An OM dropped hard enough to dent the top and break the prism often breaks
the metal casting that supports the prism (that's the entire front casting)
so camera becomes beyond repair. A top and prism for an OM-1 would be $90
total. A 4, 2S, 4T etc. dropped the same way could also tear the main flex
or crack an (epoxy encased) IC. ICs never available separately, and good
luck getting the potting off to even get AT the ICs.
Digital parts prices are outlandishly high for , imo, mutiple reasons. 1)
to
discourage outside repair and keep independent shops from making a profit
(hence the attempts of some manufacturers to keep digital repair manuals out
of the hands of those who need them.) 2) a vast majority of repairs (95% +)
brought into the manufacturers and left there by customers paying for and
expecting
"factory service"are never touched by the manufacturer technicians.
Instead, they are outsourced to subcontractors.
John Hermanson
Camtech Photo Services, Inc.
21 South Lane, Huntington, NY, 11743-4714,
631-424-2121, www.zuiko.com
Olympus OM Service since 1977
<:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:>
----- Original Message -----
From: "Winsor Crosby" <wincros@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <olympus@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, April 25, 2005 12:22 PM
Subject: [OM] Re: A cautionary tale
>
> Two questions.
>
> 1. How often do you do that to your cameras?
>
> 2. Have you priced a major repair on an OM and compared it to the price
> of a used model? Maybe John could give an idea of the cost of a top
> plate and new prism on an OM which would be the damaged part in the
> same kind of fall? I would bet that it would be more than an OM1 and
> pretty close to the cost of an OM4.
>
> It seems that the real cost would be the short lifetime of the camera
> because of technical advance. No chance for that 20 year relationship
> with your picture making tool.
>
>
>
> Winsor
> Long Beach, California, USA
> http://homepage.mac.com/wincros/PhotoAlbum3.html
>
>
> On Apr 25, 2005, at 8:56 AM, Piers Hemy wrote:
>
>>
>> While picking up a completed repair job (see other post!) I was shown a
>> dishevelled DSLR. The F brand S2Pro model. I was alarmed at its size
>> as it
>> was passed to me, but impressed by the comfortable fit in the hand,
>> and the
>> comparative light weight, thanks no doubt to the use of plastics.
>> Therein
>> lies the rub. The camera had taken a tumble, landing on its head. As
>> a
>> result the flip up flash gun had a deep crack on the outside, and
>> cracked
>> cover-lens, and did not seat properly at the hinge. Manufacturer's
>> trade
>> price for the replacement part (just the one) excluding sales tax
>> (VAT) and
>> S&H ... I was steeling myself for USD200 / GBP100. I was wrong.
>> GBP204 /
>> USD380. Parts price to the customer nearly GBP250 / USD475 without
>> the cost
>> of the repair itself. About half the street value of a similar used
>> camera.
>>
>>
>> Suddenly the capital cost of a DSLR, still less the cost of prints
>> (thanks
>> for the analysis, Brian) seems to be irrelevant.
>>
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