Richard Ritter is Awesome! A Restoration Miracle..

[John Z.]

About two months ago, at Bodie, I was using my Wisner 11x14 camera, on my trusty Ries tripod, and turned away for just a moment on the last shot of the day. I heard the aweful crash that you never want to hear, and saw my beautiful camera on the ground in pieces. The front extension rail had both arms cracked clear off, severing the front standard free. The back had deep gouges and scrapes, and the rear brackets were bent. I loved my beautiful Wisner camera.

I sadly drove home and contemplated my options. I tried to contact Wisner right away, but with the Wisner company reorganizing and unreachable, it appeared that I had no option to send it in for repairs. Even if Wisner was avialable it would take months, or even a year or more before I might have my camera back from them. I almost bought another 11x14 camera I saw for sale, but then talked to few large format dealers I know, and the name of Richard Ritter came up. He has a web site (www.lg4mat.net), and is listed as a repairman and restorer of large format cameras. I had dealt with him once before, when I had wanted to use a Fuji telphoto lens on my Linhof 5x7, and needed a cam made. It is virtually impossible to find anyone that can do that anymore, and technically quite difficult to make a cam to match a lens, but he did a perfect job.

I called him, and he told me to send it on over, which I did. It seems that he is used to this kind of stuff, and does not require or need to explain a whole lot, he just does the work.
I called him after a few weeks, and he reassured me that everthing was going fine, and mentioned that the crack site would be even stronger than it had been originally, once repaired.

I got the camera back yesterday, and am absolutely blown away by how good the camera looks. I cannot see a crack line a refinish line anywhere. The refinishing on the back standard is better than new, with a sparkling laquer that makes you love that bright Wisner wood. I have to look extremely closely to see the crack line on the front rails, and all the hardware and brackets are straight and true.
The price of just over 400 dollars was a bargain, and I would have paid a lot more without complaint.
In this day of sometimes poor service, internet hucksters, etc., it is a true pleasure to find a true craftsman, who does everything right, and perfectly, for the sake of just doing something well . I think he is a great resource to us all, and provides a service that may not be found anywhere else.

I have my camera back for the holidays, and am so happy...

[Capocheny]

John,

Sorry to hear about your misfortune... it happens to everyone at some point in their shooting careers.

But, I'm glad to hear of such a positive outcome on the repair end of things. It just goes to show that there still are craftsman out there who take great pride in their work and don't take advantage of the situation by charging exhorbitant prices!

Although I've not had to send anything in to be repaired... Richard Ritter has always had a sterling reputation on this site for quality workmanship.

Have a happy holiday season... and take plenty of shots!

Cheers

[Bruce Watson]

Richard is all that. I had a great experience getting my Zone VI modified Pentax spotmeter repaired and calibrated. First class job, quick, and a pleasure to deal with. I highly recommend him.

[brook]

Richard built a new back and added rear swings to my ancient 11x14. The quality of the workmanship is almost too much for words. A gem to the ULF community.

[ZoneIII]

I had a slightly different experience with Richard. The spring in the battery well that presses against the battery in my Zone VI modified Pentax spot meter broke free and I had Richard fix it. I have no complaints about his work at all and he got it back to me quickly. My only complaint is that Richard would not answer a simple question that I had. His responses to my two email messages were short to the point of being abrupt and he simply ignored my question. It would only have taken a few words to answer my question. Perhaps he was just having a bad day or maybe he's simply not very personable. It's no big deal but it left me feeling a bit cold towards him. However, with the positive comments I see about him here from his happy customers, I will still do business with him. He should probably work on his "people" skills a bit. That's an important part of business. I didn't want to chat with him. I just wanted an answer to a simple question but he ignored that question.

[Jim Galli]

In todays world I would far rather find a person short on words and long on doing the job right. It's 2008 and it seems nearly impossible to find anyone that can actually make something, fix something in our throw away society.

I had a slightly different experience with Richard. The spring in the battery well that presses against the battery in my Zone VI modified Pentax spot meter broke free and I had Richard fix it. I have no complaints about his work at all and he got it back to me quickly. My only complaint is that Richard would not answer a simple question that I had. His responses to my two email messages were short to the point of being abrupt and he simply ignored my question. It would only have taken a few words to answer my question. Perhaps he was just having a bad day or maybe he's simply not very personable. It's no big deal but it left me feeling a bit cold towards him. However, with the positive comments I see about him here from his happy customers, I will still do business with him. He should probably work on his "people" skills a bit. That's an important part of business. I didn't want to chat with him. I just wanted an answer to a simple question but he ignored that question.

[Ash]

I'm tempted to send my "working fine but wobbly" Korona 4x5 to him, I think he'd do a better job than me to make it good as new. There's definitely a bit of work needing to make it look fantastic again

[Jim Fitzgerald]

John, man am I sorry about your camera! I almost had the same thing happen in a back area of the coast of California. I had my recently finished Walnut 11x14 set up on a great composition and as I stepped around the camera to get to the lens to put a waterhouse stop in and the boulder I stepped on shifted and caused my tripod to shift and camera and tripod headed for the rocks. I managed a great save! The wooden yoke of my walnut tripod snapped but I held on to the camera and got it safely down. Richard is a true craftsman and I am glad that there are people like him out there. My building pails in comparison. I agree that it would have been a deal at twice the price. Have the nightmares stopped? Mine still come and go....... in slow motion none the less!

Jim

[Alan Curtis]

Buy a copy of Richard's DVD "Camera Repair in the Field with Richard Ritter". Watch him "break" and fix a Zone VI 4x5. Lots of great information no matter how long you have been photographing. He modified my pentax spot meter back in the late 80's and recently calibrated it, first rate service.

[Bruce Barlow]

Hey, Alan! Whaddya mean "break"? He DID break it - no quotes. I know, because it took us four takes of pushing it over before it finally did break!