One bench in Madrid, and no mystery
I work alone. That means you talk to the person who opens your gear, and there is no counter between you and the bench.
My name is Santi. I got here the long way round: I started opening my own lenses because the official service centre kept answering that that model is no longer supported. That sentence sends much of the glass made in the twentieth century to the bin, and it is nearly always untrue — the optics are still there; what failed is a grease, a cement or a spring.
The workshop specialises in manual and cine optics, and also takes mechanical work on digital and cine bodies, autofocus lenses with communication faults, and commissions to make parts that no longer exist.
I also write the software I run the workshop with, so every job has its record, its arrival and departure photos, and its history. When I hand a lens back I can tell you exactly what was done to it and when — and I'll still be able to in three years.
Four rules I don't break
Photograph before touching
The arrival condition is documented. That's for you as much as for me.
Measure, don't estimate
Infinity error, shutter speeds and flange distance are measured before and after, and both figures go in the report.
If something worse turns up, stop
No invoice above the estimate without a conversation first.
What can't be done is said on day one
An honest diagnosis ending in «this can't be fixed» is worth more than three weeks of hope and an invoice.
What the work is done with
| Optical bench and tooling | Retaining-ring openers, spanner wrenches, suction cups and custom printed tooling for specific mounts. |
| Microscope and binocular loupe | For aperture blade work and cemented surfaces. |
| Optical polishing kit | Polishing pad, stepped abrasives and compound to remove damaged coating from spherical surfaces without altering the radius. |
| Temperature-controlled oven | Custom PID control, for processes that depend on temperature and not only on time. |
| Electronic lens test bench | A custom tester to check communication and the electromagnetic aperture before anything is opened. |
| Additive manufacturing | Fibre-reinforced filament and resin printing. Parametric CAD design, with each mount's tolerances. |
What comes in and what doesn't
- Manual lenses in any mount, 1930s onwards
- Cine optics and adaptations to cine mounts
- Autofocus lenses with mechanical or contact faults
- Front element polishing on spherical surfaces
- Mechanical work and cleaning on digital and cine bodies
- Custom part and tooling manufacture
- Lenses with encrypted firmware and no public documentation
- Large format and uncommon leaf shutters
- Collector's items where the value lies in original condition
- Very recent bodies where opening voids the manufacturer's warranty
- Film cameras, start to finish
- Applying a new coating, and polishing aspherical surfaces
- Board-level electronics in digital bodies
- Video, binoculars, projectors and drones
- Anything needing a part only the official channel holds