[Arjay Bee]

The Online Photographer: So You Say You Want a Film Camera?

Note to people wanting to buy an MX - wait awhile until prices drop again.

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Last edited by Arjay Bee; 07-29-2017 at 11:36 PM.

[ctrout]

Looks like a good time to resell some of my collection.

[LesDMess]

In the article he wrote, "A famous comparison by Burt Keppler of Modern Photography and later of Popular Photography pitted the Pentax Super Takumar against the equivalent Leica lens." The correct name is Herb Keppler.

[Zav]

You surely mean Mike Johnston, right? :-)

[Arjay Bee]

Ha - yep. Ya'll knew who I meant. :-)

Fixed now,

[pathdoc]

In the article he wrote, "A famous comparison by Burt Keppler of Modern Photography and later of Popular Photography pitted the Pentax Super Takumar against the equivalent Leica lens." The correct name is Herb Keppler.

I guess it all depends on how you choose to contract the name "Herbert". If he knew him personally, perhaps "Bert/Burt" was after a fashion correct?

I think it was very nice of the gentleman identified as a former President of Pentax USA to come in on the comments and recommend Eric Hendrickson as a restorer and repairer. Eric deserves that recognition.

[monochrome]

$245 like this guy quotes to CLA a working all mechanical camera like the MX is absolutely NUTS, even more so for the Spottie.

Even with new leatherettes and relettering, it should run half that, tops. Heck, even with a full shutter replacement, it should be well less than that price.

$245 is for the "Refurbishment" Service*. Abilene claims to maintain an inventory of parts harvested from used cameras down to individual washers and wires. Their most expensive service level claims to fully disassemble the camera, ultrasonically clean the parts, replace worn or corroded parts with better used parts (from a shutter down to individual wires), preventively maintain known problem areas, reassemble, lube and adjust - with photos of the process - all for one fixed price with no adds-on. It's just a different pricing model, even though we know better.

Naturally the list of cameras is limited. No Nikon F1/F1a, for instance. No LX.

The ordinary CLA is only - wait for it - $175**. That's the ridiculous option.

People actually buy this.

*The photo looks about the same level of disassembly as Eric's . . . . .
** lubrication of accessible areas. . . . . some restrictions on parts . . . . . .

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Last edited by monochrome; 07-29-2017 at 05:15 AM.

[monochrome]

For those reading this thread and wondering, Eric will give you a similar level of service on a simple camera like the Spottie or K1000 for 65 bucks. Even an LX runs substantially less than $245. And I imagine his parts inventory puts Abilene's to shame.

Pentax manual-era SLRs are among the easiest to work on out there. This isn't the over-engineered insanity of a lot of the German cameras. They don't require a load of skill to work on, and someone with Eric's experience can do a full teardown, cleaning, reassembly, and calibration in probably not much more than an hour.

I wasn't stumping for ACR - I've had 20 or 30 cameras from Eric over the last 15 years.

[LesDMess]

I guess it all depends on how you choose to contract the name "Herbert". If he knew him personally, perhaps "Bert/Burt" was after a fashion correct?

I stand corrected as the NY Times obituary states that he was known to friends and family as "Burt".

[ChrisPlatt]

$245 sounds like a Leica repair specialist rate.

We are indeed lucky to have Eric Hendrickson.

Chris

[Craftsman]

Just returned from our county fair where I was shooting a mint Black Spotmatic SP loaded with Tri-X ,serviced by Eric Great camera. Also have a Black MX in the same condition. Sold a chrome Leica MP and a couple of chrome Leica lenses to finance my Pentax obsession.

[Arjay Bee]

And then another post on Monday heaping more love on the Spotmatic and the Takumar 50s and then in the last sentence a compliment about Pentaxians in general... very enjoyable read

The Online Photographer: Three More Things About the Spotmatic