Author Topic: Olympus film camera reapir in the states?  (Read 820 times)

astrobeck

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Olympus film camera reapir in the states?
« on: September 06, 2019, 06:45:19 PM »
Hi!
Does anyone know of or have any experience on Olympus repair places n the USA?
I've got a Pen EES-2 that needs some care....
thanks!

Indofunk

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Re: Olympus film camera reapir in the states?
« Reply #1 on: September 07, 2019, 02:56:55 AM »
I got my XA serviced here: http://www.zuiko.com/

However, I can't recommend him highly ... he was very curt and disagreeable over email, and took a long time to repair my XA (it was about 4 months ... though in retrospect that's only slightly longer than most other camera repairs I've had). He might be the only (or best qualified) Olympus technician around, and if so then go with him, but prepare yourself for some less-than-ideal email exchanges  ::)

Indofunk

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Re: Olympus film camera reapir in the states?
« Reply #2 on: September 07, 2019, 03:06:24 AM »
Oh, the repair itself ;D Admittedly, I sent him a camera that was dropped (by me) and repaired pretty poorly (by someone else), and he managed to bring it back to about a 90% working condition, so I'd say his repair skills are pretty good. Note that this was well beyond a CLA, it was pretty much an entire overhaul, and he replaced a bunch of the external plastic cover parts. And his rates were very fair too.

astrobeck

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Re: Olympus film camera reapir in the states?
« Reply #3 on: September 07, 2019, 06:13:39 AM »
Thanks, I found him a couple days ago when I first started looking and he won't do it.
I may have to try it myself.....ack!

Indofunk

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Re: Olympus film camera reapir in the states?
« Reply #4 on: September 07, 2019, 01:58:56 PM »
You dodged a bullet there, believe me ;)

Francois

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Re: Olympus film camera reapir in the states?
« Reply #5 on: September 07, 2019, 09:06:23 PM »
From memory, Olympus cameras are pretty well laid-out inside, so minor repairs should be doable.
But from experience when trying to fix a Trip35, the success rate is not guaranteed on those.
Thing is if you have to get inside the lens for the repair, you're definitely looking for trouble. To access the inside from the front, under the lens bezel in the center of the meter ring, there are screws that are glued with white paint. To remove those screws, you have to unscrew the lens elements. But by doing so you loose all focus indications, so the lens needs to be collimated. But the camera doesn't have a B mode. So you have to peel back the front leather to access the lensboard screws. Once the lens is loose, if you haven't broken the meter wires yet, there is, from memory, a barrel piece with a small hole in it. You rotate it until the shutter is open, use a staple to keep it open, screw the lensboard back, collimate the lens, lock it in place using the set screws on the lens bezel, remove the lens board, remove the staple, re-screw the lens board on and re-apply the leatherette.

That's the reason why I've had a broken Trip35 on a shelf for more then 10 years...
Francois

Film is the vinyl record of photography.