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Traquair
Tinkerer
Username: Traquair
Post Number: 6
Registered: 12-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, May 21, 2010 - 08:40 pm: | 
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I know Ed Romney passed away several years ago, but his wife carried on selling his materials. I recently went to buy one of his manuals and the site was down. Does anyone know if this is likely temporary or did his wife finally close the business down entirely? |
Monopix
Tinkerer
Username: Monopix
Post Number: 132
Registered: 11-2008
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, May 22, 2010 - 03:02 pm: |
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No idea but I did find one of his books on Scribd recently which was free to download. I've lost the link but should be possible to find it. |
Monopix
Tinkerer
Username: Monopix
Post Number: 133
Registered: 11-2008
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, May 22, 2010 - 03:09 pm: |
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I found it again.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/27578948/Edward-Ed-Romney-Revised-Trade-Secrets-Basic- Training-in-Camera-Repair |
Gez
Tinkerer
Username: Gez
Post Number: 196
Registered: 09-2007
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, May 23, 2010 - 03:39 am: |
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Many thanks for the scribd link. Ed Romney's books are very difficult to find in the usual second hand sources. |
Ron_g
Tinkerer
Username: Ron_g
Post Number: 23
Registered: 07-2009
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, May 23, 2010 - 04:08 am: |
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Thanks for the link.I joined the site yesterday but could not spend enough time there to see it properly.That is a great resource,thanks for the headsup.Ron G |
Mareklew
Tinkerer
Username: Mareklew
Post Number: 80
Registered: 03-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, May 23, 2010 - 05:31 am: |
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I have glanced over the book, and I must say, there are some parts that I'd say: it's not a repair, its treating symptoms. Especially many suggestions start with "adjust tension" and "clean" follows as a second option...
Is it just me?
Marek |
Traquair
Tinkerer
Username: Traquair
Post Number: 7
Registered: 12-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, May 23, 2010 - 12:15 pm: |
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Thanks for the link. Does anyone have a scanned copy of Ed Romney's Univex Mercury repair manual? |
Gez
Tinkerer
Username: Gez
Post Number: 197
Registered: 09-2007
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, May 23, 2010 - 01:20 pm: |
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Re Marek, I agree with your observations. I read a good part of it this morning and was a bit disappointed with the lack of hard detail. In that respect Tomosy's books are much better. Still, it is a valuable resource for reference. |
Tom_cheshire
Tinkerer
Username: Tom_cheshire
Post Number: 313
Registered: 04-2009
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, May 23, 2010 - 06:12 pm: |
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It has been said by a lot of people that Ed simply copied existing repair manuals or plagiarized them heavily. A lot of the repair data is simply advice like "clean it with lighter fluid" or similar not very detailed instruction.
I e-mailed him once long ago about a Leitz lens with stuck diaphragm and his advice was to squirt it with lighter fluid without any warning or explanation regarding disassembly or what-if lighter fluid gets on the glass, etc.
When he constantly complained that people were selling his pub.s on eBay for more than he sold them I pointed out to him that he should sell his pub.s on eBay but he poo-poo-ed the idea.
His big selling point was how manufacturers and repair shops didn't want this information getting out to the public and what a big secret it was. When I pointed out to him that Tomosy had a few books published and no one was preventing Tomosy from doing it he got all grumpy and an "aw, that guy doesn't count" attitude. He always had an atmosphere of laying low or trying not to get noticed too much which always made me wonder.
Ed self-published a few other books including one that could be considered a bit "too far to the right". He was always saying how great his SC location was so it made me wonder why he suddenly moved out to N.Mexico and started selling some of his prized cameras. Then, as suddenly, he moved back to SC and died.
My side-show interest was watching the never ending feud between Ed and Bob Shell (former editor of ShutterBug). I think it started when ShutterBug would not accept any more of Ed's advertising. Sadly Ed died before getting to see fate give him his ultimate revenge when, according to a news report, Bob Shell was allegedly arrested in a complicated situation wherein allegedly a model died at his studio of an overdose during a photo shoot/romantic encounter. That report is probably still online somewhere. |
Gez
Tinkerer
Username: Gez
Post Number: 198
Registered: 09-2007
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, May 23, 2010 - 06:59 pm: |
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He doesn't even mention the Leica Drum Tester (a slotted drum with a light bulb inside) which is still the easiest non-electronic way to evaluate a focal plane shutter.
For my money any repair articles written by Larry Lyells are tops. |
Gyurmi
Tinkerer
Username: Gyurmi
Post Number: 3
Registered: 12-2009
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, May 27, 2010 - 07:21 am: |
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Wow, that was an interesting reading about Ed Romney. On a number of occasions I was about to buy some book from him, but never got through the on-line ordering process. Just as well. I ended up solving my problems with trial and error. What seems to work for me best is to buy two cameras of the same type (not expensive nowadays), work on one and use the other as a reference. The Tomosy books are ok, but I think too expensive for what they are. One grows out of them fairly quickly and then regrets the money spent. Probably the same would have been the case with the Romney books. |
Fred_m
Tinkerer
Username: Fred_m
Post Number: 3
Registered: 04-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, May 30, 2010 - 10:11 pm: |
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His book,
"Basic Repair"
Is the best that you will find because it is the only book you will find, in one book, of a treatise on camera repair.
If you have a better one volume suggestion, post it up. |
Gez
Tinkerer
Username: Gez
Post Number: 200
Registered: 09-2007
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 31, 2010 - 02:52 am: |
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Well, I'm sticking to my opinion, Romney's book is of interest once a level of competence has been achieved, but it is of little value to the newbie. Tomosy's books are great not just for the step-by-step guidance on specific models, but for his enthusiastic writing style and his advice on modified tools and home-made test equipment. If tooling marks left by so called 'pros' are an indication of competence, or lack thereof, they could do with a refresher course starting with Tomosy's books.
"How to Repair Your Own 35mm Camera" by Lanny & Vicki Cermak is worth a read, however the photos of assemblies etc. are poorly reproduced. |
Ahantsch
Tinkerer
Username: Ahantsch
Post Number: 6
Registered: 01-2009
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, June 14, 2010 - 10:02 am: |
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I've read Romney's and Tomosy's books. They are helpful but I agree they don't provide step-by-step guidance on specific models.
One of the best step-by-step manual I've read is the Pentax K1000 manual written by Larry Lyells of National Camera. National Camera produced this manual in cooperation with Pentax when National Camera started including the K1000 camera with the repair course. It teaches about Pentax K1000 (and similar models like Pentax Spotmatic, KX and others) but also about mechanical SRLs cameras in general. Larry is a great tech writer, the manual is a pleasure to read. You have to have a K1000 or similar camera in front of you in order to fully understand this manual.
Alfredo.- |
