Richard Haw's Classic Nikon Repair and Review

Hello, everybody! I hope you guys remembered the article that I made last year about a certain camera shop called Nitto Camera? While the article sounded sad because the old man running the business was considering retirement he did gave us a little bit of hope because he mentioned that he may open another shop nearby if he found a good place. It is with the greatest pleasure that I will announce to you that he has indeed opened up a new store and it’s not too far from the old place. Please spend a little bit of your time and read what the new shop is all about and if you are in town, please drop them a visit! This shop is underrated by many people and some would even poo-poo it because it’s a small shop that’s situated near the big-name-shop in Nakano called Fuhiya Camera. I love both shops and I will highly recommend that you visit both shops if you are in the area or else your pilgrimage to Nakano will be half-assed! Let’s go and visit the NEW Nitto Camera!

The new shop doesn’t have a storefront because it’s inside this unassuming building. You will have to go inside the IFO building and take the elevator to reach the new shop at the 8th floor (#801). It’s kind of out-of-the-way so you will have to use a little bit of effort just to get there but don’t worry, it’s all worth it once you get there.

I have inserted a map so you won’t waste your time looking for the place. In case you will want to ask a police officer instead, just show them this address 〒１６５−００２６ 東京都中野区新井２丁目３０−４ＩＦＯビル ８F　#８０１.  They are open from 12PM-7PM and the only days that they are open are Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. The owner is an elderly gentleman and he can’t be at the shop everyday for a number of reasons. You can call the shop at ０３−３３８７ー０１１１just in case so you won’t arrive at an empty shop. You’ll also want to check out their website with this link and see what they have. The owner is a bit tired and he prefers that you contact and do business with him online these days.

Once you got out of the elevator (8th floor), be sure to look for this door. Knock a few time and open the door, this is good manners and it’s mandatory here in Japan (and elsewhere!) so you won’t startle who’s on the other side of the room.

If you don’t see the light at the other side open then you can safely assume that the owner isn’t there. It is also a good idea to check that whiteboard and see what it says. Who knows, the guy might have gotten hungry and just went out for a sandwich and you’ll have to wait a couple of minutes for him to get back to his business.

This is how the new shop looks like. It’s very well-stocked for a small shop, I can spend a lot of time just checking out what they have.

The usual junk corner is also there and the boxes are all filled with goodies!

Some more junks over here. All of the items are organized by price so you can really test your luck here because something expensive might be jumbled with the cheap ones!

This corner has plenty of great stuff. These aren’t quite junks but they just did not make the grade in order to be worthy of being put inside a glass stand. These are in acceptable quality and some can even pass as A+ elsewhere!

Here is the sort of thing that I am talking about! That Bronica prism is free from rot and I would have bought it if I didn’t have one. I think it’s about $90 for that prism.

Here’s another view of the same stand. I got my Bronica S2a from them some time ago.

There are plenty of awesome things here inside this display stand! Let’s look closer…

Some mixed goodies for the non-Nikon photographer. I never pay any attention to these but I just had to take a picture for you guys!

Nikon stuff! I don’t see anything that interests me here since I already have most of what is displayed here but I am sure that there will be people who will be interested in these.

This is a Nikon SP (reissue) that has never been opened it comes with the reissued classic W-Nikkor 3.5cm f/1.8 and from what I can gather, this is considered to be a nice price! If I can just afford this thing, I would have bought it in an instant!

We have FSU gear here in this display case. That Nikon S2 over there is cheap because it’s a beater with dings hear and there. The helicoid has also been replaced because it has a black dial despite the camera not being a late-production variant known as a “black-dial” version wherein the dials at the top were painted with sexy black enamel. The FSU lenses are reasonable but I really don’t know much about them to give you an expert opinion.

Here’s a mixed bunch. Not sure if I can call that Canadian Summicron cheap but I always see these go for more if they were German. That Nikkor is cheap considering that it has a factory-modified Ai-ring, it doesn’t look too shabby as well.

These Sharan cameras made by Megahouse are cute collectibles. For that price, I will say that their cheap. That Leica M3 isn’t cheap by my standards but it’s within the reach of a lot of people. The upper plate has scratches from a light meter and there are a few small nicks on the vulcanite. Other than the issues that I mentioned, the camera works fine.Here are some more goodies for the medium format photographer. This shop has lots of gear for medium format photographers in case you haven’t noticed it yet.

This corner has plenty of interesting stuff for medium and large format photographers. I have seen some nice things here that are reasonably-priced. There are plenty of Nikkors, Takumars and other stuff mixed into this display case as well.

I know that this is a Canon, I never liked the brand after I sold all of my FD gear but I was given a very good deal for this considering that the meter works and the shutter has not been poked or wrinkled. It was a no-brainer so I bought it! I will send this camera to the shrine to have it purified before I put it beside my Nikons! Tell me, do you guys want to see me write a repair article on this camera? Just ask nicely and maybe I’ll consider it.

That’s all for our Nitto Camera feature! If you got the time, please visit them and I will be vouching for the quality of their inventory. Just make sure to remember that they are not open most days of the week. The owner prefers to do his business online because that is going to save him the trouble of having to go to the shop everyday. The guy should have been retired at this point to be honest but he chose to keep this shop open. I guess this is what gives him joy and purpose in his life. If ever I live to be 70 then I can also see myself doing the same thing. Passion is everything and that is what gives our life purpose.

Thanks for supporting this blog. I haven’t been updating it for some time because life is a bit busy these days. I am also upset at the lag each time I do something here with my host (WordPress) that I get frustrated each time I wait for my site to load. It feels like I was on a slow 56K connection for those of you who are old enough to remember how it was. It’s getting a little bit easier for me to find a little bit of time for the blog these days so I’ll be writing more things in the coming months. See you guys again next time, Ric.

Help Support this Blog:

Maintaining this blog requires money to operate. If you think that this site has helped you or you want to show your support by helping with the upkeep of this site, you can simple make a small donation to my paypal.com account (richardHaw888@gmail.com). Money is not my prime motivation for this blog and I believe that I have enough to run this but you can help me make this site (and the companion facebook page) grow.

Helping support this site will ensure that this will be kept going as long as I have the time and energy for this. I would appreciate it if you just leave out your name or details like your country and other information so that the donations will totally be anonymous it is at all possible. This is a labor of love and I intend to keep it that way for as long as I can. Ric.