whitecat
Lone Range(find)er
This guy is overrated. Period.
monemmer
Established
I agree that he is overrated. I bought an Agfa Isolette from him, and he 'prepared' it for me after I sent the money. When I got it it looked fine, the bellows he put on it is really nice. However, when I measured the speeds of the Prontor shutter, I discovered that all were slow by about one stop. I emailed him about it and he answered that Protor shutters usually are always fine an he does not do a CLA on them when they sound good. (What kind of 'bench' does he have??). Some more back and forth and I decided to try to fix it myself, which I eventually did after some time. I did not feel like sending it back to him so he could perhaps put another 'reliable' Prontor shutter on it.
This is what got me started on classic camera repair and restoration, I guess I should thank him...
- Markus
This is what got me started on classic camera repair and restoration, I guess I should thank him...
- Markus
Windscale
Well-known
I have an Isolette for CLA. I was going to send it to Certo6. But I am having second thoughts. Please someone post the address and email etc of Essex Camera. Thanks.
literiter
Well-known
There was a set of filters from him that I Ebay'd. I forget the circumstances but I had a question when I received them and was given a rather terse reply. He is a bit of a grump. (I prefer to do my own repairs like Fallisphoto and others.)
His enthusiasm for the Certo 6, Ikontas and other cameras on his excellent web site is well received however.
Not to cast the guy any laurels I will say that taking on the task of repairing old cameras for a living is daunting. I sure as heck wouldn't try it.
For an example: I "overhauled" a ancient Super Ikonta B. Completely cleaned and lubricated the film advance mechanism, which means I removed all the guts, washed them in white gas, then alcohol, reassembled and carefully lubricated. I cleaned and adjusted the focus mechanism etc.
Then the shutter lens assembly; I did the same.
When I'd finished it worked perfectly, I ran out and shot a roll of film...perfect.
So I made the error of taking the thing on holidays and since I'd not tightened one of the screws in the slow speed escapement there were problems. Subsequently I found a pinhole, recently formed, in the 60 year old bellows, and the focus seems to have readjusted itself.
At this point, after attending to a few more tiny issues I again have a camera.
The issues the camera had;
-dried grease (as hard as paint)
-aging bellows
-stripped threads on screws from earlier repairs
-cloudy glass
-added things like PC outlet for flash
-rather high expectations from a front cell focus and uncoated lens.
-rather high expectations from a ancient shutter. (I've heard that 20% accuracy isn't bad!)
-Unrealistic expectations from a 60+ year old camera.
His enthusiasm for the Certo 6, Ikontas and other cameras on his excellent web site is well received however.
Not to cast the guy any laurels I will say that taking on the task of repairing old cameras for a living is daunting. I sure as heck wouldn't try it.
For an example: I "overhauled" a ancient Super Ikonta B. Completely cleaned and lubricated the film advance mechanism, which means I removed all the guts, washed them in white gas, then alcohol, reassembled and carefully lubricated. I cleaned and adjusted the focus mechanism etc.
Then the shutter lens assembly; I did the same.
When I'd finished it worked perfectly, I ran out and shot a roll of film...perfect.
So I made the error of taking the thing on holidays and since I'd not tightened one of the screws in the slow speed escapement there were problems. Subsequently I found a pinhole, recently formed, in the 60 year old bellows, and the focus seems to have readjusted itself.
At this point, after attending to a few more tiny issues I again have a camera.
The issues the camera had;
-dried grease (as hard as paint)
-aging bellows
-stripped threads on screws from earlier repairs
-cloudy glass
-added things like PC outlet for flash
-rather high expectations from a front cell focus and uncoated lens.
-rather high expectations from a ancient shutter. (I've heard that 20% accuracy isn't bad!)
