Inflation on Steroids - Camera Repair and Service Pricing

[Pieter12]

Has a technician ever informed you of that recommendation/opinion?

Yes

 

[Roger Cole]

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.

That’s exactly what I said.

 

[Pieter12]

That’s exactly what I said.

It's still a bit of a crap shoot. A camera that has been inspected, lubricated and repaired is no guarantee that something might go wrong with it down the road, especially if there are electronics involved. An older camera is an older camera. And even new ones can have problems.

 

[btaylor]

I think a lot of this comes down to how you view your gear. I like my gear to be in functional, reliable condition. Which in many cases would preclude buying the $50 (or whatever) replacement of unknown condition instead of paying the repair person the $200 to fix what I already know and have. For me it isn’t so much about the dollars and cents, but what I want to have and use. And yea, I think repair people are in most cases charging far too little!
In my repair business it would not be unusual for the repairs needed to equal or exceed the value of the vehicle. Buying a replacement of equal or less value would be no guarantee against future service expenses, in fact it just adds uncertainty.

 

[Roger Cole]

It's still a bit of a crap shoot. A camera that has been inspected, lubricated and repaired is no guarantee that something might go wrong with it down the road, especially if there are electronics involved. An older camera is an older camera. And even new ones can have problems.

Sure - but it’s a crap shoot with way better odds than another camera bought WITHOUT such. It’s the approach I’m taking anyway.

 

[Sirius Glass]

It's still a bit of a crap shoot. A camera that has been inspected, lubricated and repaired is no guarantee that something might go wrong with it down the road, especially if there are electronics involved. An older camera is an older camera. And even new ones can have problems.

Poster child, like me, for mechanical cameras.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Sure - but it’s a crap shoot with way better odds than another camera bought WITHOUT such. It’s the approach I’m taking anyway.

Or you could buy from KEH and they will do a free CLA in the first six months if necessary.

 

[ic-racer]

Photography, in general, is not worth it to me if someone else does the work. Be it processing, printing, obtaining and maintaining the equipment, setting up the tripod and even releasing the shutter.
If bitcoin has any value due to the energy expended finding the hash every 15 minutes, then my prints have value beyond the silver image due to the energy I expended in the above process.

 

[Pieter12]

is not worth it to me if someone else does the work. Be it processing, printing, obtaining and maintaining the equipment,

How do you maintain equipment with a proper manual or replacement parts? The Rollei Hy6 comes to mind, just because I have a couple that are not up to par.

 

[Bill Burk]

Repairing cameras is not a cheap hobby. Just look what 425 euro will get you!

With one set of tips, and of course you’ll want them all.

 

[ic-racer]

How do you maintain equipment with a proper manual or replacement parts? The Rollei Hy6 comes to mind, just because I have a couple that are not up to par.

How do you maintain equipment with a proper manual or replacement parts? The Rollei Hy6 comes to mind, just because I have a couple that are not up to par.

Once electronic stuff is out of warranty that can be an unsolvable issue. Issues with the body or back?

 

[Pieter12]

Once electronic stuff is out of warranty that can be an unsolvable issue. Issues with the body or back?

The film back, but it could be originating or at least partially coming from the body as well. And there's a sticky wheel (not to the touch, but sometimes unresponsive) on the body. I intend to send the whole works back to the factory for a thorough going-over. The U.S. tech just can't get parts. Eric at Rolleiflex USA has been most helpful, but it really needs to be worked on by someone with the proper resources. Plus, I have an older Leaf body that I would like to upgrade to Mod2.

 

[John Koehrer]

Let's see. Big Mac fries and drink pushing $10.
Biggish bucks for camera repair? Gosharooty
Wonder why? Maybe for food and shelter?

What's it cost for a cla on a Buick?

 

[Pieter12]

Let's see. Big Mac fries and drink pushing $10.
Biggish bucks for camera repair? Gosharooty
Wonder why? Maybe for food and shelter?

What's it cost for a cla on a Buick?

There are probably more parts available for that Buick than for your camera. And more people who can work on it.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

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

This old man's bad back makes it hard to get my socks on, Stan. Getting old stinks. Let's be thankful we can still aim a camera.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

As the popularity of film cameras increases with no increase in film cameras, no new cameras, and the number of techs remains the same, prices will escalate a lot. Supply and demand. Also, inflation is reducing the purchasing power of each dollar, pound, or EU. So you need more of them for the same camera repair or anything else for that matter.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

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.

It could be that their repair prices originally couldn't be higher than the purchase prices to replace the camera. So they had to keep them low just to get the service work. Now that purchase prices for used cameras have gone up, the higher charges for repair can be justified and will be accepted by customers.

