Servicing Canon 7. Where ?

taffer · 05-30-2004

Hi folks,

well I may be in what seems a good deal on a user Canon 7 body. Nice condition, the old selenium meter doesn't work (who needs one anyway

) and the need for service comes from the 1/500 and 1/1000 shutter speeds in need of adjustment.

Price is $135, so I think it's not a bad deal even if I have to send it for a service. My question is WHERE could I send this baby in the US so the service is made 'down the road' ?

Should be willing to ship via USPS airmail to Spain after the service, so if you know of a place like that with good reputation, I'd be really glad to know. Anyway I'll mail my usual repair service here and ask them if they can work on that model.

Yeah my first choice was the P (it is soooo beautiful), but they're fetching collectors prices lately, I've just been outbid again, and then I've just found this 'ugly duck' 7 for sale in photo.net...

I may even be happy with the change, seems the 35 framelines on the P are not easily seen if you wear glasses.

Thanks a lot in advanced for your help friends !

Oscar

Brian Sweeney · 05-30-2004

My Canon 7 shutter siezed up not long ago and I sent it to Essex camera repair in New Jersey. $138 which included return shipping. Of course, shipping to Spain will be more expensive and you will need to be careful with how it is declared on Customs. You do not want to pay a tariff on your own camera! EMail Essex in advance. I prepaid by check and it was gone for a total of 12 days. Came back working like new, crystal clear finder, and with a 6 month warranty on the work. You might even inquire about the meter, I imagine if anyone has replacement parts it is them.

Although I do not have a Canon P, I would think that its non-projected framelines are not as good as the projected, parallax corrected framelines on the Canon 7. That is what sets the SP apart from the S3 in the Nikon line. I have no trouble with the 35mm lines on the Canon 7. Perhaps the selenium "bug-eyes" do not make it as pretty as the "P" or "SP", but you look through the finder to take a picture, not at the front of the camera. The meter on mine is accurate, but I always have to remember to switch the Hi/Lo selector for heavy shade.

http://essexcamera.com/camera_list.php?brand=CANON

taffer · 05-31-2004

Brian, again thanks a lot for your help. Yeah the finder on the 7 is according to all I've read better than the one on the P, and everybody claims the 7 is the perfect user.

I'm waiting for confirmation from the seller to know if it's still available, eBay may be fantastic to 'find' things, but if you're 'looking for' something specific, you may receive nothing more than dissappointments...

I'll keep you informed !

Oscar

Rich Silfver · 05-31-2004

I wouldn't call the 7 an ugly duckling ;-)

Look at this beauty in black....... http://www60.tok2.com/home/collector/black_canon.html

Doug · 05-31-2004

That black one is a beauty alright! But HOW did that 35mm Summicron get fitted. Those weren't supplied in screw mount were they? Nor in black finish? Whatever, that's a great looking rig.

taffer · 05-31-2004

Whoa ! but look what you've just done Richard !! Now I don't want one... I NEED one !!!

The silver ugly duck turned into a beautiful black swan after all...

Rich Silfver · 05-31-2004

You know...you can have the chrome cameras 'blackened' professionally...I've seen examples that look absolutely stunning!

TO DO IT YOURSELF:
Even the Fed's do it... http://www.geocities.com/fzorkis/black.html

A LOT of information here: http://medfmt.8k.com/mf/paint.html

TO HAVE IT DONE PROFESSIONALLY:

Shintaro Yaginuma seems to be 'the Man' for repaint work...

Check out: http://www.nemeng.com/leica/004b.shtml for some info on him.
He has his own page at: http://homepage2.nifty.com/Shintaro/top1.html

Hmm....Now *I* want to paint something... Maybe a black Olympus 35RC.....

But...be careful out there...or you may just end up with... http://brunerdog.tripod.com/canonproject.html

taffer · 06-01-2004

Richard, curiously you've completely rebuilt the history that ended with me buying my first rf camera (fed-2) and hence visiting this forum for first time almost a year ago...

In the medfmt page you mention you can scroll down a bit and you'll find a guy asking how to retouch black paint in a worn srt camera... maybe he'll be a bit familiar to you...

So you've just closed the circle here ! hehe...

Hey that black canonet looks cool, I've even been surprised when I've seen the back can in fact be opened... not too sure about moving the lens rings...

Anyone with the knowledge, tools, time and money to start his own black paint project ???

Brian Sweeney · 06-01-2004

Shintaro will not paint Canon cameras. Nikon,Leica...No Canon 7 or before the Vt. That is from his website. The paint job is beautiful, but you will have to send him your SP or M3. Of course others will do the Canon cameras.

taffer · 06-02-2004

Ok, so the thing is finally done !

$135 plus shipping. I'm probably having it sent directly here, as I have another couple of cameras in need of service (either here at my local store or out there in Europe or the US). This local store has had some 7's for sale (they had the whole 'Canon dream' in fact and now only the 0.95 lens) for a while, so I suppose they know how to service them.

And if not, it will return to the US to visit Essex in some time, no much of a problem anyway.

Now where's that black Canon 35/2 hiding ???

Oscar

Brian Sweeney · 06-02-2004

Well fellow Canon 7 user,
Just in case you want to Do it Yourself, or the local store does not have the repair manual. Free Canon 7 repair manual for the downloading.

http://www.kyphoto.com/classics/repairmanuals.html

taffer · 06-02-2004

Brian, again thanks a lot !

According to your previous posts you seem to like a lot the 7, and I admit I'm impatient to try it.

It is suposed to be working perfectly except for that two speeds, which doesn't seem like a so urgent problem to solve, and as I said I can always send it to Essex together with my Rollei if the local store doesn't convince me.

The seller is the same you bought one of your SPs from (again according to a previous post of yours), and from time to time he places some really interesting sale ad's in photo.net...

Time to dust off that LTM Jupiter-8 and give it a try on a 'modern' LTM body :-)

Will keep you up to date and of course, will post some results. That 7 is going to shoot from the first day !