International Camera Technicians

Couldn’t find a place that repaired film cameras in the area so I came out here + had a really silly good experience having my shutter fixed… apparently I just needed to switch it on manual and change the batteries ahh so embarrassing!
Anyways this place has an awesome set of cameras on display and seems really old school, I was disappointed to hear that they’re closing in ~ 2 years because the two men who work there are retiring :(It might be a little pricy to get your cameras fixed here but know that they’re under good care!

While trying to clean the focusing screen on my Canon DSLR, I managed to make things worse. While it seemed I could continue to use the camera just fine, with only minor annoyance, I decided to make it right, or so I thought.
Vic replaced the focusing screen and it looked overall better, except for what looked like 2 smudges in the bottom corners. I told him about them and he immediately said these are scratches on the prism. However, I distinctly remembered that those were not present before the replacement. I asked if he could remove the screen so we could see if smudges were there without it. He became angry saying that it will cost another $ 18. I could not care less to pay an extra $ 18 to get it right though.
With a few extra tries including one with the screen out the smudges were only visible with the new screen in. I then discovered a new speck/​dot and a fiber or 2. He then asked if I want the old one back. I immediately said yes.
He put it back. However, now it was all dirty, WORSE than they way I came in with it! The 2 smudges in the bottom corners disappeared though.
Now, I don’t know if the new screen was defective or if the installation was bad, but this was a really bad experience. For Vic to blame the prism, which obviously was not the case is not professional.
I would highly recommend against using this store.

Had the WORST EXPERIENCE ever at International Camera Technicians.
Before you get your camera serviced here, you should READ ALL THE POOR REVIEWS FIRST. The technicians are experts, but don’t be fooled by their services. You can fall into a trap on paying a lot for their services. My experience is hard to sum up in a few words, so please bare with me…
Day 1: I had to get a work camera repaired (cover door of the battery was broken). Right when my colleague and I got there during our lunch hour, I explained to Manfred what happened and he took the camera to the back room for examination. Everything seemed to be going good until my colleague and I realized it was time to go back to work. After 15 mins., I try to wave down Manfred, but he’s not paying attention (really focused on the work which was a good thing… I thought).
So I go to the back room and tell him we need to leave. He said tell us to leave the camera with him while he looks into the problem more and will give me a call. We say ok and leave.
Day 2: He calls me back the next day and tells me the repair will be $ 250. I tell him thanks for checking, but I’ll pick up the camera and check with my manager if she will approve the cost. He says ok. I go to pick it up and they tell me the camera is not ready and has to be put back together. I was on my lunch break again so I asked how long it will take… they tell me a couple of hours. I said I couldn’t wait that long and thought it was just a small misunderstanding. So I schedule another time to pick it up. They say ok.
Day 3: I call first to see if the camera is ready and Manfred says yes. I go pick it up to find out they repaired the camera. I told Manfred I did not agree to it and he said I did. I said no, this must be another misunderstanding and he said it was not and that I agreed to pay it. Again I said I didn’t and then he says he can’t release my camera to me because I would have to pay him first. Even though I didn’t agree to the cost and repair, I tried to negotiate the price to resolve the misunderstanding. He declines to negotiate (telling me reasons that his place is already saving me money) and tells me he will have to damage the camera again (undo the repair) if I wanted the camera back. I was really shocked at his answer and couldn’t believe what just happened. To make this story short, I said forget it and paid for the repair.
Then… I notice the Compact Flash Card is missing. He said he didn’t have it, which I know he did because my colleague and I were BOTH there to see that he just took the camera right when we got there (yes, another misunderstanding). He denies he had it and then I insisted can he just give it back. He decides to look for it, can’t find it and gives me another that I can use which is just 1GB. The experience was so horrible that I just wanted to get out of there and again this was during my lunch hour so I had to go back to work.
Now that I’m writing this and reading all the low ratings for this place, I’m actually not thinking I was scammed. He knew what he was doing and took the chance of having me forced to pay the repair.
Really not happy about this place, feel like I was fooled and would NOT recommend anyone (especially camera newbies like me) to go there.

Absolutely wonderful man who knows his business. Manfred knows cameras! 65 years of knowledge from one man!

