David Murphy
Veteran
Just the name and location of his business sounds old-school - Thanks for the tip, I'll give him a try sometime!
fbf
Well-known
The shutter works intermittently, speed is completely off. He didn't give me a definite answer. He said he would try...
I have some other cameras laying around. will ask him next time...
I have some other cameras laying around. will ask him next time...
Crazy Fedya
Well-known
I had the same shutter issues with my Kiev 4a, and my Contax IIa. He fixed them both.He says 'I will try" every time, but he always delivered so far.
PKR
Veteran
I wonder if he's in Marty Forscher's old shop?
Marty was a great guy and a repair and modification genius.l
http://damnuglyphotography.wordpress.com/2009/10/12/r-i-p-marty-forscher/
back alley
IMAGES
PKR
Veteran
Yes, you're right. We did business via UPS and the phone. I did/do the same with Fotocare, for more than 35 years now. I've never been in the Fotocare shop, nor was I ever in Pro. Camera Repair. I'm on the west coast.
Just thought he may have bought the tooling and used the name as Marty was famous. When Nikon closed their service station in SF, the repair shop tooling, less parts and factory gear was sold. I got the precision drill press and a few other items. I guess the "Marty" brought back memories .. and I gather the owner's name isn't Marty ?
pkr
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PMCC
Late adopter.
I used that shop, and Marty Forscher himself took care of my camera. The shop was called Professional Camera Repair, and even though I was a kid Marty treated me with professionalism and respect. He treated a customer as a client-relationship, not as an opportunity for short-term gain.
PMCC
Late adopter.
P.S. That was back in NYC, and Marty was the first camera service tech I ever dealt with. Done in person, over the counter, wait-u-wait or pick up a few days later. Since then, it's usually been long-distance, by letter, phone, email from SF to points east, with long waits for the mailman.
dtcls100
Well-known
Quick Repair; Very Inexpensive
Quick Repair; Very Inexpensive
Getting back to the original subject of this thread -- Marty's Camera Repair in Forest Hills -- I tried him out for the first time in response to the favorable postings. I happen to live in Forest Hills and have passed by his shop on Austin Street countless times, but never went in before because there are other repair shops I use.
In response to the posts, I dropped off a Vivitar Series 1 28-90 lens that I used heavily until 1994, when it ended submerged in a raft in Chile. The lens was full of water and dried out with lots of water spots and fine grit inside. The aperture blades slightly rusted, but surprisingly still stopped down smoothly and quickly. When I tried it again for the first time in many years, it worked fine, except there was a soft halo around the images, probably due to the extensive water spots.
I went to several other camera repair shops about having the lens cleaned out, but was told it was not economically worthwhile. Marty, however, gave me a same day estimate of $50.00 to clean it out. I picked it up two days later and he had completely disassembled, cleaned up, and reassembled the entire lens (not an easy thing to do on this complex lens) and still only charged me the $50.00. Pretty astounding. Marty also added that the 28-90 is an extremely well built lens.
Quick Repair; Very Inexpensive
Getting back to the original subject of this thread -- Marty's Camera Repair in Forest Hills -- I tried him out for the first time in response to the favorable postings. I happen to live in Forest Hills and have passed by his shop on Austin Street countless times, but never went in before because there are other repair shops I use.
In response to the posts, I dropped off a Vivitar Series 1 28-90 lens that I used heavily until 1994, when it ended submerged in a raft in Chile. The lens was full of water and dried out with lots of water spots and fine grit inside. The aperture blades slightly rusted, but surprisingly still stopped down smoothly and quickly. When I tried it again for the first time in many years, it worked fine, except there was a soft halo around the images, probably due to the extensive water spots.
I went to several other camera repair shops about having the lens cleaned out, but was told it was not economically worthwhile. Marty, however, gave me a same day estimate of $50.00 to clean it out. I picked it up two days later and he had completely disassembled, cleaned up, and reassembled the entire lens (not an easy thing to do on this complex lens) and still only charged me the $50.00. Pretty astounding. Marty also added that the 28-90 is an extremely well built lens.
fbf
Well-known
Good:
-Fast turnaround, i gave him two cameras and he finished both within 2 days.
-Very very reasonable charge. Hard to find the same price in the business nowadays
-Front desk lady extremely helpful. She called to inform me the official estimate and also informed me when the camera is ready for pickup. I feel like a valued customer.
-He can fix a lot of different cameras, even some digital.
Now the Bad:
-IMHO, his work is 2nd class comparing to people like Eddy Smolov, Youxin, Essex camera, HS. I am not even going to mention DAG or Sherry, etc...
-The cameras smelled like they were soaked in WD40 for a long time.
-The camera vf was dim so he offered to add a color filter to increase the contrast. Well, let's just say it didnt workout. The finder became even dimmer and the contrast is not helping in any way. I ended up open both cameras myself and spent 1 hr to remove the "filter" (red plastic paper) and replaced with Fuji 820A color filter. now the finder is much brighter with great contrast.
-The cameras are not very smooth, even with the "lubing". I didn't feel much improvement prior to service though he did adjust the shutter speed and fixed one of the non-working shutter.
-Many new marks after the service. mainly scratches.
