Full restoration
Complete strip-down, cleaning, lubrication, shutter speeds timed and the rangefinder calibrated. Tested on a roll of film before it goes home.
- Rangefinders
- SLRs
- Medium format
Camera atelier · Antwerp · since 2011
Some things are worth fixing.
Zilver restores classic film cameras by hand, one at a time, and sends them back out into the world.
Anatomy
Made to be repaired.
Brass, glass, springs and cloth. Every part of a classic camera can be cleaned, adjusted or replaced, which is exactly why so many of them still work.
Disassembly
So we take it apart.
Every camera that comes in is fully disassembled, cleaned, re-lubricated and calibrated. Nothing gets skipped, because nothing stays hidden.
Optics
Through seven pieces of glass.
Aperture
1.4f
The aperture decides how much light gets in. We clean every blade until it moves like it did on the first day.
The film
And onto the film.
Light, silver, chemistry. A frame develops exactly the way it did seventy years ago.
Restored
Ready for another seventy years.
Calibrated, tested on a roll of film, and returned with a twelve-month warranty on our work.
Try it yourself
Focus like a rangefinder.
A rangefinder shows you two images in a bright patch. Turn the focus ring until they become one. Drag the photo or the ring.
Out of focus
50 mm frame∞
Services & prices
What we do here.
Lens service
Haze, fungus and stiff focus rings. Elements are separated, cleaned and re-centred, and the helicoid gets fresh grease.
- Cleaning
- Re-greasing
- Aperture repair
Film lab
Colour and black-and-white developed in-house, scanned at high resolution and sent to your inbox.
- C-41
- Black & white
- High-res scans
Restored cameras
A small shelf of cameras we restored ourselves, each with a test roll and a twelve-month warranty.
- Changes monthly
- Ask in the shop
How it works
Four steps, no surprises.
Drop it off
Bring it to the shop or send it insured. We open a ticket the same day.
Free diagnosis
Within a week you get a fixed price. If you say no, it costs nothing.
Restoration
Strip-down, cleaning, calibration and a test roll through the camera.
Back to you
With the test scans, a report of what we did, and a twelve-month warranty.
Book a restoration
Tell us about your camera.
A make and model is enough. If you know what's wrong, even better. You'll get a reply within one working day.
- Shop
- Kloosterstraat 00, 2000 Antwerpen
- Hours
- Wed–Sat · 11:00–18:00
- atelier@zilver.example