Repair course for mechanical cameras (1930s-1950s)

[TXGR]

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Is there any place or anyone still offering a course or class in mechanical camera repair?

I've had most of my Leicas CLA'd by a shop in Thailand. He also managed to repair my Ansco TLR. There was a guy in New York who worked for Olympus for 20 years who used to repair OM cameras. There was a guy in Sacramento who specialized in Zeiss pre-war cameras. I sent him a Contax to CLA and repair, but he had it over a year before he could get to it. Now it is flawless, but he was in his late 70's years ago. I took my dad's mid-60's Nikon SLR to a Nikon specialty repair shop in Tokyo run by former Nikon engineers and technicians. They even manufacture some replacement parts. They won't take overseas repair work, so I arranged for a two-way layover to drop off the camera and pick it up 3 weeks later. Everyone in that office are past retirement age. Apparently, many of them only work part time more as a hobby than as "work."

So, I am very concerned about how I'll get my cameras serviced in 20 years. Getting some formal training from somebody who actually has experience working on these cameras seems like a wise idea.

If anyone know of a place, school, or teacher, especially for Barnack Leicas, but really for any mechanical camera, I'd be interested to know.

FWIW, I did try a search with no luck.

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[frame-it]

probably have to buy a few cameras off ebay, and start practicing disassembling and re-assembling them, almost all the user/maintenance manuals for most cameras are available online

 

someone gave me these links to read a few years back, though finally i never opened up any of my cameras.

https://learncamerarepair.com/productlist.php?category=2

 

https://mattsclassiccameras.com/how-to/general-repair-tips/

https://mattsclassiccameras.com/how-to/camera-manuals/

https://www.micro-tools.com/

 

https://www.youtube.com/@mikeno62/videos

 

 

 

Edited August 2, 2024 by frame-it

[spydrxx]

Tomosy's books (out of print, but occasionally found in bookstores, libraries, or for sale online) can be a reasonable starting point for analog cameras.

[TXGR]

Thanks for the replies.

I have several cameras from eBay which have an array of what I am sure are relatively simple issues and a couple of bodies donated to me as DOA. I had a Primo JR TLR (127 4x4) that I did successfully repair. I completely took apart the advance and counter mechanisms. The only thing I didn't do was disassemble the shutter. I have another camera, a Tower 44B, in which I've disassembled it, including the shutter, and I now have all the tools and other things I need to put it back together. I've watched a number of videos, but I think hands-on work with a mentor is better. Of course, I don't want to make the perfect the enemy of the good. 

Thanks for the links.

[spydrxx]

Just noticed this on another forum.

Digitiser of Film

 

Join Date: Mar 2010

Location: North East of England

Posts: 21,346

Has anyone read the "Camera Repair Course" at learncamerarepair.com?

 

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After various Google searches for different things over the last few years, I've occasionally clicked on links to learncamerarepair.com - but only tonight have I discovered they have a complete self-study "Camera Repair Course" available for free download. It's a full reproduction (with permission) of the 1978 National Camera "Photo Equipment Technician" course, and covers all manner of testing, diagnosis, disassembly and repair subjects for various shutter types, manual and automatic film transport systems, viewfinding systems, focusing and rangefinding systems.

Obviously it's dated, but a lot of the equipment I'm interested in is vintage, and this seems like a fantastic resource if time is taken to study it fully. I'm wondering if anyone has done so, and whether you felt it was comprehensive enough to teach repair skills without a dedicated tutor (though with practice, of course)...

 

Read more at: https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/173-general-photography/434561-has-anyone-read-camera-repair-course-learncamerarepair-com.html#ixzz8ho2YMVXp

[250swb]

Learn Camera Repair also has a Facebook group which may be helpful for specific problems. I've used them a bit in the past for information but I think maybe the main lessons to learn are the principles of camera construction and operation which allows a repairer to approach cameras and lenses they haven't worked on before. 

There is also Richard Haw's fabulous web site

https://richardhaw.com/

and on You Tube the comprehensive repair work of

https://www.youtube.com/@mikeno62