Who best to fix out of warranty R-D1?

[boilerdoc2]

😕 On a trip to Europe the shutter froze up on day 2 of a 2 week trip. Why? I have no clue. Who would this august group suggest to fix it in the States? DAG?
Good thing I had the Leica M8 as back up. It worked like a champ!! Thanks in advance..
Steve

 

[RichC]

http://www.richcutler.co.uk/r-d1/r-d1_14.htm

 

[boilerdoc2]

Thanks. I live in Indiana! Amazing that there would be an Epson repair center here, but the area code is for somewhere else. Anyway, thanks a lot.
Steve

 

[foto_fool]

Steve - I think the phone number takes you to Epson's main tech center in Long Beach, CA. The person I spoke with there wanted to be helpful but insisted on protocol - that I send the body to a local service center. I agree with Rich - you must not do this! There are two near me and when I contacted both they were totally clueless.

If you are after-hours Pacific coast or the call center there is loaded up, the number rolls over to a "help" center in Mumbai. Don't waste your time or theirs - just hang up.

Edward Felcher was sufficiently persistent with someone in Long Beach to get a direct contact at the Indiana service center. I don't recall if he posted the information.

I searched the other threads and sent out a couple PMs - Steven Choi's name was mentionied more than once as a satisfactory alternative to Epson service for out-of-warranty work. I have not corresponded with Don (DAG) about work on the R-D1.

Search the R-D1 forum for "shutter" and you may turn up a self-help fix. I recall seeing that a dead battery or a problematic SD card could freeze the shutter, and perhaps also that a firmware reset could thaw the troublesome part.

Best of luck - John

 

[akptc]

I would recommend http://www.stevecamera.com/

 

[boilerdoc2]

John, thanks for that info. I will try the SD card thing. Switching batteries did not work. I did a restore to default settings and now i have a camera that reads in Japanese! Ha!!! Does anyone know how to set the D1 to read in English? i did it once but can't remember how i got it to read in English the first time. Help!!!
Steve
And thanks Andy. I've got steve's website in my favorites in case......

 

[mwooten]

...Does anyone know how to set the D1 to read in English? i did it once but can't remember how i got it to read in English the first time. Help!!!...

I'm not sure how things look with the menus being in Japanese, but in English things go like this;
menu > basic settings > Language (6th item down in the english language menu) > two columns of four - English is at the top of the second column.

Michael

 

[boilerdoc2]

Mwooten, thanks. I got out the owner's manual and figured out the correct location for English. Bit of a detective job tho. I really thank all who are helping me out here. Tried different SD cards and different batteries. Shutter curtain still locked. Guess it's going into the shop tomorrow.
Steve

 

[RichC]

Unfortunately, having ruled out the battery or the SD card as a cause, I guess the R-D1 shutter has jammed - something that has been reported occasionally: a straightforward mechanical repair, with no parts requiring replacement.

The downside is that the camera needs complete disassembly (see the disassembly of the R-D1 on my web page - link in quote below). The upside is that any competent camera technician should be able to fix it (I'd use Steve's Cameras since they're familiar with this repair and guarantee on their work) - and whilst they've got the camera apart, they may as well service it, e.g. checking the rangefinder accuracy.

As I say on my website (http://www.richcutler.co.uk/r-d1/r-d1_14.htm):

Steve’s Camera Service Center in the USA, run by Steve Choi, has repaired at least two R-D1 cameras with faulty shutters, which involved complete disassembly of the cameras (see photographs) and cost about US $300; they provide a 6-month warranty.