My twenty years in business

In August 2003, I commenced my one man F2 repair business. It was initially conceived as a short term bridging occupation for 1 or 2 years, but 20 years later it`s still continuing and thriving, with an average profit growth of 13% per annum. More importantly, I still enjoy repairing F2s as I find it relaxing. In 2005 I even turned down a highly paid job with generous international company benefits, because I got more job satisfaction repairing F2s and corresponding with fellow F2 enthusiasts.

Over 20 years I serviced 1692 F2s, sold 1900 foam kits and had customers from Australia, Austria, Canada, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, Brunei, Cambodia, Cayman Islands, China (mainland), Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Greenland, Holland, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Israel, Korea, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Mexico, Mauritius, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States.

Between 2017 and 2023, I held 8 formal F2 workshops. Attendees were from Argentina, Austria, Australia, Bulgaria, Cyprus , France, Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Spain Sweden,, UK, US.

I also had some spare time to accomplish a number of unique personal projects. Below is a summary of my achievements.

Achievements :

2003
- Repair business start-up
- Learnt HTML and created my first web site
- Customer orders on the first week of launch

2004
- Added mirror-up modification
- Added data imprint modification
- Number one in Google search for Nikon F2 repair

2005
- Added vertical MB-1 trigger modifications
- Added finders night light modifications
- Added replacement MD-2 and MD-3 brass gears
- Added replacement DN-1 and MN-1 NiMH batteries

2006
- Purchased Kyoritsu FL-400 and EF-8301 professional shutter testers
- Added zero damage pledge
- Made F2 Info, a personal project

2007
- Made F2SA, a personal project

2008
- Made F2 Recorder, a personal project

2009
- Made Stereo viewfinder, a personal project

2010
- Made F2N, a personal project

2011
- Added super DP-3/12 ring resistors
- Added power on and voltage check modification
- Over 500 F2s serviced

2012
- Highest annual profit growth (34%)
- European orders exceeded American orders

2013
- Added new Cds cells for the DP-1 and DP-11
- 10th year in business
- Over 700 F2s serviced

2014
- Added rubber and leather strap protectors
- Matching F2 bodies, finders and MD tables completed
- 800 F2s serviced

2016
- New better bigger workshop
- 900 F2s serviced
- Introduced booking system
- Held casual and first ever workshop in Hong Kong

2017
- 1000 F2 serviced
- 165 customers in queue
- 14 months waiting time
- Enhanced F2N to include power switch on shutter releases
- Enhanced DP-2AN for better display
- Held casual workshops in Hong Kong and Vancouver

2018
- Purchased a Kyoritsu EF8000 shutter tester for F2 workshop courses
- Added spot and semi-spot metering modifications
- Held an 1 day workshop in the UK

2019
- Purchased a second Kyoritsu shutter tester EF8000 for F2 workshop courses
- Wrote 32 page handbook for the F2 workshop
- Held two 2 days workshops in the UK
- Added blue LED night lights modification
- Purchased BM-3000 to calibrate light sources in testers

2020
- 15 months waiting time

2021
- 20 months waiting time, over 1500 F2s serviced
- Ultra bright aperture LEDs

2022
- 27 months waiting time (end-May 2022)
- Announced in June no more new bookings until June 2024
- Held three 2 days workshops in the UK
- Invented a simple shutter bounce detector
- Expended the workshop handbook to 127 pages

2023 (end-July)
- Expanded workshop handbook to 252 pages
- Reduced backlog to 16 months
- 1692 F2s serviced

Happy F2 shooting,

Sover