p.1 #4 · The future of film photography as technicians age out?
As I have started shooting film again I realized there is a potential problem with “vintage” cameras. And by vintage I’m talking about cameras from the 90’s and earlier. The problem is repair shops. In the ‘70’s here i Honolulu were several repair shops. I could get my Nikons, Hassleblads, large format cameras and strobes repaired locally. Today there is no one doing any repairs locally. So as I ventured back into film and wanting to shoot medium format I went to 3d printed cameras with view camera lenses/shutters. These lenses are a bit slow compared to Rollie’s (which I still have) Hassleblads, Plaubel, Mamiya. But the cost of repair AND shipping makes it more sense to go the view camera lens route and just buy another used one instead of repairing what I have. Granted the ease of making a photograph is now slower but I am OK with that.
p.1 #6 · The future of film photography as technicians age out?
If you like a body - get two or three of them (Leica's may be problematic expense-wise). There are plenty of used bodies out there with lots of use left. People like Chris Sherlock are retired or gone, and that world is not coming back. Manufacturers had apprenticeships to learn how to repair their cameras. Chris trained to learn how to fix and repair Kodak's Retina Reflex and earlier models. That kind of training just doesn't happen anymore that I am aware.
p.1 #7 · The future of film photography as technicians age out?
This is one area of the hobby I'm not too too worried about. I think we'll see a net decrease in repair options as the years wear on, but I don't think it'll die out entirely, and even that decrease may not happen if we get more companies making parts. The local repair shop I go to has been in operation since 1945 and most of the employees I've seen are in their twenties and thirties, they are going strong. Same has been true for the most part for the others in the area, and I've seen a number of open sourcing projects in regard to repairs. I think home repairs will become more prevalent too. It's actually been fun to dive into; I've done a mirror box assembly and slow-governor swap on my Nikon F and have an Olympus Pen FT waiting in the wings to try and fix.
p.1 #8 · The future of film photography as technicians age out?
I'm not too worried about this either. It's mainly an issue with more expensive cameras; with cheap ones if you can't do the repair yourself the best solution is often to throw away the camera (or give it to someone who likes to tinker) and get another.
But along with the resurgence of interest in film there's been a resurgence of interest among tinkerers to learn how to repair and modify film cameras. I think we'll see new services springing up as these people gain more experience.
I agree that the apprenticeship days are largely over and a lot of valuable lore has been lost, but some technicians are carefully documenting procedures and publishing new repair manuals (see Mel Parker-Jones's work on Minolta SRT and other Minolta cameras for example).
p.1 #9 · The future of film photography as technicians age out?
Portland doesn't have as many shops as it did a secade ago but there are several and they are busy all the time. Recently, I brought my Yashica D to a shop I hadn't used before. The staff was young and knowledgeable. They completed the work in about two weeks for what was a very fair price.
I have had a number of cameras serviced over the years. Some by well known techs many by local shops. I had mostly good but a few disappointing results. The best techs are the ones that asked if someone else had already worked on it.
Portland is also a hub for typewriter repair. I you go to Blue Moon Camera and Machine, you get both.
p.1 #10 · The future of film photography as technicians age out?
madNbad wrote:
The best techs are the ones that asked if someone else had already worked on it.
.
I have watched dozens of Chris Sherlock's thousands of youtube videos. About 30-40% of the repairs I watched he discovers that someone that didn't know what they were doing put it together wrong, or modified parts they couldn't understand. It was way more common than I expected.
p.1 #11 · The future of film photography as technicians age out?
James Markus wrote:
I have watched dozens of Chris Sherlock's thousands of youtube videos. About 30-40% of the repairs I watched he discovers that someone that didn't know what they were doing put it together wrong, or modified parts they couldn't understand. It was way more common than I expected.
Paul Barden serviced several Kodak Retinas for me. More than one had been to a local shop and Paul would ask "Did someone actually work on this camera?" My all time favorite is from Don Goldberg, "Someone has tampered with your camera."
p.1 #12 · The future of film photography as technicians age out?
James Markus wrote:
I have watched dozens of Chris Sherlock's thousands of youtube videos. About 30-40% of the repairs I watched he discovers that someone that didn't know what they were doing put it together wrong, or modified parts they couldn't understand. It was way more common than I expected.
A couple years ago I sent him my broken Kodak Retina III camera (shipped via package roundtrip to New Zealand) which he fixed proficiently.
Some knowledge of experienced now or soon retiring camera technicians will be lost. But I believe the free market will open opportunities for the next generation of repair technicians to come - where there is demand for something and where money can be made, this kind of business survives. There will some better and some worse for sure - also the market will control in the end who survives via quality offered and pricing.
p.1 #13 · The future of film photography as technicians age out?
If the guys repairing cameras are worried about the loss of repair expertise, people shooting the cameras should be worried. I don't think you can simply exchange one 40 year old camera for another and expect them to work as intended. I pulled out a lens hood the other day and it crumbled in my hands. (Just pointing out that materials age.)
p.1 #14 · The future of film photography as technicians age out?
jay w wrote:
If the guys repairing cameras are worried about the loss of repair expertise, people shooting the cameras should be worried. I don't think you can simply exchange one 40 year old camera for another and expect them to work as intended. I pulled out a lens hood the other day and it crumbled in my hands. (Just pointing out that materials age.)
Right - in addition to the loss of expertise, spare parts are increasingly difficult to find.
3D printing may help a bit with mechanical parts (ie, things that aren't ribbon cables etc). The trick is getting a good scan of an existing part. These guys are starting to do that:
p.1 #15 · The future of film photography as technicians age out?
Its definitely something I'm concerned about. I replaced old foam on cameras, for one thing, back in the 90's. Can't imagine foam has gotten better
Jan 07, 2026 at 01:16 PM
AmbientMike Offline • • • • • • [X]
p.1 #16 · The future of film photography as technicians age out?
James Markus wrote:
I have watched dozens of Chris Sherlock's thousands of youtube videos. About 30-40% of the repairs I watched he discovers that someone that didn't know what they were doing put it together wrong, or modified parts they couldn't understand. It was way more common than I expected.
I've seen that on other stuff, you know how you would have taken it apart, before you knew what you were doing, and can see someone tried. Looking at a review of an old Leica lens that I thought was excellent but didn't do well on the review you wonder how many have been "fixed" or "repaired,"
p.1 #17 · The future of film photography as technicians age out?
Yeah, I had a Hasselblad I had been thinking about sending to David Odess right as news of his passing was posted around here. It's always sad to think of the loss of institutional knowledge, even as I understand that in many ways we don't "need" it and all these old cameras we're obsessed with are in fact obsolete.
p.1 #19 · The future of film photography as technicians age out?
After the new local repair shop lied to my face, I picked up some oil (Launa #40) and got my screwdrivers ready.
I'm using lithium grease, the molybdenum dries up into a powder, doesn't sound good to me. Some glue to re-attach leatherette.
Focussed on one body (fm2n) and picked up a backup or two - some of it works with strings/super thin metal components. Will get some light seals, maybe some tools and helicoid grease to maintain the lenses.
After this will get an MP and call it a day. RB67 should hold hopefully. Reluctant to pick up an expensive old TLR or something with electronics for anything but the meter.
Maybe they'll release new film bodies. I want an SLR, interchangeable lenses with the lowest-vibration mirror slap ever - in a compact body. 2000 shutter speed would be nice, so would adjustable focus calibration.
Might be asking a bit much, I'll prep in case it doesn't happen.
