Vintage lens repair?

I recently came across a vintage lens (Nikon AI-S) which is stuck wide open. It appears to be in otherwise excellent condition. I was wondering if anyone knew of a repair guy who might be able to fix the lens for a reasonable fee?

I would imagine that any traditional camera dealer would either fix this or be able to get it fixed. AI lenses are mechanically linked so it probably just needs freeing. Have you tried flipping the diaphragm activation lever on the rear of the lens a few times?

Edit .... It might help to say where you are located.

JohnB57 wrote in post #15283969
I would imagine that any traditional camera dealer would either fix this or be able to get it fixed. AI lenses are mechanically linked so it probably just needs freeing. Have you tried flipping the diaphragm activation lever on the rear of the lens a few times?

Edit .... It might help to say where you are located.

I'm in NY but I'd be willing to ship the lens anywhere in the U.S. The aperture is unresponsive to both the aperture ring and the diaphragm lever.

There will be dozens of repairers in New York but as a first action, a quick call to Adorama or B&H for advice would be worthwhile. Don't forget that these large dealers still service medium format film as well as a lot of diehard 35mm users, where a lot of the older gear is mechanical.

I live in a relatively small country, 200 miles from our largest city and I could get this repair done quickly and easily so you'll have no problem at all, with the caveat that if a part is broken, it may not be replaceable. However, this is Nikon so it's likely to be nuclear bomb proof.

Which lens is it by the way?

some links for you:

http://www.4photos.de/​camera-diy/index-en.html

http://www.photoethnog​raphy.com/ClassicCamer​as/repair.html

http://forum.manualfoc​us.org//viewforum.php?​id=1

and Eddie Houston, The Lens Doctor on ebay > http://stores.ebay.com​/thelensdoctors?_rdc=1

You can try to open it up yourself

Try this. Select say f16 on the aperture ring and flick the aperture linkage to see if the aperture blades actually do stop down.

Gernerally AI and AI-S Nikkors are pretty tough without any problems. It's a possibilty through lack of use, the aperture linkages and aperture blades have become a tad slow to respond (they are mechanical not electrical).

There's every chance with use, the aperture linkages and blades will free up.

With the lens unmounted, operating the diaphpragm lever actually opens up the aperture, replicating the effect of mounting the lens, so it should be easy to see it working by just rotating the aperture ring. As someone else said, it might be worth carefully opening up the lens yourself or even selecting a small aperture and tapping it lightly on a wooden surface, with the end cap on of course. They are pretty tough old beasts.

There's a Nikon service center that works on old lenses in Morton Grove, Il.

http://nikoncamerarepa​ir.com/