What comes off the bench

Stripped completely, every group cleaned on both faces, old grease removed from the helicoid and replaced with the viscosity that mount asks for, aperture cleaned, infinity stop reset, and reassembled.

What it fixes

• Fungus, haze and marks inside the glass
• Oily, sluggish or outright stuck aperture
• Stiff focus, focus with play, or a ring that drags the aperture
• Dust and particles between groups
• Loose rings and screws that have worked their way out

What it includes

• Complete strip-down and cleaning of every group
• Removal of degraded lubricant and fresh grease
• Cleaning of the aperture blade assembly
• Infinity stop adjustment and bench check
• Report of what was found, with photos of the process

Flange distance measured, infinity stop corrected, group spacing checked and a shim made if needed. This is the work that separates a lens that works from one that performs.

What it fixes

• Won't reach infinity, or focuses past it
• Soft on one side of the frame and sharp on the other
• Mount adaptations with the flange distance miscalculated
• Sharpness lost after a knock or after someone else's strip-down
• Distance scale that no longer matches reality

What it includes

• Error measured on the bench before and after
• Group spacing and infinity stop adjusted
• Shims calculated and made to measure where needed
• Centring checked with the equipment available
• Report with both figures — incoming and outgoing

A lens with a scratched front element or an eaten coating is not a write-off. The damaged coating is removed and the surface polished without changing its radius, which is the hard part: if the radius moves, the lens stops focusing where it used to.

What it fixes

• Scratches and cleaning marks on the front element
• Anti-reflective coating eaten, stained or lifting
• Fungus residue that has left a ghost etched into the coating
• General loss of contrast and veiling flare from a deteriorated surface

What it includes

• Condition measured before starting, plus a backlit photograph
• Damaged coating removed and the surface polished with progressive abrasive
• Radius monitored throughout so the surface is not deformed
• Cleaning, reassembly and an infinity check afterwards
• Before and after photographs, under the same light

I don't do electronic repair here: I do the mechanical and the dirty, which is half of what puts a camera out of service. Screen hinges, buttons that have stopped responding, loose connectors, and bodies full of dust inside after years of shooting.

What it fixes

• Flip-screen hinges with play, stiff or broken
• Buttons and dials that stop responding through accumulated dirt
• Loose connectors, stripped covers and tripod threads
• Dirt, oil or particles on the sensor's protective filter
• Cine bodies full of dust inside, with heat dissipation compromised

What it includes

• Diagnosis and photographs of the condition before opening
• Strip-down as far as needed and no further
• Internal and protective-filter cleaning, checked at f/16
• Replacement or adjustment of the affected mechanical part
• A report of everything that was touched, part by part

Half of all repairs stall on a two-euro plastic part that stopped being manufactured in 1987. It gets measured on your own gear, drawn in CAD and printed — in reinforced filament if it has to hold, in resin if it has to be fine and precise.

What it fixes

• Front and rear caps for unusual mounts
• Lost hoods and adapter rings
• Shims calculated to correct flange distance
• Jigs, fixtures and tooling for the work itself
• Broken internal parts with no replacement in existence

What it includes

• Measured on your gear, not from a drawing found online
• CAD design with that mount's tolerances
• Printed in fibre-reinforced filament or in resin, depending on the part
• Fitted and test-mounted before it ships
• The file is archived: the second unit is cheaper