I am crass by nature and not very good at doing the grunt work, so I leave camera maintenance completely to the professionals. I used to bring my three Panasonic (LUMIX) and Ricoh (PENTAX) SLR cameras to the respective manufacturers’ support shops (now Aoyama for LUMIX and Yotsuya for PENTAX), but since I found this once a year, I have been asking Bic Camera/Sofmap once a year. I have been asking Bic Camera/Sofmap once a year since I found this once a year.
The contents of the periodic inspection are these 8 items.
1.Exterior cleaning
2.Cleaning inside the mount box
3. Cleaning of lens communication unit
4. Inspection of control unit
5. Inspection of the LCD display
6. Simple photography
7. Cleaning of imaging sensor
8. Firmware update
The actual acceptance letter for three times looks like this.
The inspection contents and price are almost the same as taking the camera to the manufacturer’s base. When I checked a while ago, LUMIX’s Aoyama Center was a little cheaper for Micro Four Thirds Mount cameras, but I’m not sure about now.
Some people may think that it is safer to entrust the inspection to the manufacturer than to this service, which is outsourced to who knows where, but I think the quality is equivalent because I believe that outsourcing after-sales service work is a common practice even among manufacturers.
In case you are wondering about your machine, here is the manufacturer’s support base in Tokyo.
As I live in Tokyo, it is easier for me to bring in my equipment to the reception desk than to use a courier service, so I will make a comparison based on that premise,
The disadvantage of this package is that it takes longer time to inspect the equipment than bringing it to the manufacturer’s directly operated location. It takes about 7-10 days to get the equipment back, which is a big difference compared to directly managed centers, which return the equipment on the same day if they are available.
On the other hand, the better part than a manufacturer-owned center is that the same place will accept any SLR camera of any make and any mount for a range of three times during a two-year period, first. As a multi-mount user, this is very convenient.
In addition, BIC CAMERA and Sofmap, which serve as contact points, have a much wider range of stores, business days, and business hours than those directly operated by the manufacturers. It is definitely convenient to be able to go to Ikebukuro, Akihabara, Shibuya, or Yurakucho on any day or night.
Taking all these conditions into consideration, for me, when I am not in a hurry, Bic Camera Deposit is perfectly acceptable.
So, I rushed to Bic Camera Yurakucho and left LUMIX S5 at the service reception on the 5th floor to ask for cleaning and inspection.
The store was crowded with inbound customers in spite of the increasing rain caused by the typhoon, but the service counter was empty because of the weather on this weekday.
I had been wondering about this inspection pack since it disappeared from Sofmap’s product lineup right after I purchased it two years ago, but I was relieved to see that it seems to have recently been restored again. My S5, come back with a clean body!
