Had a bit of free time today to give a little blurb and check in… So here it is! It’s a bit dry and crispy here in Buffalo but it beats the hell out of the 7 feet of snow in my driveway 2 years ago. I’ll take dry and crispy over buried and freezing any day. Have a few new developments going on in and out of the shop and I have time to address a few things that have been brought up by a few customers over the last few months.
I want to start off by giving a HUGE shout out to The Impossible Project with their new i-1 camera and their new generation of instant films. I absolutely love what these guys are doing and how well they’ve progressed through the last few years. I’ll be getting my hands on an i-1 very soon and can’t wait to poke at i. Keep up the amazing work TIP!!!
Ok… shop stuff. First and foremost, I’m always looking at ways to avoid destroying a fixable camera for parts. There are some cameras that are doomed from the start like ones that are rusty, moldy, or dropped/cracked. But ones that are "all there" are very salvageable regardless of mechanical or electronic problems. FER CRYING OUT LOUD, DON'T THROW YOUR CAMERA AWAY IF IT SIMPLY WONT RUN!!!! Sorry for yelling. One part that I would often strip from sonar type models is the autofocus opto sensor (aka the pickoff)… I’ve wrote about that part many times and how it’s a headache to find a replacement. This part fails over time causing the camera’s autofocus to be limited to only 3-5 feet. Even when using a replacement from a donor camera, it’s not predictable when or where it will fail.
So after a little CAD work, some electronics research, and a few prototypes, I’m happy to announce I’ve finally built a perfectly suitable replacement pickoff that can bring the autofocus on your Sonar back to life and working like new! This will also eliminate the need for destroying serviceable cameras. I’ll be adding this service to the list on the blog and will also be offering these to others that repair SX70s so if your AF on your Sonar is going bonkers, please contact me.
Some really quick housekeeping… if anyone is actually reading this… PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE try to avoid sending your camera in cases or with accessories attached. Also, when possible, please take care in packing your camera for shipping! I’ve yet to remove a camera from a box that was padded with bubble wrap, air bags, or packing peanuts. I’ve had a few cameras arrive broken that were packed in paper or compressed cardboard. I’ll be updating the blog/site this fall so I probably should include a quick tutorial on shipping your camera to the shop. It’s best to wrap the camera like a burrito in bubble wrap, line the bottom of the box with either foam or more bubble wrap, and pack the rest of the box with either more foam or bubble wrap. It also helps to not piss off your Postal Worker. Finally, please make sure that when paying through Paypal that your address is current in your shipping info.
So that’s an update for summer of 2016… some exciting stuff coming up so as always, keep the site bookmarked and be sure to check out 2nd Shot on Instagram at www.instagram.com/
A few highlights from the past few months (as seen on IG but these were some of my faves)!
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