-Unrealistic expectations from a 60+ year old camera.
f8nbethere
Member
A chance to vent
A chance to vent
I'm glad to see this post as it gives me a chance to publicize my bad experience with Jurgen's repair services. I sent him a folder with a bad bellows and it came back with a leak where the new bellows were attached to the body AND he CLA'd the shutter, which I did not request, and the shutter now sometimes sticks open on the slow speeds! This irritates me as the shutter worked fine before his "CLA"! And, of course, he charged me for screwing up the shutter... Anyway, I won't be sending him anymore cameras to "fix". Oh, I almost forgot to add that he had the camera for several months and only "repaired" and returned it to me after I emailed him and got on his back about it.
A chance to vent
I'm glad to see this post as it gives me a chance to publicize my bad experience with Jurgen's repair services. I sent him a folder with a bad bellows and it came back with a leak where the new bellows were attached to the body AND he CLA'd the shutter, which I did not request, and the shutter now sometimes sticks open on the slow speeds! This irritates me as the shutter worked fine before his "CLA"! And, of course, he charged me for screwing up the shutter... Anyway, I won't be sending him anymore cameras to "fix". Oh, I almost forgot to add that he had the camera for several months and only "repaired" and returned it to me after I emailed him and got on his back about it.
FallisPhoto
Veteran
From what I've read on his website, I gather he does his own "dunk and drip" version of shutter cleaning and calls this a "CLA." Basically, he submerges the whole shutter in some kind of solvent in a vibrater cleaner, runs it a few minutes and then lets it drip dry. As anyone who ponders the meaning of the acronym CLA for more than a moment would immediately know, that isn't one. The C part is questionable, and the L and A parts are entirely missing. I might let the man order a bellows for me (I gather he doesn't make his own), but I don't want him to go near my shutters.
oftheherd
Veteran
...
the result on the picture of the incorrectly installed bellows---he was told among other things to crop the picture to fix it!
Sounds like an easy fix to me. Why didn't I ever think of that before?
Some ebay sellers are great. Then there are others that you just have to wonder ...
FallisPhoto
Veteran
Ultrasonic cleaning machines are what are used to clean bullet casings and gun parts. They can do this either with a solvent or loaded with an abrasive. Like I said, he says he used to be a gunsmith. Well, so was I. This is a good machine: http://www.sonicwise.com/ The one I saw on his website was one of the less expensive models. In his gallery, it's the thing the dog dish is resting on top of (and, incidentally, you are never, never, never, NEVER supposed to use a glass or ceramic container with it -- the metal vibrates against it and you get bits of powdered glass or ceramic). He has not changed his explaination of what he does. As I understand it from his website, he puts the shutter in the dog dish, fills that with a solvent (and incidentally, he is wrong about lighter fluid leaving a residue), turns it on and then takes it out and lets it drip -- "dunk and drip."
NO! He didn't really say that did he? I kind of figured that only in New York City can you get away with that sort of attitude. I lived there for two years in the mid 70s and a more rude bunch you will never see. I was in awe. Their mouths would get most of them beaten or hanged within about ten minutes if they were living anywhere else on earth.
Rude AND inept?
By contrast, I sent a camera to Mark Hama once for repair (a Yashica MG-1). The meter was dead in it and, when he returned it, the package seemed kind of heavy. Well, he had scratched part of the top cap and had enclosed another MG-1, completely overhauled, as an apology. It was a very small scratch and it completely buffed out. I told him so and offered to return the extra camera, but he said that he had more than he would ever need and to keep it.
A company I used to buy short-dated film from once accidentally sent me ten rolls of APS film instead of the 10 rolls of 35mm film I had ordered. I complained about it and about 4 days later I found a box of 100 rolls of 35mm and 100 rolls of 120 film on my doorstep.
Now THOSE were nice gestures and I would not hesitate to deal with either of these extremely courteous and professional gentlemen again.
