Where to get this fixed: serious aperture iris problem

[Corran]

I bought a vintage lens off ebay and it came with the iris blades popped out. They look like they are all there. I fooled with it but I don't have the proper tools to really work on this stuff and I'd rather have a pro do it.

Where would be the best place to send this lens, and about how much would it cost? I ask because I am going to ask for a partial refund for the lens from the ebay seller. Furthermore, the seller is from Poland so a return would be a pain (I wouldn't get the money for months probably).

(Lens is a Schneider Xenon 12.5cm f/2 lens)

See photo:

[lenser]

Carol at Flutotscamerarepair.com does fantastic work. She only charges about $60 for a standard CLA, but I don't know how much for something like this. She did do some work on an iris situation for me that turned out great, but this one looks like a bigger challenge.

[Jason Greenberg Motamedi]

So long as the retaining ring is not broken any competent shop should be able to to that. Send it to Grimes (expensive), Flutot (long wait), Marshman (?) or your favorite local shop. If the retaining ring is broken, you are in for a big bill, might as well mount it in a shutter.

[Corran]

I am not sure what the retaining ring is. The ring that controls the aperture works, just the blades are out of their tracks or whatever.

I'm hesitant to send it to Grimes (even though he may be great) because of cost (remember, I have to convince the seller to pay the bill, or at least most hopefully). You mention Flutot taking a long time - what are we talking about? Months??

Regarding local shops: I wish! There isn't a local place that even sells 35mm film, much less do fiddly repair work.

[alex from holland]

Try to find a watch /clock repair locally.
As jason says, it isn't such a big job but you will need a lot of patience.
The retaining ring is the ring which holds the separate blades in it 's place

[Corran]

Is there any way to tell if the retaining ring is broken? If the aperture blades move fine I assume it's okay?

I live in a very small city in a very rural area...there is not a watch shop around here either. There is hardly any specialized shops like that here. Plenty of pawn shops, cash brokers, and other junk though...

[lenser]

I just noticed you are in Georgia. I've had some great experiences with the repair people at KEH just est of Atlanta. Give them a call and see if they can handle this kind of service.

[Corran]

Good idea, I didn't even think about them.

[Marko Trebusak]

Try to find a watch /clock repair locally.
As jason says, it isn't such a big job but you will need a lot of patience.
The retaining ring is the ring which holds the separate blades in it 's place

Alex, I don't think watch repair shop would be able to handle this. To take thing apart and sort blades out is a patience work, but at this iris one of the blade pin is missing. That might be a bigger challenge. So one of the camera repair services will need to work on this.

Marko

[GPS]

...
I'm hesitant to send it to Grimes (even though he may be great) because of cost (remember, I have to convince the seller to pay the bill, or at least most hopefully). ...

Will give you good advice - don't even try to convince the seller to pay the bill. Consider yourself lucky if he accepts return... Hurry up!