Retina & Retinette repair service.
If you've found your way to this page you were probably looking for help with a Retina camera problem. You can find some useful information on common Retina & Retinette faults on this page. You will also find links to instructions for various common repairs on the home page.
If you are not keen on the do-it-yourself approach then perhaps you would rather have your camera returned to working condition by me instead of wielding the screwdrivers yourself.
Please note that I consider a repaired camera to be one returned to a useful working state, clean and complete, able to take photos as intended, but that does not mean that the camera will somehow be magically returned to the pristine, mint condition the camera was in when first taken out of the Kodak packaging some fifty years ago. If there are aspects of the cosmetic condition of your camera that you want dealt with then please discuss those concerns with me before you send the camera for a CLA.
At about this stage you are likely to be wanting to know what all this is going to cost you. Listed below you will find a list of charges for common repairs. These prices all include the cost of airmailing the camera back to you as mentioned below.
Insurance
Please note that if you would like the camera to travel home insured, then it will cost an extra NZ$10.00. NZ Post recently informed me that anything 'collectable' is not covered by their usual NZ$250.00 automatic cover. Sounds like rort to me, I gather they would normally chose to replace a missing, or damaged 'normal' item rather than pay out compensation anyway, and so 'collectables' are too hard to deal with in that fashion.
I don't know what NZ Post's definition of 'collectable' is either, but if it suits them best, it's likely to mean anything that isn't currently being manufactured.
For what it's worth, I have only ever had one item go missing in all the years I have been sending or receiving camera equipment around the world, and that was a Retina IIIc that disappeared out of its packaging somewhere between New Zealand and the Netherlands and back again. The parcel was never delivered, although the address was apparently correct. All I received back here was the cardboard box filled with the bubble-wrap.
CLA for Retina I, Ia, Ib models and most Retinettes.
Standard price for this service is US$95.00 including the cost of return by airmail to the US or Europe. The focus of the CLA is the shutter, but any minor repair, cleaning, lubrication or adjustments needed elsewhere in the camera will be dealt with at the same time for no additional charge.
Not infrequently Retina Ib cameras are found to to have a worn or damaged shutter cocking rack. I have a small supply of original Kodak parts and charge US$25.00 in addition to the standard CLA charge above if a replacement cocking rack is to be fitted.
Retina Ia cameras sometimes have broken frame counter spring. The frame counter mechanism was not especially well engineered, and the frame counter spring breaks from repeated bending in normal use. I have a small supply of original Kodak replacements here, and when needed, I can fit a new spring for US$25.00 in addition to the standard CLA charge. (Having a working frame counter is not essential to using these cameras by any means, but it is a convenience.)
CLA for Retina IIa, IIc, IIIc, IIC, and IIIC.
Standard price for
this service is US$115.00 including the cost of return by airmail to the US or
Europe. The focus of the CLA is the shutter, but any minor repair, cleaning,
lubrication or adjustments needed elsewhere in the camera will be dealt with
at the same time for no additional charge. Normally this will include stripping, cleaning,
reassembling and adjusting the rangefinder on these models.
Not infrequently Retina IIc, and IIIc cameras are found to to have a worn or damaged shutter cocking rack. I have a small supply of original Kodak parts and charge US$25.00 in addition to the standard CLA charge above if a replacement cocking rack is to be fitted.
Retina IIa cameras sometimes have broken frame counter spring. The frame counter mechanism was not especially well engineered, and the frame counter spring breaks from repeated bending in normal use. I have a small supply of original Kodak replacements here, and when needed, I can fit a new spring for US$25.00 in addition to the standard CLA charge. (Having a working frame counter is not essential to using these cameras by any means, but it is a convenience.)
Shutter CLA for Retina IIIS, Retina Reflex, Retina Reflex S, Reflex III, Reflex IV.
Standard price for this service is US$175.00 including the cost of airmail
back to the US or Europe. This price also includes the cost of replacing
the meter cord if required, and any minor reapir, cleaning, lubrication and
adjustment needed elsewhere in the camera. I have good supply of new shutter cocking
racks for Retina Reflex III and IV models, and I charge US$20.00 in addition
to the CLA cost where a new rack is required. I have no more new exposure meters for most of these models, but
can usually find a good used one for which I charge
US$35.00.
Shutter only repairs
Something for those of you already fairly competent in DIY camera repair. Save some money, do most of the repair work yourself and send just the shutter to be CLA'd by me.
If you remove the shutter, and send it to me, I can do a CLA and send it home again ready for you to install.
This service is offered for US$60 including the cost of airmailing the shutter home to you.
This service is mostly aimed at those of you with the folding Retina models, or perhaps the Retinettes.
As for the IIIS and Reflex models, you'll need to be very skilled in camera repair just to remove and replace the shutter correctly, and therefore the actual shutter CLA should be well within your abilities.