Kowa Lens Service

[thornhill]

Does anybody know of a repair shop in North America that's good for servicing the Seikosha shutters that are in Kowa MF lenses?

I know about the "Kowa guru" in Los Angeles. I am hoping there's someone else I could deal with.

Thanks!

 

[Alex Varas]

That service I think any good repairman can do. Same shutter as RB67 lenses.
Dismounting the lens and getting the shutter out is ‘easy’, no tricks. The most tricky part is when removing the aperture with the shutter carcass to clean shutter blades, the rotating part is full of small bearings and brass sticks, easily to loose if you don’t know they are there.

Here a video I made time ago, just assembling the lens back.

 

[Paul Howell]

Ross Yerkes in LA, as I recall he is trained Kowa service tech, bought all the parts when Kowa left the market. I had my Super 66 serviced by him years ago. But there have been post when when he sends back a camera he includes Racist rants. He does not have a web site,

Ross Yerkes Camera Repair
4.0(16) · Camera repair shop
10+ years in business · Los Angeles, CA · (323) 256-1018

 

[btaylor]

As thornhill says, he knows about the guy in LA (Yerkes).
Ross has mainly gone off on antisemitic and LGBTQ+ culture war issues lately, the race stuff has trailed off.
He worked on my Kowa gear and did a nice job a number of years ago.
Paul Ebel fixed the shutter on my 250mm Kowa Six lens last time.

 

[thornhill]

I don't concern myself all that much about other people's beliefs or politics. I've dealt with Ross over a couple of decades and used to get good, reliable work from him. It's sad to say, but that hasn't been the case over the last three years or so. Time catches up to everyone, and I'm hoping to find someone else.

 

[btaylor]

When I quit using his services I also had quality issues- three jobs, all went back again. He got it mostly right on the second time around.

 

[thornhill]

That's good to hear, but you're living in the same city. I'm in the next country and CanadaPost ain't cheap. I might consider sending it off the continent if I knew it would only need to get done once.

 

[btaylor]

Three come-backs? Yikes, that’s three strikes in my book. He is actually a short distance away, I can drive there in 6 minutes. But I send my gear to trusted technicians in distant cities and they come back right the first time.

 

[thornhill]

Thank-you for posting that video, Alex. That's most informative.

That service I think any good repairman can do. Same shutter as RB67 lenses.
Dismounting the lens and getting the shutter out is ‘easy’, no tricks. The most tricky part is when removing the aperture with the shutter carcass to clean shutter blades, the rotating part is full of small bearings and brass sticks, easily to loose if you don’t know they are there.

Here a video I made time ago, just assembling the lens back.

 

[thornhill]

Three come-backs? Yikes, that’s three strikes in my book. He is actually a short distance away, I can drive there in 6 minutes. But I send my gear to trusted technicians in distant cities and they come back right the first time.

Oh yeah, I fully agree with you on that. How long ago were you dealing with Paul Ebel? I've heard nothing but good things about him but, none of it was very recent.

 

[btaylor]

I believe I had him do a CLA on a Rolleiflex about 2 years ago. Good work and reasonable. But I don’t know if he is still working. Good luck!

 

[Paul Howell]

The few times I sent him my Kowas and later a Argus C3 he did a good job, he must be in his late 70s to early 80s, might younger folks doing the work.