Camera Repair Technician

What is a Camera Repair Technician?

Duties

Camera repair technicians typically perform the below kinds of duties:

• Check, maintain and repair digital camera equipment of clients, ensuring that it functions at the optimal level and setup specifications.
• Assess and service spherical and anamorphic prime and zoom lenses, confirming its operational performance.
• Closely examine and maintain accessory equipment, e.g. monitors, batteries, etc. along with updating software and firmware in keeping with established guidelines.
• Go through work requests, follow production drawings and sample assemblies, or receive verbal instruction on the tasks to be performed.
• Frequently interact with customers regarding their problems and provide easy-to-understand guidance.

Day In The Life

In your day-to-day job as a camera repair technician, you will carry out repairs and maintenance for a wide variety of cameras and other equipment. You will regularly disassemble and inspect camera equipment to understand any issues with operational performance. Most often, the problem will be addressed with cleaning and calibrating the cameras properly or repairing one of its components such as lenses, light meters, shutters, viewfinders and lens mounts. The work you deliver must be flawless and aligned with what your clients require.

A camera repair technician should possess superior attention to detail and be able to follow camera instructions or specifications to effectively troubleshoot issues. Utilising various tools such as the milling machine, shaper, grinder and bench lathe, you may sometimes fabricate or modify defective electronic or mechanical parts according to specifications. While you have a great understanding of different cameras, you must still be able to read blueprints to quickly and correctly install parts. Further, it will be your job to ensure that your supplies inventory is full since missing parts will result in zero repairs. As part of this work, you will place orders with various vendors, monitor shipments, or any other special parts.

Work Schedule

In a typical workweek, you will have to work less than 40 hours per week at a regular schedule. You rarely have to work late nights or weekends unless you work with a television or media studio. Most technicians work at office style environments with assigned areas, while a few also work at warehouse style spaces at larger companies.

Growth Of The Job

As per the U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS), employment growth in this job area will be similar to other fields at around 5%. With cameras becoming less expensive, more individuals are owners of hi-tech cameras and will require expert services of camera repair technicians.

For career growth, you can look into related areas of work to widen your skillset, such as repairing telecommunications equipment or media equipment for a studio or film set. With key skills such as a deep understanding of basic engineering technology, strong eyesight and finger dexterity, camera repair technicians are promoted to supervisory or managerial roles with several years of experience.

Typical Employers

Camera technicians have the option to work independently or with a repair company or an established studio which does in-house repairs for cameras, be it digital, video cassette or analogue film cameras. Examples of employers include AbelCine, Canfield Scientific, Advanced Technology Services, Canon USA Inc., VER, Hearst Television Inc., General Dynamics Information Technology, etc.