As a 1979 graduate of National Camera's resident camera repair school, is where I found what I best at and wanted to do for the rest of my working career. After camera repair school, I found my gift was the ability to easily understand complex electro-mechanical photo products. I could take almost any imaging item apart, cameras, lenses, slide/movie projectors plus more, understand how the unit functioned, and repair it. Then, accurately reassemble it into a fully working unit. In 1980, I was employed in Denver as a technician for the largest Colorado camera service center performing repair and service of both in and out of warranty for over 38 brands of photographic equipment, accumulating over 5000 hours of bench time.
In 1983, I started Technik Camera as a self-employed contractor and general technician. Within a few years, I employed 4 more technicians, 2 people as support staff, and more. I accumulated another 40,000 hours of bench time as we serviced 110mm, 35mm, medium format film cameras, lenses, flash, enlargers, timers, paper processors, long roll portrait cameras, and more. The challenge of successfully taking anything photographic apart and reassembling it into an accurately working piece... and you could not tell I took it apart, was very satisfying for me. Before 1998, we attended many training seminars hosted by factory trainers from Canon, Fuji, Konica, Mamiya, Minolta, Nikon, Olympus, Pentax, and more.
Except for a few products, I have worked on most equipment made and thoroughly enjoyed it. When digital products came to market, I didn’t find the digital service as satisfying as film equipment. So I took the time to develop a website that supported digital/film cameras, lenses, other imaging items with parts and service information. I continued to service my equipment and several customers who maintained large collections. The challenge of successfully taking anything photographic apart and reassembling it into an accurately working piece... and you could not tell I took it apart, was enough for me. I have attended many training seminars hosted by factory trainers from Canon, Fuji, Mamiya, Minolta, Nikon, Olympus, Pentax, and Ricoh. I have special tools and test jigs required for many repairs for Canon, Pentax, Rollei, Rolleiflex, and more.
I do not work on studio flash. I don't care much for Alpha, Bronica S2 S2a, some Contaflex, and Kodak leaf shutter reflex mirror cameras plus a few others. I enjoy working on almost everything related to film, though in the last few years my focus is on equipment that will not require parts I don’t have. I am adding to the product service list on the service page. I could not include everything I work on there. Sometimes customers will ask if I can fix their model and I am surprised it wasn’t listed. I was working on photo products long before websites were here and I have not needed to advertise for years. I have plenty of my cameras to maintain as well as many local camera collectors with large collections. So do not hesitate to contact me with a service question about your equipment. I am sure I can take care of any issue you may have with the maintenance or service required with your film cameras, lenses, and more. I was working on photo products long before websites were here and I have not needed to advertise for years. Kindest regards, Gray.
Thank you for a great seal kit and instruction , but now i have a small problem ! on door that gooey stuff is
gone on my old Nikon FE so what should i use to replace that gooey stuff ?
Regards
Kjell.
You will need to extra carefully clean the cover and remove the goo and material. I say extra carefully because you want keep the flat black finish as true to new as possible. Sometimes you can clean the material removed carefully with Acetone and re-use it. If not, you can use shutter curtain tapes as a replacement. Pliobond is a good adhesive to retain whatever you apply there. Gray
Hi Gray, here is Aitor from Spain. First of all I want to thank you for keeping such a nice webpage alive. All the information is really accessible, which is not always the case for analog cameras.
I have a Nikon FE that is giving me nightmares with light leaks. I notices that the seal in the door hinge was the most damaged, so I decided to do a DIY fix using double sided tape and a mouse pad. As I was fixing that, I also noticed that there were other 2 pieces of sealing material in the lock mechanism side, the ones that you warn “SPECIAL MATERIAL, DO NOT REMOVE”. Well, back then I didn’t know that, and as I saw it was a bit compressed, I decided to apply the same fix. Is it something I should worry about? Amd if so, is there any way of fixing it?
Thank you in advance 🙂
Aitor
Hello, Thanks for contacting me.
First, the hinge seal should be replaced with an open-cell foam seal. The mouse pad material will not compress properly. Very likely will stress the hinge or door.
What do I mean by that? The door or hinge could be deformed and when a proper seal was used at a later time, the camera may not be light-tight.
The pads at the latch end are very thin. Doubtful you could cut a thin enough piece of the “mouse pad” plus that material has too much friction and will more than likely just rub off or bunch up as the door closes.
I hope that helps you.
More information on those pads is listed here https://uscamera.com/film-camera-back-covers/
Is the mirror foam open or closed cell. I think the original was closed cell.
Thanks
Open cell foam is what Nikon used. Most was non-adhesive foam except for the door hinge seals. You do not want to use closed cell foam in your Nikon.
So I should use 2mm thick foam on the hinge
We make the light seal kits from pre-cut pieces in stock. The dimensions are not listed, only part numbers required for the kits we assemble. Sorry I cannot be of more help.