for working pieces (and broken ones, too!). Why spend $150 to CLA a $50 camera when I can buy 3 more working ones for the same amount? Even worse, some techs will only service specific models from a brand - usually the ones that don't need the service - so you end up back in the same situation. It's enough to question one's sanity.

Using a donor camera for parts makes the cost of the part more expensive, since the camera has to be purchased (and most of it not used) and the part(s) have to be extracted and inspected before being put into a customer's camera. Plus, parts that are prone to failure will most probably have failed in the donor camera.

 

[gone]

Like Pieter12 said, it's probably a case of running out of parts. 2 years ago I went a little crazy (crazier) and called Sherry Krauter about a first version Leicaflex she had listed on her website for $400. It wasn't CLA'd, but she mentioned that it had a clean prism.

These cameras are prone to viewfinder prism desilvering, and there are now no replacement prisms for them. She had some form of warranty on the camera, but when I asked if it covered replacing the prism if it began to desilver she laughed and said "With what?"

I'll bet another reason for higher prices is that the camera repair business has slacked off. During COVID lockdowns, hordes of people were out shooting because there was nothing else to do. Now people are back at work, and surely shooting less than during the last very abnormal 2 years.

 

[Bill Burk]

I’m joining a group order to buy two grades of grease for Leica cameras (because the third grade is unavailable). The total cost for our group looks like it’s going to be four hundred dollars.

I’m learning to repair Pentax ESII cameras and they take about a week to refurbish. They cost about $20 and sell for about the same. Not a big money making proposition. I just wanted to get mine working right.

What I have learned though, is that if you do it “wrong” the problem comes back quickly. For instance capping high speeds, if you splash oil around and tighten springs… the repair job just will not last. So before reading up on the specific spots to lubricate (and with what), I did botch one or two.

Now that’s the kind of repair person you want to avoid (being).

 

[madNbad]

I live in a rare area that has a number of repair shops within the city limits. Some, like Blue Moon Camera and Machine have a technician on staff to correct problems and make repairs but sales of equipment and supplies are their main source of income. The others do mostly repairs but do have a smaller amount of equipment for sale but most of their income is from repair. They are small operations and mostly staffed by family members with som having long term technicians and all of them constantly looking for new people to train. The cost of renting a storefront in Portland had doubled in the last decade, paying a decent wage and helping subsidizing health insurance all figure into the cost. Just a "simple" CLA can take several hours. Parts are also becoming an issue with both cost and availability. Please continue to support the camera repair shops, they really do enjoy things other than sensor cleanings and fixing broken autofocus motors.

 

[mshchem]

Inflation and these folks are busy, very busy.

 

[awty]

Maybe he thought it would be nice to go away on a holiday like other people do, or have some sick leave so he wouldnt have to work while coughing and splattering. Maybe when the 25 year old computer tech next door was complaining about his income and he realized that he was earning significantly less. Maybe he got sick of doing $200 work on a $50 camera and not getting paid. Maybe when the $50 camera broke again the owner wanted their money back or they would bad mouth them on the internet, maybe they did that anyway. Cost of living has gone up significantly, costs of running a business has gone up more.
It is what it is, if you cant repair something yourself, then you need to factor in if its worth paying someone else to fix it. Lots of cameras are not worth fixing, trust me I have worked on enough to know.

 

[mshchem]

When you get a camera today it's a bit like adopting a puppy, you'll need to take care of it. Even if it's a whack job cat like my cat Pistol Pete.

 

[runswithsizzers]

I hear you. In 2018 I had two Pentax MX cameras CLAed/repaired and I believe the labor was less than $100 each (Eric Hendrickson).

I just got an estimate to CLA/repair a Konica Autoreflex T4 and the total is $325 (Greg Weber). That includes the cost of light seals and modifying the meter to work with modern batteries. And also to put a new leather covering on it - which I supplied. So I would expect the cost to be more than a simple CLA, but I did not expect $325. I only paid $60 for the T4 which was very clean, and which included a nice Hexanon 50/1.7, so the body was almost free.

I realize I can buy a used Konica T4 for less than $100 - and that it would be tough to sell a used one for $325, no matter how good the condition. But I didn't buy the camera as an investment. I bought the camerato keep and use for a long time. Hopefully long enough to forget how much I paid. And if the camera works good and looks good, that makes it more enjoyable for me to use.

EDIT: I should add that I do support a person's right to charge whatever they think their skills are worth.

 

[Pieter12]

Maybe he got sick of doing $200 work on a $50 camera and not getting paid

Most technicians will inform you if the repair is going to cost more than the camera is worth.

