Service for old Nikon F

[Deleted member 65559]

Any recommendations for someone to service a couple of late '60s Nikon Fs? A friend of mine has had them since Uinversity days at the journalism program in Boulder & pro newspaper use. Would like to get them up & running for sentimental reasons. Anybody in the SW (NM,AZ)
Thanks in advance

 

[Timmyjoe]

Only folks I know are not in NM or AZ, it's Authorized Photo Service in Morton Grove Illinois. They were a factory Nikon service center for decades and have a few techs who used to service the F & F2 cameras "back in the day". They should be able to get your two late '60s F's up and running.

Best,
-Tim

 

[Deleted member 65559]

Thanks Tim, I'll pass that info on to my friend.
Regards,
Greg

 

[Phil_F_NM]

APT in Albuquerque. Albuquerque Photo Tech. They were my go to for camera work and have been my family's camera repair shop since we moved there in 1990. They can certainly do great work on Nikon F bodies. They worked on my old Pentax ME Super after a backpacking trips in the early 90s and also after I joined the Navy in 1997. They also brought my mom's Spotmatic F lightmeter back from the dead and made that camera perfect.

Phil Forrest

 

[Deleted member 65559]

Thanks Phil, That might just be the one. I'm pretty sure a CLA & change of seals & they'll be good as new. Appreciate the info

 

[Steve Bellayr]

stevecamera.com I used his service not long ago for 2 Nikons and a Canon. I was very satisfied. He is located in Culver City Ca. not to far.

 

[Huss]

stevecamera.com I used his service not long ago for 2 Nikons and a Canon. I was very satisfied. He is located in Culver City Ca. not to far.

I live just down the street from Stevecamera and they are excellent.
But even though they are that close, for Nikon Fs or F2s send it to the best. Send it to Sover Wong in England. He is THE Nikon F/F2 guy. It's all he does.
Sounds crazy sending it that far, no? But he is very quick too, and I got my gear back (Los Angeles- England-Los Angeles) faster than local shops promised the service.
He also is cheaper, and sends pics of your camera in pieces as he is working on it so you can see the process.

 

[Deleted member 65559]

Thanks Huss, That's a good tip, i'll save for the future....i'm guessing that down the road in Albuquerque will be the spot.

 

[barnwulf]

It's hard to believe here that it isn't common knowledge that our own Head Bartender here Steven Gandy's CameraQuest specializes in work and CLA work on Nikon F. - jim

 

[retinax]

Why not go to your local camera tech rather than follow internet recommendations? They will disappear eventually if we support only the few people famous on the internet (who are often swamped in work). An F is hardly an exotic camera that only few can work on.
If in doubt, leave some unimportant work with them first to get a feel for the quality?
I don't mean to troll this thread seeking recommendations, but offer a different perspective.

 

[dleyva2]

APT in Albuquerque got my F up and running. Great service.

 

[Deleted member 65559]

Retinax, the reason I asked is because I am in Western Canada & my friend & his Nikons are in Santa Fe....so I don't know who his local tech would be...

 

[kshapero]

It's hard to believe here that it isn't common knowledge that our own Head Bartender here Steven Gandy's CameraQuest specializes in work and CLA work on Nikon F. - jim

Yes I was thinking that. Luckily Pete Smith, the Nikonsmith (RIP) overhauled my Nikon F about 10 years ago, so I will need Stephen for another one CLA in maybe 20 years.😀

 

[nobbylon]

Sover Wong without a doubt. He did about 5 F2’s and 2 F’s of mine. They came back feeling very crisp and new.

 

[Robert Lai]

Sover Wong is the ONLY person to trust.
I had the Morton Grove, IL guys overhaul my F and F2.
When I sent them to Sover, he completely dismantled them, and by his photographs it was evident that really NOTHING had been done to my cameras. Money spent in IL was just flushing it down the toilet. They even had the gall to put new foam over old, without removing the old crud first.

Old foam grows fungus.
Old foam on the prism will eat away the prism silvering.
Sover is the ONLY person I've ever found who will completely dismantle, clean, and reseal / relube / adjust your shutter to be within 1/4 f/stop accuracy. He will provide you with photographs to show the condition of the camera as he works on it, and you will have an EXCEL spreadsheet at the end with actual measured speeds BEFORE and AFTER the servicing.

 

[DNG]

Sover Wong is the ONLY person to trust.
I had the Morton Grove, IL guys overhaul my F and F2.
When I sent them to Sover, he completely dismantled them, and by his photographs it was evident that really NOTHING had been done to my cameras. Money spent in IL was just flushing it down the toilet. They even had the gall to put new foam over old, without removing the old crud first.

Old foam grows fungus.
Old foam on the prism will eat away the prism silvering.
Sover is the ONLY person I've ever found who will completely dismantle, clean, and reseal / relube / adjust your shutter to be within 1/4 f/stop accuracy. He will provide you with photographs to show the condition of the camera as he works on it, and you will have an EXCEL spreadsheet at the end with actual measured speeds BEFORE and AFTER the servicing.

I don't think he does F's anymore because his F2 overhaul business is very busy (10-11 month wait time)....
He might, email him to find out for sure.

I had my F2 and DP-1 overhauled a few months ago by Sover, and he takes no shortcuts.
It is like new as far as operation, the DP-1 also got new Custom made CDS cells installed.

http://www.soverf2repair.webs.com/

 

[richardHaw]

I don't think Sover services the F anymore. 😱😱😱 last time I talked to him about this he said that he has specialized on the F2 for some time now and will not accept anything else. maybe just ask him directly and see if he is in the mood, who knows. 🙄

if you are open to having it serviced elsewhere, I highly recomment Kiitos here in Tokyo. they're not expensive and the turnaround is about a month or so. They speak English, too.

 

[BillBingham2]

.......Money spent in IL was just flushing it down the toilet. They even had the gall to put new foam over old, without removing the old crud first.
.......

I spent over $200 getting a Nikkor 300/4.5 ED-IF cleaned and it came back looking unchanged.

I'll spend cash with the best or none.

B2 (;->

 

[aizan]

Why not go to your local camera tech rather than follow internet recommendations? They will disappear eventually if we support only the few people famous on the internet (who are often swamped in work). An F is hardly an exotic camera that only few can work on.
If in doubt, leave some unimportant work with them first to get a feel for the quality?
I don't mean to troll this thread seeking recommendations, but offer a different perspective.

i mostly agree. i'd add that you should first look for a local authorized service center for the camera brand in question.

 

[jszokoli]

So I've purchased a cosmetically nice 64 block black Nikon F with a plain prism. The hitch is that the slow speeds are basically not working, everything below ~1/30 is the same and fast maybe 1/30.
Typical crumpling foam, self timer is frozen solid, but all in all it looks like someone put this one on the shelf in the 70's and forgot it.

Sover answered that he is not doing F's at this point, he's overloaded with F2's.

I'm really looking for a full overhaul and I really liked the job Sover did on my F2, very thorough and complete.

The question is who is the best here in the States to do a job like that.

Joe

647xxxx Nikon F by Joe Szokoli, on Flickr