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FallisPhoto
Veteran
yep ..fair dinkum...he did call it a latch a few times (a technical term for patch) and said it was a common aceptable fix
sheeze i hope there arent any NY ers on here ...you just bloody insulted millions of people
I lived there for two years. Just ask someone for directions there and you will get cursed at. They seem to be proud of it.
furcafe
Veteran
Seems to be a bit of an overgeneralization or maybe things have changed since the '70s. I've never had a problem w/people in NYC, they're no ruder than folks in Boston or Philadelphia, etc. or Virginia for that matter.
Solinar
Analog Preferred
Hello Andrew in Adelade - Are those bellows by chance the wrong size for the camera?
Pablito
coco frío
Aww c'mon. I lived there for 17 years and now I live close by. If you ask someone for directions you might get cursed at. But then some other New Yorker may overhear the cursing and come to your rescue. Or more likely, you'll get good directions in that very direct and familiar New York manner. New Yorkers are spontaneous and say what's on their mind. What more could you ask for? A lot more civilized than that sickeningly sweet and plastic politeness you get in other parts of the USA. Y'all come back now y'hear......
RObert Budding
D'oh!
Yeah, we're a friendly bunch here in Boston. Everyone here makes turn signals while driving with a single finger.
FallisPhoto
Veteran
I was living there in 75 and 76. Things must have changed one heck of a lot. Civillized? I was in the U.S. Coast Guard on Governor's Island. We worked with the NYPD Harbor Patrol in New York Harbor. About three times a week we had to respond to warf fires and coal barge fires, almost always set with molotov cocktails, and usually just for fun. Anywhere between two and four times per week we would pick up the floating bodies of what were plainly murder victims bobbing around in the harbor. I was walking down Canal Street one day and stepped over an eyeball lying in the middle of the sidewalk.
Now I live in the Roanoke Valley, a huge section of Virginia with twice the population of New York City. Everyone here has guns, and yet do you know how many murders we have in a typical year in the whole valley? Six.
"New Yorkers are spontaneous and say what's on their mind." Like I said, they are proud of being rude. Incidentally, that's almost exactly what my ex used to say about herself (she was from Maryland). She moved down here and promptly got fired from her job as a nurse -- twice -- for "habitual insubordination."
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FallisPhoto
Veteran
Usually, if seperating the frame involves drilling out rivets, you will find that in most of the home bellows replacements, the bellows is just glued to the front of the frame with contact cement. It almost never works right and yet I've run into this several times, so what you're saying comes as no surprise.
Pablito
coco frío
"Habitual insubordination", eh? Sounds like my kinda gal.
Well, I don't agree w/ you that New Yorkers are rude or proud of it either, but there was Ratner's the dairy restaurant on Delancey Street famous for their rude waiters. Folks would come from all over the city for the rude waiters
Sadly, Ratner's is long gone along with the Automats, the Belmore Cafeteria and so many others....
Oh, and in my years in NYC I saw plenty of dead bodies and murder scenes...that makes New Yorkers rude?
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FallisPhoto
Veteran
So this is the New York version of a polite debate?
tmcgartland
Member
I purchased an Agfa Isolette a couple of years ago from Certo6. The camera was superb but what really annoyed me was the bellows were not glued squarely to the camera - I have a good eye for alignment. Though it was so minimal it bugged me!
wintoid
Back to film
...but there was Ratner's the dairy restaurant on Delancey Street famous for their rude waiters. Folks would come from all over the city for the rude waiters
There's a restaurant in London called Wong Keis which is famous for the same reason. They shove you onto tables with complete strangers, which is all part of the fun.
hkida
Newbie
Back to the subject matter of this thread. I have had exchanges of email with Jurgen and he seemed sincere regarding his work. I raised some questions about the Agfa Agnar lens and he volunteered to send me one and would calibrate it with the Isolette which I sent to him for CLA. I have read the other postings in this thread but still sent him the Isolette because I have seen a previous Isolette done up by him and the workmanship was top class. Although I have not got my camera back, I am sure it will come back in good shape.