Quote:
Originally Posted by jfarmato
Anyone experience such a thing. I’m assuming buying a new body is going to be way cheaper than doing a repair.
Thanks in advance.
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It is possible a new body would be cheaper than having it repaired, then again, there are no “new” bodies, only different old ones.
Kyocera itself stopped servicing Contax bodies and lenses a few years ago, but it’s something of a widely believed myth that because of this they are not repairable, or that there “are no parts”. In a way, that’s a benefit to would be camera buyers as it has kept the prices of Contax bodies well below what they would merit if quality was the only consideration.
Nippon Photo Clinic in NYC became the
de facto Contax repair center in the U.S. after Kyocera bowed out. Kyocera referred all repair work to them at the time. Whether or not Kyocera transferred all its remaining parts inventory to them, I don’t know, but they have always had the parts for every Contax camera I have sent them over time, including a 645 shutter assembly, and a new mirror box for a jammed ST on which they did a full overhaul for me two weeks ago. Odds are they can repair your G1, if you wanted it repaired. Odds are, yes, it would cost as much as finding another cheap used one, but it’s also possible the repaired one would last longer than another used one you found today. Like many things, you pays your money and you takes your chances.
As a point of reference, it cost me $326 to get my ST overhauled, and I could have purchased any of a number of different ST bodies off ebay for that amount, or less, but I like the camera, and thought repairing one I was familiar with would, hopefully, be more reliable than taking a chance on another, unrepaired, old one. Maybe so, maybe no, time will tell.
The point is, anyone wanting any Contax camera repaired, that option is almost certainly there, at least for now. They can generally service lenses as well.
Just contact them if you are interested. You send them your camera and within two weeks, usually, they contact you with a repair estimate. If it is more than you want to spend, they will return the camera, and all you are out is shipping. For your G1, it will probably be at least $200, and maybe as much as the cost of another used G1, so whether that makes sense for you is up to you.
Hope this helps.
I had the same issue with my Contax Aria (although no rewind with no film). I sold it “for repairs”.
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