Not so long ago, I dropped my telephoto lens on the floor. It fell onto carpet, and nothing seemed damaged at the time. I thought I'd had a lucky escape. That night, I went down to watch an ice hockey match and take some photos. From where I was sitting, a telephoto lens was the only way I was going to get any decent shots, so I fixed it on and turned the barrel to zoom in...only to find that the barrel would turn, but the lens would not zoom. Clearly, I had not been so lucky after all.
I assumed that camera repair shops would be fairly common - especially at a time when we possess so many consumer electronics - so I decided to do some research on the internet to find my "local" camera repair shop. To my dismay, camera repair shops seemed to be few and far between. Worse still, the "London Camera Repair Shop" made it clear in their advertising that they were for profess>ionals, and that they did not undertake work on any camera "less" than a D300, except in special circumstances - and that even if I did manage to persuade them to fix my lens, it would go to the bottom of their priority list. I was put off straight away.
Then I found GRES Camera Repair in Epsom, Surrey, and thank god I did. GRES is run by Graham Rose, and he has been in the camera trade for over 40 years, having first worked for Nikon and then branched out on his own over 20 years ago. I gave him a call, and expected him to tell me that my £100 lens simply wasn't worth the effort to repair. On the contrary, Graham invited me to bring my lens round, and he would then be able to quote me once he had an idea what the problem was. By unlucky coincidence, I had also managed to break one of the legs on my father's antiquated Velbon tripod (the A-1, manufactured around 1970), so decided to see if he could repair this as well. Graham told me he could probably repair both the lens and the tripod together for under £100, and to leave it with him. However, parts would be difficult to come by - especially for the tripod.
It took around 6 weeks before I next heard from Graham to tell me that everything was fixed, and that the final bill was only £85. I raced round, and only then did I learn the extent of the repair job he had done. Graham had given my lens an entirely new barrel - I had managed to shatter some sort of internal drive piece, and he had taken the whole thing apart to find the problem. It worked - and looked - as good as new. Then came the tripod. That had been a problem, since Velbon stopped making parts for it about 30 years ago. As a solution, Graham had again taken the tripod apart and copied the internal parts in his workshop, made some moulds, and then manufactured bespoke new working parts from a strong composite plastic. The result was so good, I couldn't - and still can't - tell which leg it was that he repaired. This meant so much to me - and to do it all for under £100, I couldn't believe it.
GRES provided a first-class service, going far beyond what I would have expected from any repair shop. When a technician is so determined to fix your problem that he will even manufacture parts he can't get hold of, you can't help but feel special and valued. Graham was friendly and extremely knowledgable, and I can't recommend his services highly enough. He has customers from all over the country, and I'm not surprised. Five stars, thoroughly well deserved.
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