Vintage Cameras Given New Life in Tokyo Repair Shop; Owner Hosts Classes so Customers Can Learn Practice Themselves

By Toshiya Minami / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

13:56 JST, November 11, 2024

Limye Shashinki Shuriten, a camera repair shop, opened in March in a quiet residential area near the Nerima Art Museum in Nerima Ward, Tokyo.

Old mechanical film cameras neatly line the shelves of the shop’s antique-style interior. The shop’s owner, Tetsuya Azuma, 45, does his precise work among them in a warm and relaxed atmosphere enhanced by the clicking and beeping noises coming from the camera.

Azuma held in his hand a highly popular model of a twin-lens reflex camera, originally released in the 1950s.

The customer who brought it in said the self-timer, which automatically releases the shutter, had stopped working and was in need of repair.

While applying oil to the overlapping gear wheels and springs of the shutter’s mechanism, he explained, “This camera uses large film, so it can take beautiful pictures.”

Azuma had wanted to repair broken cameras himself and worked in a film camera repair shop in Tokyo for a year to specialize in the practice.

In November 2011, he opened a repair studio where he received repair orders online. To date, he has restored more than 1,000 cameras and lenses.

Though the online business had been successful, some of his customers had been surprised at the high costs of repairs.

Wanting people to learn how to repair cameras by themselves, Azuma held a class in a rented space in October last year.

With the class receiving very positive responses and many saying that the class should be held regularly, he decided to open a real shop.

Currently, about 30 people attend the repair class held in Azuma’s shop, learning hands-on while repairing cameras which had been long forgotten at home, or bought second-hand in internet auctions.

Azuma’s students are drawn to the gear wheels and springs, closely packed together and visible upon disassembling the cameras, and the task of identifying the faulty parts, which is like solving a puzzle.

Azuma’s shop also sells repaired film cameras, which are only available for purchase in-person.

“I want people to buy one after actually touching the cameras and chatting with me,” Azuma said.

The store is creating a ripple effect, expanding the circle of people who engage with vintage cameras.

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Limye Shashinki Shuriten

Address: 1-35-16 Nukui, Nerima Ward, Tokyo

Access: 4 minutes walk from Nakamurabashi Station on Seibu Ikebukuro Line

Hours: Open from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Tuesdays and Fridays, 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Wednesdays and Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturdays. Closed on Mondays and irregular Sundays.