My α Journey: Servicing Lenses

Finally I was able to collect the lenses from Albert Cheah of Cheah Camera Repair. It was fast as well. He managed to service 2 of the lenses in 1 week. Not that i was rushing, but I couldn’t collect it if he finished servicing them faster as I work 9-6 jobs and he closes shop at 7pm on weekdays. He is open on Saturdays from 10am - 5pm and closed on Sundays.

You can call him on his mobile at 012-6679756 or better still, visit his shop at Complex Mutiara, Jalan Ipoh. His shop is located on the 1st floor, Lot 15 (568-1-15). It’s just beside the Digicolor (http://www.digicolor.com.my) shop, once you see Digicolor (heck, they sell a lot of stuff at good prices!), head towards it and walk into the lorong. To get to Complex Mutiara, just use Jalan Kuching and head towards Jalan Ipoh. When you get to the roundabout, turn off to Jalan Ipoh and drive straight passing through 2 traffics lights, and there you can see Complex Mutiara.

So, back to the lenses…

This Minolta 70-210mm/f4 “Beercan” lens belongs to my friend, which was passed down from his dad. The external condition of the lens is EXCELLENT. No scratches, nothing, 100% MINT! The hood, lens caps and filter are all in excellent condition as well. Even the lens pouch is still good. The only downer is that the internals of the lens are hazy, suspected to be fungus as it was kept in the pouch, unused for years. I was afraid that the fungus could not be cleaned, rendering the otherwise perfect lens totally useless.

The other lens which was repaired is a Minolta 35-70mm/f4 “Mini Beercan”. This lens has a macro mode and barrel which extends like crazy when zoomed. Heck, I call it a ‘mini-cannon‘. The lens is a bit worn and the filter is totally unusable but the internals are good, clear and non-hazy. Well, before I got too happy, I found out that the aperture blades were sticky, but nothing to be afraid of as it could be serviced easily.

After the servicing from Albert, the old lenses are back to good working condition, ready to be snapped onto my Sony Alpha A200! The lens of the Beercan are superbly clean now. Heck, everything is crystal clear when you look at the inside of the lens fro the front. Scary indeed. The mini-beercan has snappy blades now.

My friend is happy now that he can replace his kit lens with the 35-70mm/f4 which will serve him well at the docks and shipyards where he will be spending most of his time, working and snapping pictures of huge transporters, trucks, containers, heavy-lifters, ships and cranes. I love short, snubby lenses! Makes my camera so compact and have this nice ‘classic’ look.

Before I end this post, here’s picture of my Minolta 50mm/f1.7 lens which I acquired quite some time ago.