 

[Bill Burk]

There’s always some challenge. The old scope had fritzed on me decades ago so I put it away until now. On a rheostat I found it was fine at 80 volts line power. Mouser came through with some high voltage capacitors and the first one worked, got it on the line now.

Although this reveals shutter time, it doesn’t measure curtain speed.

I’ll need a two sensor arrangement to get that info.

 

[Pieter12]

As the popularity of film cameras increases with no increase in film cameras, no new cameras, and the number of techs remains the same, prices will escalate a lot. Supply and demand. Also, inflation is reducing the purchasing power of each dollar, pound, or EU. So you need more of them for the same camera repair or anything else for that matter.

The general cost of doing business increases with inflation. Labor is the largest part of camera repair, parts are usually not that much by comparison.

 

[Sirius Glass]

The general cost of doing business increases with inflation. Labor is the largest part of camera repair, parts are usually not that much by comparison.

Unless the parts you need are no longer available, and then you have to pay for the parts made out of unobtainium.

 

[Roger Cole]

Sometimes parts for purely mechanical cameras can be fabricated, if they are simple ones (I recall someone going to a machine shop and having the focusing rail for a Technika III fabricated) and if it's cost effective - or just worth it to the owner. Unlikely with more complex parts, but some are simple enough.

 

[Pieter12]

Loosely related, the Academy of Art University in San Francisco has an industrial design program offering an associate degree in auto restoration. Maybe they could add one for photo equipment restoration?

 

[jtk]

Loosely related, the Academy of Art University in San Francisco has an industrial design program offering an associate degree in auto restoration. Maybe they could add one for photo equipment restoration?

Does the photo equipment repair fantasy in Finland actually exist?

 

[flavio81]

It's still a bit of a crap shoot. A camera that has been inspected, lubricated and repaired is no guarantee that something might go wrong with it down the road, especially if there are electronics involved. An older camera is an older camera. And even new ones can have problems.

Yes. Don't buy electronic cameras. Leave all of them to me, so I can buy them at ridiculously low prices and make them work splendidly for years.

 

[flavio81]

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.

Camera tech here, so maybe I can offer some comments.

The first thing you need to look is if the technician you are hiring is really a good one (look for feedback around) or a bad one. TONS of bad camera technicians are out there and they can (and will) ruin perfectly fine cameras. Then they will hand them back to you saying things like "the electronics are dead and there's no replacement" or lies like that, and will still charge you.

So first, filter out the bad technicians out. More on this later.

Then, you need to consider the complexity of the work involved. To properly service a camera you need quite a big amount of fundamental knowledge, that also needs to cover very different types of cameras (i.e. rangefinder, SLR, TLR, etc), shutters (FP horizontal, FP vertical, leaf (many subtypes), different shutter control systems), and specific use of materials and chemicals (i.e. correct lubricants, adhesives, solvents for each kind of material, etc).

And then you need to have practical prior experience with the specific camera you want to service, otherwise the task is risky and/or lengthier than usual.

You need all sorts of tools, some of them specific to the camera model, some of them will need to be made. Some tools are expensive.

Doing a proper "CLA" on a SLR camera can easily take more than 5 hours of almost-non-stop, no-interruptions-allowed work. Or days. This will involve stripping the camera completely, cleaning (which might involve ultrasonic cleaning or removing all kinds of stubborn gunk), relubing, checking shutter curtain times and readjusting tension, renewing curtain brakes if there are bounce problems, checking flange-to-rail length and paralellism, checking or readjusting focusing screen for correct focus, same for mirror angle, readjusting metering for the whole range (dark, middle, bright EVs), Then assembling everything again, some parts have specific positions and tolerances... If the camera has an AE circuit you also nee sure it's exposing correctly, no matter what the meter reads. And then there's the light seals topic, which isn't trivial on some machines. I'm sure i'm leaving things out right now.

Just multiply time for a reasonable hourly rate and you'll have an idea of how to charge.

And now demand is higher than ever, obviously one would like to increase charges; and one technician alone might probably have more demand than he/she is capable of meet giving honest, quality service. People think "it's cheaper to buy another camera from eBay" but, most likely, that "other" camera will require service sooner or later.

Wanna do it yourself? You're welcome to learn the trade. Just let me be clear -- it's not easy or quick to learn. Is the camera electronic? You need to know electronics too, and have gentle hands not to break flex circuits, and very good soldering technique.

So, there are also the cheap, filthy route of cheap and dirty camera repair. You give your camera to a so-called "technician" whose only knowledge is to follow what a Youtube video says. This "technician" will just open one of the camera covers, squirt some naptha or (worse) some WD40 into your camera until it works and then call it a day. Or readjust curtain tension without even opening the camera, making it fail months later. That's not camera service so it should be even left out of this discussion.