Recommendations for Nikon RF repair/CLA

[ClayH]

Any recommendations for good service people to clean up and repair a Nikon S4? Any kudos or cautions for certain repair people? Thanks!

[NIKON KIU]

FOTOCAMERA REPAIR in Florida
NIKONSMITH@AOL.COM
PHONE (561)433-8434
Pete Smith is highly recommended

Essex Camera service inc. in New Jersey
PHONE (201) 933-7272
www.essexcamera.com
Highly recommended

Stephen Gandy in California
www.cameraquest.com
Recommended


Hope this helps,

Kiu

[Honu-Hugger]

Thank you from me, too.

[Mackinaw]

I can second Stephen Gandy. His repair tech took my basket-case Nikon M and made it a real, functioning camera again.

Jim Bielecki

[VinceC]

I'll third Gandy. His folks just did a major overhaul on my extremely beat-up SP and did a fantastic job. They did a full shutter overhaul and curtain replacement, replaced broken front glass, fixed an unreliable flash sync and did wonders for a dim viewfinder, making it seem almost new again.

[BillBingham2]

I'll 4th Stephen. I sent a S2 directly to him and it came back great. I have many dealing with him (have purchased several Bessa bodys and lenses (including a 25/4 for my S2 that I LOVE) and always found him a very straight shooter.

B2 (;->

[Brian Sweeney]

All good places for repair and CLA.

What is wrong with the S4? I suspect you already know it is fairly rare among the Nikon RF's. It was never imported into the US, the ones here "in the day" were normally bought through the PX system be servicemen overseas. Look for a "EP" for Exchange-Post and distance scale in "feet".

[resummerfield]

Pete Smith at FOTOCAMERA in Florida is OUTSTANDING!

[NIKON KIU]

Stephen Gandy is a straight shooter but he is a busy man. His rpair guy does a lotta Leica work too, his turnaround time(I think) is about 2 months.
Pete is a master Nikon Repairman, he'll fix anything from a Nikon M to F5 and he is got a great sense of humor. The best thing about him is that he is fast and a little cheaper, about 20% less, and he knows Nikons.
I am guessing you are looking to CLA your S4 thinking it needs repair because the slow shutter speeds are erratic or too fast. If thats the case just ask for a CLA first.

...normally bought through the PX system by servicemen overseas. Look for a "EP" for Exchange-Post and distance scale in "feet".

Out of the 6000 S4s made only 10% were sold tru the Post Exchange....so Brian's S4 is rare and actualy most got sold in Japan(or here as gray market) and are in meters.
Kiu

[CameraQuest]

Originally Posted by NIKON KIU

Stephen Gandy is a straight shooter but he is a busy man. His rpair guy does a lotta Leica work too, his turnaround time(I think) is about 2 months.

Out of the 6000 S4s made only 10% were sold tru the Post Exchange....so Brian's S4 is rare and actualy most got sold in Japan(or here as gray market) and are in meters.
Kiu

Pete is friend, and I have no doubts he will do an excellent job. However turnraound time for Nikon RF CLA's at CameraQuest averages 3 to 4 weeks after receipt -- not two months.

Nikons were not sold gray market in the US at that time, nor were any other German or Japanese cameras for that matter. The camera graymarket simply did not exist in the US at that point in time. Check the old US photo magazine ads -- you won't find ads for gray market cameras. For that reason S4's were long abnormally rare in the US, while easy to find and unwanted in Japan.


The estimate I made on my S4 page about 10% going to the PX was just a guess based upon my experience. The actual figure could easily vary 50% or more in either direction. We simply don't know the exact figures.

Stephen

[VinceC]

I'll confirm Stephen's one-month turnaround time this past January on a camera that needed extensive overhaul.

[NIKON KIU]

Originally Posted by CameraQuest

Nikons were not sold gray market in the US at that time, ....

The estimate I made on my S4 page about 10% going to the PX was just a guess based upon my experience. The actual figure could easily vary 50% or more in either direction. We simply don't know the exact figures.

Stephen

Thanks for clearing that up Stephen...The 10% guesstimate I mentioned is not written in stone it was my own personal guess after tracking the S4s for the last few years.
Kiu

[ZivcoPhoto]

When did the term greymarket come to be in the photo business Stephen?

I bought my Nikon F in June of 1967 while stationed in Germany from IMCO Distributors, a Nikon dealer out of Holland which catered to U.S. military personnel via the mail overseas. I think I paid $175 or so for the plain Jane F with the eyelevel prism finder and 50mm F2 lens. When you overhauled it 18 months ago it was the first time it had ever been worked on....so it must have been the real deal to have lasted as long. I certainly didn't want to pay Ehrenreich(?) Photo Optical, the U.S.A. distributor at the time, the high premium they where charging for a USA bought camera.

I wonder if Ehrenreich (?) would have repaired my Nikon under warranty at the time should it have needed service that first year when I was back in the states.

