Shoutout to Royal Camera Repair

by | Jan 15, 2021 | Recommendations | 2 comments

081010_James Staddon_9470 NIKON D70, 70 mm, 1-320 sec at f - 10, ISO 200

If it hasn’t happened to you yet, get ready for it.

Equipment gets old. Accidents happen. Moth and rust corrupts.

When your photography equipment breaks, have you thought about where you will go to get it fixed?

If you’re like me, your lens might be too old to be repaired by Canon. And who wants to pay Canon repair prices anyway?

So let me recommend a better place.

Ready for this? Know where the bookmark button is in your browser?

Royal Camera, www.royalcameras.com

Royal Camera (faded)

I’ve done my research. I’ve tried them out numerous times. So far, so good.

They’re based in Chicago, so you’ll have to pay to get your equipment shipped, but their prices are extremely reasonable. When I was shopping around, it seemed like their quotes were always the lowest.

I know every repair situation is going to be different, but because I want to make this blog as helpful as possible, I’m going to list the various repairs I’ve needed in the last two years and what they charged for it to help you get a bigger picture on what I mean by “reasonable price” in equipment repair:

  • EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM – The lens I bought would only zoom as wide as 28mm, and there was a communication error 01 with the camera. They ended up having to replace a lot of things, including the aperture. Price was $298.00.
  • EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM – Pictures were turning out extremely soft. Being an extremely sharp lens normally, there was something obviously wrong with it. A glass element inside the lens could literally be seen and heard moving around when you rocked the lens back and forth. They replaced the lens helicoid and some other parts relating to focusing. Price was $256.00.

191031_James Staddon_2642 Canon EOS 7D Mark II, 200 mm, 1-500 sec at f - 4.0, ISO 2500

  • EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USMI dropped the lens. No glass was shattered (it’s an incredibly tough lens… it had already been through a lot), but there were obvious internal problems this time. A repair would require replacing the entire Auto Focusing system and Image Stabilizer unit. Price was $789.00. I opted to take them up on their offer to buy it as parts, so they bought it for $200.

I’ll probably be sending the EF 24-105mm f/4 IS USM in sooner or later. It doesn’t let me zoom wider than 65mm. It’s my favorite “just hiking down the trail” lens, so maybe that’s why it has problems. Smile It’s been used a lot.

Because I recommend Royal Camera doesn’t mean it’s all been perfectly smooth sailing. On the 24-70mm repair, they did make a mistake, which meant I had to re-ship it back to them. However, not only did their 6 month warranty cover the additional repairs, they paid for the necessary return shipping needed for the lens to arrive the day before I needed to shoot a wedding.

200108_James Staddon_4956 Canon EOS 7D Mark II, 55 mm, 1-50 sec at f - 2.8, ISO 320

As always, it’s a good idea to shop around and get quotes from multiple places before putting hundreds of dollars down for a repair. But chances are, you’ll probably find the best price at Royal Camera.

And this is not a sponsored blog post. Smile

Where have you gotten your equipment repaired? Any places you would recommend? Let us know in the comments below!

081107_James Staddon_1058 NIKON D70, 70 mm, 1-50 sec at f - 3.5, ISO 200

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2 Comments

  1. Blessings Captured

    Have you ever been able to get a quote from them before sending you’re gear in?

    Reply

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