Conclusion:
I would recommend his service
1. If you are on budget
2. If you have a cheap camera
3. If you can't find anyone else to service certain cameras/lenses
4. If you are not a collector
With everything being said, i would continue using his service for certain cameras and lenses.
-Fast turnaround, i gave him two cameras and he finished both within 2 days.
-Very very reasonable charge. Hard to find the same price in the business nowadays
-Front desk lady extremely helpful. She called to inform me the official estimate and also informed me when the camera is ready for pickup. I feel like a valued customer.
-He can fix a lot of different cameras, even some digital.
Now the Bad:
-IMHO, his work is 2nd class comparing to people like Eddy Smolov, Youxin, Essex camera, HS. I am not even going to mention DAG or Sherry, etc...
-The cameras smelled like they were soaked in WD40 for a long time.
-The camera vf was dim so he offered to add a color filter to increase the contrast. Well, let's just say it didnt workout. The finder became even dimmer and the contrast is not helping in any way. I ended up open both cameras myself and spent 1 hr to remove the "filter" (red plastic paper) and replaced with Fuji 820A color filter. now the finder is much brighter with great contrast.
-The cameras are not very smooth, even with the "lubing". I didn't feel much improvement prior to service though he did adjust the shutter speed and fixed one of the non-working shutter.
-Many new marks after the service. mainly scratches.
Conclusion:
I would recommend his service
1. If you are on budget
2. If you have a cheap camera
3. If you can't find anyone else to service certain cameras/lenses
4. If you are not a collector
With everything being said, i would continue using his service for certain cameras and lenses.
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Crazy Fedya
Well-known
I have dropped off a Mamiya SD with stuck shutter and dead meter, and two dead meters. Moni said meters need cell replacement. I have to go next week. Looking forward to my fixed meters.
ChrisPlatt
Thread Killer
That's too bad. I like supporting local businesses and admire generalists, but given the feedback here
I will continue to send my hard-to-replace cameras to the brand specialist/experts I am familiar with.
Chris
I will continue to send my hard-to-replace cameras to the brand specialist/experts I am familiar with.
Chris
Darshan
Well-known
I used to live on Austin st, nice hang out place if you don't want to go to the city. 
Crazy Fedya
Well-known
Interestingly, Marty's Camera Repair has Hugo working there, that used to work for Marty Forscher in the City, and Hugo works only on non-digital cameras.
matreve
Newbie
Marty is a semi pro con artist at best.
Marty is a semi pro con artist at best.
It’s been years since the last post in this thread but I wanted to give my 2 cents about the Marty’s Camera Repair. I would NOT let that place service even a cheap Holga type camera. The famous Marty is a semi professional con artist at best. He has NO IDEA about the camera repair that goes beyond pouring tons of Ronsonol lighter fluid into your camera. When I made a mistake of leaving my Rolleicord V camera for repair there, after 3 weeks of calling them and having the pickup postponed time after I time, I finally came to pick it up. There were rattling parts inside the camera, shutter not working, film transport not working. When I complained about he took the camera back to his workbench and after 3 minutes returned with it. Clearly poured even more Ronsonol to it as it reeked of it. He did not even know how to load a 120 test roll, argued that it does not matter that once it goes through the camera and spooled as “exposed” it does not need to be wound back into the core for another test - he attempted to load it back right away for another test starting from “exposed” end of it! Then, after I forced him to spool it back on the core properly to start another test, when the camera’s transport did not keep the spacing and the counter was not working, he claimed that the camera had a wrong back and that it required one with a red window to look at the numbers on the paper and that Rolleicord V did not automatically stop for next frame! Rolleicord V! This is embarrassing to say even for a 4th grade photography club enthusiast, let alone a professional camera specialist! Just read the reviews on Yelp and you’ll see more horror stories. The guy should be in jail!
Marty is a semi pro con artist at best.
It’s been years since the last post in this thread but I wanted to give my 2 cents about the Marty’s Camera Repair. I would NOT let that place service even a cheap Holga type camera. The famous Marty is a semi professional con artist at best. He has NO IDEA about the camera repair that goes beyond pouring tons of Ronsonol lighter fluid into your camera. When I made a mistake of leaving my Rolleicord V camera for repair there, after 3 weeks of calling them and having the pickup postponed time after I time, I finally came to pick it up. There were rattling parts inside the camera, shutter not working, film transport not working. When I complained about he took the camera back to his workbench and after 3 minutes returned with it. Clearly poured even more Ronsonol to it as it reeked of it. He did not even know how to load a 120 test roll, argued that it does not matter that once it goes through the camera and spooled as “exposed” it does not need to be wound back into the core for another test - he attempted to load it back right away for another test starting from “exposed” end of it! Then, after I forced him to spool it back on the core properly to start another test, when the camera’s transport did not keep the spacing and the counter was not working, he claimed that the camera had a wrong back and that it required one with a red window to look at the numbers on the paper and that Rolleicord V did not automatically stop for next frame! Rolleicord V! This is embarrassing to say even for a 4th grade photography club enthusiast, let alone a professional camera specialist! Just read the reviews on Yelp and you’ll see more horror stories. The guy should be in jail!