fotoman150 wrote:
What’s your opinion? Is there money to be made in this? Or are people throwing cameras away and getting new ones when they malfunction?
I think I would enjoy repairing cameras and learning exactly how they work and everything about them. But I don’t wanna waste my money on a course only to find out no one pays to have cameras repaired.
Do most professional photographers replace their shutters? Or do they just buy another camera?
As a person who does a bit of his own repairs, you've some issues to overcome - In my efforts I've found the following:
Lack of available data/schematics for most-almost all cameras and lenses.
Lack, almost total lack of parts availability, I've a couple sources for some things, but if I was doing this as a job I'd be up schlitz creek in a barb wire canoe (I thank one of our Aussie friends for that jem!!).
Scavenging from older/used/for repair equipment is often very unproductive....if parts A, D, and X fail with some regularity on a given model/brand, those intended scavenge parts may already have failed/or been robbed, or are in a state of pre-total-fail blues.
Repair Equipment; this is another biggie, most modern electronic devices (especially the more complex) require highly specialized electronic tools/jigs, laser alignment & positioning equipment, computer programs and interfaces and the ability to use same - For instance - I can repair many Nikon lenses, but once I get to AF-S and AF-P (I'm sure this applies to all the other brands as well), if I've disturbed the "Focus Stack" in any way, I've "bricked" the lens, I do not have access to the equipment/programs/interfaces to re-align the stack, so even if I fixed item X, I can't complete the process....and guess who won't help at that point, if they still even service a particular model...these days, once out of production, you are up the creek again..... It will be the same with the camera bodies too, and this extends way beyond cameras/lenses.
If you can overcome those obstacles, have the talent and desire, you may have a good shot at success.
I am a good technician, and can repair many things old/new/electronic/manual/automatic/electro-mechanical/digital/analog, yada yada, but have given up on achieving anything stellar with modern/current camera gear. Still enjoy working on the older stuff (old lenses and cameras can be fun to clean/lube/repair "re-new", if you can find the parts), and don't mind the new stuff, but now I know where to draw the line.
I could go on, but feel that is pointless. I would never discourage anyone from pursuit of income/profession/hobby fun/wanting to learn and apply, etc.... my suggestion is to do some more research, talk to those in the business, maybe try your hand at some, but I also suggest starting with the older (non-electronic) gear which you will probably do very well with, but "go deep" for info on the more modern equipment before you get in over your head (I have several "bricked" lenses on a shelf as constant reminders for me to research the requirements of fixing a particular lens/camera prior to starting). If you can find and procure factory repair manuals, that will help greatly (and they usually have all the pertinent "warnings" in the first couple pages - like the Nikon Factory Repair Manuals do). Again, good luck in your quest