Fred is a very nice gentlemen! He spent extra effort and did an excellent job on my Zeiss Jena 20 mm lens. He explained every technical aspect of it and is very honest.
I highly recommend him.

Can not say enough. Twenty year old lens. Barrel internals busted. Internal glass had spots of fungus. Didn’t know what to do: buy new or repair? Long story short. The lens is better then new!!! Compared to its current version (Canon L 24−70÷2.8), my old but newly repaired 28 – 70 does not disappoint a single bit!!! Plus, he’s just super duper cool to chat with!!! Don’t take your repair anywhere else!!! Thanks to Unilocal, I found my best repair shop — ever!!!

I have a Nikon SB-​600 external flash that got corroded with some old batteries. I visited Manfred at ICT and within 10 minutes, he was able to clean it out got it working again. He was honest and gave me some advice on maintenance and storage. I’ll definitely visit again with any equipment issues.

A friend of mine borrowed my 5dmkiii and put in the CF card the wrong way, bending a pin and breaking another. I needed to get it fixed.
I called in but they couldn’t give me a quote over the phone. Fair enough. Though I feel like this is a pretty common problem. Perhaps not common for them.
It was a $ 50 deposit to get it looked it.
They checked for parts availability and logistics of fixing it before calling me back.
They called me back the next day!
The quote was for $ 350ish dollars on top of the deposit. It’s not a bad price considering the camera itself costs 3k.
It was fixed in a week. I picked it up, paid, and they let me know that if there was any issues in 90 days, to bring it back in at no additional charge.

Went in for a filter for a new lens I just got. The old man (owner) was so helpful and sweet! I paid $ 30 plus tax for the filter. Only con (and reason for only 4 stars) is that he only accepts cash or check.

I had enlisted Fred’s help ten years ago when my wife’s Sony digital camera developed spots on the optical sensor. He was located in Downtown Mountain View in 2004. Impeccable service back then, and I kept him in mind for any future repair needs.
In 2011, I dusted off the old 1958 Yashica D TLR camera left to me by my late father. It had taken hundreds of photos in its time. But the mechanisms were worn out. The film rolling mechanism was cracked in several places, and when I turned the knob, the inner workings fell apart. The shutter winder was also inoperative. I lamented the passing of this great little camera.
Then I remembered Fred. I took the Yashica D to him, and he said he would take a look at it. I gave him a $ 50 check as deposit, which he told me he would return if the camera was irreparable.
Within a couple of weeks, he told me that he did not have the parts to rebuild the required subsystems. I asked him to hold on to the camera until an opportunity arose.
Cut to 2014. Fred got back in touch with me to say he could now fix my camera. I said «Go!».
I arrived to pick it up, and could not believe the incredible work Fred had done. I paid him for the balance. I’ve since taken the camera on a shoot of Bay Area sites, and it works as if brand new. Can’t wait to develop my pictures — and I will update this post accordingly.
Some words about Fred: He is a consummate craftsman, and he really understands optics and mechanical engineering. I also should mention that Fred is very friendly and a great person to talk to. We talked for about 30 minutes, about cameras and all sorts of things. I have great trust and respect for him, and if I ever have any need for camera repair again, I am going to him!
I highly recommend International Camera Technicians. You will not be disappointed.

This service here is amazing. My camera had damage from being dropped and I was going to have to send it to Nikon for repair and was told it would take 3 – 4 weeks. The crew here fixed it for me for under $ 300 and the turnaround time was less 5 days. I would definitely recommend them.

I did something stupid. I fell off a ledge and ON TOP of my camera. Yes, I’m short, but I‘m still pretty heavy, especially for my SLR, considering the other side was concrete. The result actually wasn‘t too bad, with a slight scratch on the body. The lens cap had a little hole on it, but the lens itself was dented in right next to the lens eye, and the zoom got stuck. I brought it here just before closing, and Fred came out of the back, where he was working on another project. After I explained the situation, he took it back to his desk to examine. When he came back out, he explained to me that it was completely broken, and while he could fix it, he didn‘t think it would be worth it. He then took time to suggest what I could do instead. Super honest, and very sweet man. And he obviously loves what he does.

They helped me get a stuck lens off a broken body, for free.