[VinceC]

The term Greymarket has been around at least for the 25 years I've been paying attention to this stuff. It doesn't in any way mean it's lesser merchanidise, just that it doesn't have the backing of the manufacturer's official U.S. distributor.

U.S. troops overseas have always represented somethng of a "gray marekt" that most people don't pay attention to (I lived overseas for 12 years and worked for Stars and Stripes most of tht time). Businessmen knew there were more than half a million Americans at bases overseas (and that there are still close to a quarter-million Americans stationed overseas, not counting the Iraq and Afghanistan deployments). A lot of the Nikon RFs were bought and circulated by servicemembers (and helpfully have special EP markings). Canon RFs were more affordable and so it's likely that a good share of them were originally bought in PXs or by some other distributor like the IMCO people mentioned above. Service members were actually some of the original target customers for both cameras ... immediately after the war, the Japanese optical companies looked around and saw that American troops seemed to have the most dollars to spend. It's not much different today in Iraq, where everyone's got a digital camera and digital video camcorder.

Warranty repairs have always been a problem for stuff bought by American troops overseas, because they're outside the awareness of U.S companies. New car sales have always been popular at overseas bases .... buying American cars at PXs overseas ... but until fairly recently, the stateside dealerships have been very uneven about repairing them under warranty upon returning to the states.

[BillBingham2]

I got mine (an S2) back from Stephen early in the third week, he had her for CLA.

I remember the gray market being in place in the very early 70’s when I got my first SLR (Nikkormat FTn). I did not go gray market as I got a great deal through where my father worked. When I did go gray, a friend was going over to HK, I paid more than I would have here in the US (he made a mistake in the exchange rate).

My father said that pilots would buy cameras and bring them back to the US and sell them here for year (that was an early 70’s story). One of my first photography teachers had a sister who was a flight attendant who did that, I got a few filters through her at a great price.

I would bet that the gray market started in the late 60s early 70s. I know Helix here in Chicago did a lot that way, in NYC (my old stomping grounds) there were dozens in 70s and 80s.

You would think that if US distributors had a clue, they would help out the solders coming home after serving our country. If it had an EP on her, they should fix it free the first time and discount the second.

BTW, if you do not have a 135, KIU has two at a GREAT price in on of the other forums. I would buy them, but I already have one.

B2 (;->

[Mister E]

So is Pete Smith still in business?

[Mister E]

Pete Smith got back to me and his new information is:

Pete Smith c/o Delray Camera shop
186 N.E. 2nd Ave.
Delray Beach, FL 33444
561-433-8434

[gzuiko]

Eddy fixed the shutter on my Nikon S and did a wonderful job in less than a week for less than $100.

>Edward Smolov
>1660 E 21st Street #3D
>Brooklyn, NY 11210
>
>347 922-7275 or 718 541- 0952

[gzuiko]

Oh, sorry to hear that Dan. I was afraid he wasn't going to be there forever. Great guy. I hope he's okay.

Jim

[ray*j*gun]

Originally Posted by Mister E

So is Pete Smith still in business?

I tried to use Steve last month and was told he was retired. Are you sure he is working Mr E?

[ray*j*gun]

Originally Posted by gzuiko

Oh, sorry to hear that Dan. I was afraid he wasn't going to be there forever. Great guy. I hope he's okay.

Jim

That is bad news!!! He is a great guy and did excellent work.

[PKR]

Originally Posted by CameraQuest

Pete is friend, and I have no doubts he will do an excellent job. However turnraound time for Nikon RF CLA's at CameraQuest averages 3 to 4 weeks after receipt -- not two months.

Nikons were not sold gray market in the US at that time, nor were any other German or Japanese cameras for that matter. The camera graymarket simply did not exist in the US at that point in time. Check the old US photo magazine ads -- you won't find ads for gray market cameras. For that reason S4's were long abnormally rare in the US, while easy to find and unwanted in Japan.


The estimate I made on my S4 page about 10% going to the PX was just a guess based upon my experience. The actual figure could easily vary 50% or more in either direction. We simply don't know the exact figures.

Stephen

Hey Bartender.. correct me if I'm wrong on the gray market thing: Nikon's USA distribution was through EPOI until the owner died and his son didn't want to run the company. The son sold the EPOI stock (Nikon already held a%) back to Nikon and the new company became Nikon USA. The distribution in other parts of the world were set up in the same manor, ie. Nikon Canada, Germany, etc. The selling group was responsible for repair, advertising, etc. for their country or territory. This was the beginning of gray market. Does this sound accurate? I don't know all the facts, I just watched it happpen. p.

[jwnash1]

I recently had a CLA done on a Nikon-S and the shutter curtain replaced by Fedka.Com The service was great, Yuri stayed in touch with me via email constantly, discussing issues with the camera and advising me of the status. The turnaround time was very fast and the cost was very reasonable. I think you cannot go wrong using Yuri for a Contax, Nikon, or Kiev and I suspect the same applies for a Leica screwmount and its Russian clones.
John