Broken 45AII - repair questions

[AlexGard]

I'm on a ship, and the other day was taking some photos out on deck, the camera was mounted on a tripod at full working height. I went to mount a film holder and accidentally hit the mounting plate lever instead of the film back lever and the camera fell the full 1.8 meters onto solid steel decking, with my 210mm lens mounted to the front.

Being a solid steel surface and the camera being extended most of it's draw, it wasn't pretty. I know toyo's are tough, but this camera hit the (literal) deck hard.

The camera bounced a few times.

My mouth hung open as I watched it all happen in slomo.

I picked up the camera. First evalutation of damage was:

front standard totally screwed. Where the standard joins the drop bed, the bottom plate of the standard is split, so it comes away from the "swing" plane of the camera. The front standard and bellows was hanging freely, dangling around.

The back standard is slightly askew, looking directly from behind, it looks to be leaning to the right, with the left han side of the rear standard about 2mm higher than the right hand side of rear standard.

I played around and managed to wranged the front standard back onto its slider/gear/whatebver you call it. You can still have rise and some degree of tilft but shift and swing are totally unsecure. The front standard is busted where it connects to the drop bed. It needs to be replaced. I've manaaged to put it back together so that I can still close the camera and take a photo if I wasn't using shift or swing but after that it's ok, but will need surgery to bring it back to working cond.


emailed toyo for a repair about a week ago, havent heard back.


where can i get it repaired, will a frankenstein be expensive? gutted, I know its not a preciesion camera and the movements lost weren'te ones I used much anyway and I can probably get away with epoxy resin to fix the split part, but it's a great camera an want it in good working order...


any ideas or people hat might be able to repair it for me?

[koh303]

Cheaper to get another 45a.

[Deval]

you might try calling KEH. They have a flat fee repair service, but I'm not sure it they would repair that level of damage.

[jbenedict]

If cobbling it together allows you to shoot for now, you might be able to get used parts if you wait. Frequently there are view camera parts available on Ebay. You could set it up that Ebay would send you an e-mail when something you wanted was up for sale.

[Alan Gales]

If you find that it's cheaper to buy another camera than to fix the one you have then list it on Ebay, as is for parts. I'm sure you can get something out of it. I've been surprised at what I have gotten for broken items because someone needed a part.

[AlexGard]

The camera is back in working condition, although I think some epoxy resin might be needed to glue the bottom plate of the front standard where it joins the drop bed. It seems a tiny bit out of line at the rear standard but at least it is working and from what I can tell the bellows have survived.

[koh303]

In most cases, these metal frame bodies get slightly bent when dropped, something that cannot be corrected. You are best off replacing the whole unit and selling the busted one for parts. Jusr saw a 45a sell for 350$...
i cant think of a repair shop that will take this in for less then that...

[jbenedict]

you might try calling KEH. They have a flat fee repair service, but I'm not sure it they would repair that level of damage.

Flat *labor* fee. There isn't much to an LF camera and I could reduce it to a pile of parts in 15 min. and put it back together in about the same time. I don't know if I could properly take apart a shutter of a D300 and get it back together again. Parts will be the biggest cost here.

[Thom Bennett]

Toyo repair is actually under MAC Group. Contact Rita directly and she should be able to help you.


Rita Carter
Service Group
75 Virginia Rd, White Plains, NY 10603
914-347-3300 · RitaC@MACgroupUS.com

[Bob Salomon]

The camera is back in working condition, although I think some epoxy resin might be needed to glue the bottom plate of the front standard where it joins the drop bed. It seems a tiny bit out of line at the rear standard but at least it is working and from what I can tell the bellows have survived.

A "tiny bit out of line" means that there is a serious problem with the alignment. Yes, a view camera is made to be used with camera movements but it is also designed to be in alignment when needed.

Get a replacement. It is better then blowing shots!