 

[Maris]

A friend of mine who was considered the best camera repair guy (Hasselblad, Mamiya, professional gear) in Brisbane adopted a different strategy in the last few years before he retired.
To avoid a work backlog he abandoned quoting on camera repairs. All repairs were a flat $450 up front. If the camera was fixed you got a working camera with a repair guarantee. He kept the money. If not you got your broken camera returned, an explanation of what was wrong, and $400 but he kept a $50 "nuisance" fee. When I asked him about the practicalities of this scheme he said once a camera was opened it was easy to see if it was a straightforward repair or a nightmare. The nightmares went back to the customer.

 

[awty]

Evidently people become emotionally attached to a camera and want the job done regardless, some realise afterwards that that was a mistake and blame the tech.

Most technicians will inform you if the repair is going to cost more than the camera is worth.

 

[awty]

EDIT: I should add that I do support a person's right to charge whatever they think their skills are worth.

Some people think that their skills are worth more than others, be aware of that. Other people are just trying to make an honest living and the cost of that has gone up significantly lately.....and there's instances where you don't particularly want to do the job, so you quote high to put them off.

 

[Bill Burk]

Evidently people become emotionally attached to a camera and want the job done regardless, some realise afterwards that that was a mistake and blame the tech.

I’m a case in point. I am going to get my ESII repaired no matter what it costs me. I chose the hard road. I am spending a lot of time to learn how to do it right. And I am spending a bit of money buying practice cameras that I’m fixing along the way. I think I have five now. A side effect, I have one done that’s as good as new.

 

[Roger Cole]

What's happening is that the cost of service often far exceeds the value of the camera just to keep it working. Thus relegating an otherwise nice camera/lens/whatever to parts, shelf queen or the trash bin, driving up prices for working pieces (and broken ones, too!). Why spend $150 to CLA a $50 camera when I can buy 3 more working ones for the same amount? Even worse, some techs will only service specific models from a brand - usually the ones that don't need the service - so you end up back in the same situation. It's enough to question one's sanity.

Or to people just sucking it up and paying it, which I plan to. The thing is, yes you might be able to buy another camera for less money, but even if it's ok right then how long before IT has problems? Pay for a good CLA and going over and you're likely good for a while.

It costs what it costs.

 

[henryvk]

An Agfa Isolette III overhaul (new bellows, focus, shutter, and rangefinder cleaning and calibration) was $165 less than 3 years ago. A recent quote on a Fujica Super 6 for a new bellows and shutter CLA was $425.

Now, I don't know where you live and what the cost of living is but US$165 for a complete overhaul like that sounds like the repair person must be working out of either charity or someplace where people make about a quarter of what they make here. I'd say that US$ 425 sounds about right for that kind of work if the shop is in Western Europe or North America.

I live in the "blue banana" and, even though I don't usually have cameras properly serviced, I was quoted EUR 200 by a shop downtown for a folding camera shutter service and CLA and that sounded about right if they were still planning on making some money off it.

 

[guangong]

in the USA inflation is driving all prices up. My trips to the butcher are much more expensive than just a few months ago. Same with the grocery store, and everything else. Camera repair people also must shop for food and buy fuel for car ( and in coming months for home heating). The only upside could be that your $50 camera will most likely also float with inflation. I see the prices of some used camera brands climbing quite a bit compared to just a few months ago.
For example, right now I am holding on to my late wife’s cellos because money gained will quickly depreciate but value will appreciate.

 

[MattKing]

Camera repair prices seem particularly illogical. As most of the examples referred to in this thread don't appear to involve cameras for which replacement parts are available, I would suggest that the only role that "inflation" is playing in recent changes is that the technicians who had very low prices in the past are waking up to the fact that those prices won't support a viable business with a plan for succession.
In short, the old prices didn't reflect the actual costs of the work.

 

[Pieter12]

Camera repair prices seem particularly illogical. As most of the examples referred to in this thread don't appear to involve cameras for which replacement parts are available, I would suggest that the only role that "inflation" is playing in recent changes is that the technicians who had very low prices in the past are waking up to the fact that those prices won't support a viable business with a plan for succession.
In short, the old prices didn't reflect the actual costs of the work.

Add to that as the supply of replacement parts gets smaller, the price of those parts will tend to increase.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Or to people just sucking it up and paying it, which I plan to. The thing is, yes you might be able to buy another camera for less money, but even if it's ok right then how long before IT has problems? Pay for a good CLA and going over and you're likely good for a while.

It costs what it costs.

But then you know that you have a good camera. Running out and buying another camera instead results in a camera of unknown condition and back as square one with an extra camera.