My Canon T2i had a broke mic jack. ICT fixed it in 2 weeks and they guarantee the work for 6 months! The service is friendly and funny. My total repair bill was $ 190, which I feel is fair for a complicated repair.
The mechanics are very up front and honest about cost and difficulty of repair.
Note: This place is a little hard to see from the road. It is in an industrial office building.

Very accommodating fixed my camera battery quickly and was very knowledgable. I will definitely come again

Woww, stay away if there’s a chance you’re going to not accept the quote!
Such a bad experience that I had to write my first Unilocal review.
An SD card broke into the card slot in my Canon Rebel T3i so that the camera wouldn’t recognize any cards any more.
I chose ICT based on the overwhelmingly positive Unilocal reviews. My wife dropped the camera off on July 8^th. Paying 40 bucks for fault analysis instead of 50 because the nice old man had told her to pay the 10 bucks later.
On Friday the 12^th of July I receive a call from a technician from the shop saying they had disassembled the camera and the card reader would need to be replaced because the pins inside are all broken.
He gives me a quote of 230 USD minus the fault analysis. I kindly refuse explaining that in this case I’ll just buy a new camera although I would loose some money. He goes on to explain that this is a 900 USD camera and worth fixing. I still refuse knowing I bought it for 600. He then starts complaining that the camera is all in pieces and that I would need to pay extra if I didn’t want it back in pieces. I explained him that was not the deal. After some back and forth he puts the nice old man on the phone who now tells me that I owe them nonetheless because my wife hadn’t paid up all the 50 USD (sic!). I tell him I’ll gladly pay the 10 bucks we still owe him. He promises to call me back when the camera is assembled. On Tuesday 16^th no one has reached out to me yet. I call and ask if I can pick up the camera, they say I could.
On Wednesday 17^th I go and pick up the camera which is still broken. I go to a different repair shop that fixes the problem in 5 minutes. There was a shiny orange piece of plastic stuck in the SD card slot. I go back to ICT to investigate how they hadn’t discovered that piece while fault investigating and disassembling the camera. Both the technician and the old man refuse to admit the fault and play the dumb card for a while. Pretending not to understand why I’m unsatisfied.
After a while the old man gives me my 50 USD back saying I should be all happy that I got my camera working and the money back. No apology even …

I really recommend this place. I brought my Canon 5D Mark II camera here when it broke right in my hands on a photo shoot. It was fixed and now works perfectly and the price was very fair. Great customer service as well!

Really like that Fred is straightforward and honest. He checked out my camera’s flash problem and basically told me it would cost more to repair than it was worth. And he told me my extra battery was toast because it had been overcharged.
This is not the first time I was there, I used to go to his old shop on Villa, thought maybe he had closed up for good, and very glad to find out he wasn’t. Thank goodness Unilocal showed the new address.

In two independent incidents of clumsiness, I dropped and broke my 50 mm prime and flash. Couldn’t even blame the kid for breaking my stuff; she’s pretty careful around my camera. In any case I do a lot of indoor photography around the house so I was really sad about losing two of my favorite pieces of equipment.
I brought both of them in and got estimates quickly (about a week and a half). Unfortunately the lens was going to cost about 80% of the price for a new one so I decided not to get it repaired. The flash was a bit more reasonable (40% of the price of a new one). The parts were ordered and the work was done quickly. Had I been a more responsive and available customer I probably could have had it back in 3 weeks.
Definitely appreciate this service. The price of repairing the lens was higher than I thought. I talked to them a bit about it and it sounds like it’s just a ton of work to take a lens apart and put it back together (and get all the alignment correct and everything). I’d guess that it’s around a $ 150 – 200 minimum for that sort of work (based on my one experience with these guys), so keep that in mind when deciding whether you want to bring it in.
Cash or check only.

As noted in the reviews, older German gentleman who knows his stuff. If I had a vintage Nikon or Leica needing work I would definitely bring it here.
He spent about 30 minutes explaining to me why today’s cameras are junk and how he can’t even get the manufacturers to send him repair parts unless he spends thousands of dollars with them. That, and how today’s cameras are designed for obsolescence and are mostly junk.
Makes me want to go find an old camera just so I can help keep him in business. When he’s gone, this level of skill and knowledge will not be easily found, I guarantee you that.