Whisp3r
Well-known member
Hi all!
Carlos here, from the medium format/digital back forum part of getDPI
So. Last year, I bought a very beautiful Mamiya 6 from a nice fellow in Amsterdam. It had recently been serviced by Camera Revival, a well-known vintage repair service located in Kuringen (Belgium) to the tune of €400. So I was pretty confident about my purchase. I traveled to beautiful Oregon in the same year and took the camera along for its first outing. It's such a nice camera to use, I almost instantly bonded with it. After returning home and picking up the negatives, I was sad to see that a light leak could be seen on all the negatives. I attached three examples.
I contacted Camera Revival, and they told me, probably understandably so, that they do not check for light leaks during a checkup, so there's no warranty I could rely on. They did tell me it is possible for them to replace the bellows but according to them it is a difficult procedure because the bellows is one of the first things to go into the camera during assembly. Their initial quote mentioned at least €700 for the repair procedure (including parts). There's a waiting list as well: around four months.
So, the Mamiya has been sitting in my cupboard ever since.
My questions: do any of you know of a good repair service located in the EU? The folks at Camera Revival (mentioned above) seem to have a good reputation but I just wonder if their quoted price is 'normal' for these kind of repairs. And, secondly, would it be wise to sell it as-is, albeit at a much lower price? I would prefer to keep the camera provided I find a good and somewhat affordable repair service, but on the other hand I'm currently trying to raise funds for the purchase of a 4x5 technical camera so I am also thinking about just selling the Mamiya off and accept the loss.
Please, someone talk some sense into me ;-)
Thanks in advance for any valuable advice!
Carlos here, from the medium format/digital back forum part of getDPI
So. Last year, I bought a very beautiful Mamiya 6 from a nice fellow in Amsterdam. It had recently been serviced by Camera Revival, a well-known vintage repair service located in Kuringen (Belgium) to the tune of €400. So I was pretty confident about my purchase. I traveled to beautiful Oregon in the same year and took the camera along for its first outing. It's such a nice camera to use, I almost instantly bonded with it. After returning home and picking up the negatives, I was sad to see that a light leak could be seen on all the negatives. I attached three examples.
I contacted Camera Revival, and they told me, probably understandably so, that they do not check for light leaks during a checkup, so there's no warranty I could rely on. They did tell me it is possible for them to replace the bellows but according to them it is a difficult procedure because the bellows is one of the first things to go into the camera during assembly. Their initial quote mentioned at least €700 for the repair procedure (including parts). There's a waiting list as well: around four months.
So, the Mamiya has been sitting in my cupboard ever since.
My questions: do any of you know of a good repair service located in the EU? The folks at Camera Revival (mentioned above) seem to have a good reputation but I just wonder if their quoted price is 'normal' for these kind of repairs. And, secondly, would it be wise to sell it as-is, albeit at a much lower price? I would prefer to keep the camera provided I find a good and somewhat affordable repair service, but on the other hand I'm currently trying to raise funds for the purchase of a 4x5 technical camera so I am also thinking about just selling the Mamiya off and accept the loss.
Please, someone talk some sense into me ;-)
Thanks in advance for any valuable advice!
