Recommended Nikon S Repair shops

pixelman

pixelman

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Mar 22, 2011
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Would like a few recommendations of North American (US/Canada) repair shops that are good with Nikon S's. I have a very early SP that needs an RF adjustment, a helical lube and a general CLA and I'd like to send it to a great place as I love this body.
 
Try Stephen Gandy’s repair tech. He took my Nikon M with a stuck shutter, cloudy lens, messed up viewfinder, etc. and made it as good as new. Fairly quick turn-around too. Check the Cameraquest website for more info.

Jim B.
 
Crystal Camera Repair in Asheville NC recently did a Nikon SP for me and it came out nicely. I've used them for years with good luck. Joe
 
Don Goldberg just serviced my Nikon S2. I always trust him with Leica stuff so when he said that he also works with Nikon S and Nikkor lenses, I just sent to him.
 
The biggest issue with servicing Nikon Rangefinders is finding someone who has made up the right tools to pull the top plates without damaging the push ring (which is aluminium) and the ring around shutter release. Also removal of the flash post without damage can be daunting. A small number of SP's almost seem to have glued front plate screws, and these are also often badly buggered up by repairmen.

I don't let anyone work on a black body unless they have long experience with Nikon. I hate bunged up repairs.
 
Livesteamer said:
Crystal Camera Repair in Asheville NC recently did a Nikon SP for me and it came out nicely. I've used them for years with good luck. Joe
Click to expand...
I've used them in the past for a variety of cameras, including a Nikon S, and have always been happy with the results.
 
photomoof said:
The biggest issue with servicing Nikon Rangefinders is finding someone who has made up the right tools to pull the top plates without damaging the push ring (which is aluminium) and the ring around shutter release. Also removal of the flash post without damage can be daunting. A small number of SP's almost seem to have glued front plate screws, and these are also often badly buggered up by repairmen.

I don't let anyone work on a black body unless they have long experience with Nikon. I hate bunged up repairs.
Click to expand...

Fred,

Did you ever use Nippon Camera Clinic for your Nikon rangefinders? To me they seem like a logical choice.

I've had good experiences with other cameras, just not Nikon rangefinders. Pretty much a Japanese shop in NYC.

Cal
 
Calzone said:
Fred,

Did you ever use Nippon Camera Clinic for your Nikon rangefinders? To me they seem like a logical choice.

I've had good experiences with other cameras, just not Nikon rangefinders. Pretty much a Japanese shop in NYC.

Cal
Click to expand...

I always did it myself, but I have heard very good things about them, from a quite a few guys.
 
Well, I just purchased a Nikon S3 for a nice amount, but it needs some love in the viewfinder (I cannot see the focusing patch for the life of me). I was going ot send it to Gandy because of the fast turnaround, but he's not accepting any repairs during the pandemic.

Any other choices? I may go for Don Goldberg, who worked on a Nikon S2 of mine in the past. But his turnaround is quite long...
 
Japan Camera Hunter (Bellamy Hunt) will arrange repairs in Japan with experts. You can email him through his website. I believe the CLAs average around ¥25,000, which is not bad at all. I am going to send him a few Nikons, but haven’t gotten to Fedex amidst all this.

*Corrected to ¥25,000 (oops)
 
DAG doesn’t necessarily have a long turn around; it depends on the project.

I would email him and inquire before making an assumption.

:)
 
This myth about Don Goldberg's turn around time needs to end. If you want to know the current turn around time, ask him. Also you can't get an accurate quote from anyone until the camera is opened and inside inspected. Tip - Tell Don to fix the camera without sending a quote. That way he opens it and repairs it. He doesn't have to set it aside waiting for a response.
 
Nikons are easy to repair. Lots of folks, including yourself if you want to invest in the tools. A pre-war Contax on the other hand ...
 
Well, turns out that I was wrong, so to speak. I sent my S3 to Don in late August this year... and he had it ready by early October. He had it for a little over a month. I imagine he performs an assessment of the repairs he gets from folks like us and he does the less complicated jobs first. I recall having read that his main source of work is CLAs from camera stores.

In any event, my newly acquired SP will go to Wisconsin as well... but I won't despair. I have a nice working S3 to keep me busy in the meantime. :)
 
My new SP just returned from DAG. Very good communication and pleasant demeanor. the only problem he seemed swamped with requests and he works around the clock. So it did take some time.

Knows what he's doing and even replaced a RF window glass when just about nobody would touch it. the swap with titanium shutter curtains for cloth was a little tricky.

I would probably have sent to Cameraquest but not taking repairs during covid.
 
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