Fixation Team | Canon Technicians (Part 2) image

Fixation Team | Canon Technicians (Part 2)

In part two of our Canon technicians feature we meet the rest of the team who work hard to keep your Canon kit in top working order.

 

Arison

Arison joined Fixation in January 2016 with a level 3 BTEC diploma in Electronics and Electrical Engineering under his belt. He lives up to his status as Fixation’s youngest staff member by being a bit of a party animal – he’s a regular attendee of all-night raves and Techno House. As Spare Parts Co-ordinator, Arison is responsible for stock control and ordering our Canon spares. He also repairs entry-level Canon cameras and some L series lenses. He enjoys playing pool, savours good cognac and recently spent 3 weeks back-packing around Europe by train. Arison likes to keep his feet firmly on the ground though; he suffers from Acrophobia and this fear of heights meant he could only manage the first level of the Eiffel Tower. He’s hoping his next trip will be to Canada, we’re guessing Toronto’s CN Tower won’t be part of the itinerary!

 


Navin

Navin trained as an electronic engineer before starting his first job as a merchandise examiner in 1979, checking equipment for quality and safety. In 1984 he joined photographic distributor, Johnsons of Hendon (latterly Johnsons Photopia) as a technician, repairing enlargers, projectors and flashguns. In 1987 he began work at KJP where he worked alongside our own Mick Edwards and Fixation founder, Mike Allen. He later joined Pentax UK where he advanced to Technical Endoscopy service manager. Navin joined Fixation in February 2012 and specialises in Canon lens repairs. In addition to the decades of technical experience, Navin has also managed his own newsagents; he enjoys a good malt whiskey and watching international cricket 20/20 matches.

 


Luigi

Luigi studied electronics at college before joining Camera Service Italia, Canon’s authorised repair agent, in his hometown of Naples in 1999.

He worked here alongside Giuseppe Cirello until 2012 when both men and their families moved to London and joined Fixation in February of the following year. Luigi specialises in the repair of L lenses and pro to mid-range camera bodies.

He’s known for his humour and cheeky smile, but there’s really no mistaking where his heart lies – a love of Ducati bikes, Neopolitan pizzas and Sicilian holidays says it all.

But one day, who knows? He may even get used to British weather.


Aleksejs

Born and raised in Soviet Latvia, tri-lingual Aleksejs served his national service repairing military electronics in Chenobyl, just two years before the notorious disaster struck. He later spent many years running his own food stores before returning to a safer form of electronics repairs in 2001. He started in a multi-brand service centre before moving to Latvia’s Canon-authorised service centre in 2003 where there were strong connections with Canon repairers in Finland, Sweden and Russia. In 2010 he uprooted to the UK to join Fixation and his only lament about living in London is the lack of fresh water fishing. Thankfully for us, he doesn’t carp on about it.


 

You can read part 1 of the Canon technicians feature here.

Fixation Team | Nikon Technicians (Part 2) image

Fixation Team | Nikon Technicians (Part 2)

In part two of our Nikon technicians feature we meet the rest of the team who work hard to keep your Nikon kit in top working order.

 

Sunny

Sungharsh’s career began in Hyderabad, India, where he was trained by Konica-Polaroid and where he worked for around nine years before leaving for the UK and joining Fixation in March 2007.

Nikon flashguns are his main area of expertise, as well as professional cameras and mid and pro-range lenses.

Sunny’s hobbies include watching cricket, designing JavaScript HTML websites and astronomy. He studied the latter at UCL and combines it nicely with his interest in cameras by practising Astro-photography in his spare time.

 


Tiho

Bulgarian national, Tihomir studied journalism and literature in Veliko Tarnovo before working as a radio station DJ whilst at the same time running his own photography studio and portrait business. He later set up his own business repairing electronic equipment such as film projectors and has worked in a digital photo lab.

Tiho joined Fixation in March 2016 and repairs mainly Nikon semi-pro bodies such as the D300 and D600 series, as well as flashguns and some lenses. He may have quite a giggle, but this belies a penchant for serious literature of the classic Russian type, in particular Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment.

 


Pabita

Pabita may be petite, but she’s a powerhouse when it comes to repairs. She studied electronics and engineering at Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu, Nepal, before joining Nepal Television Corporation as an operation technician using Sony video cameras and monitors in the studio, later making the switch to repairs. She began by repairing large, heavy-duty products, later adding more conventional consumer products to her repertoire. She joined Fixation in April 2007 and these days specialises in expiring Nikon pro bodies such as the D700 and D800 series. Pabita’s free-time revolves around her young family, but she also enjoys reality shows such as Strictly and Bake-Off. Her ideal dinner party guests include a feisty American comedienne and two British Prime ministers. It might result in some lively conversations, but one thing we’re sure they’d agree on is the tastiness of Pabita’s Nepalese curries.

 


Tom

Tom studied electronics at Szczecin University in Poland before setting up his own travel business providing tailor-made packages to holiday-makers.

Always a photography enthusiast, Tom joined Fixation in November 2006 and specialises in Nikon’s pro and semi-pro camera models. Biker Tom loves to travel, especially in Asia and is a regular attendee at music gigs. Favourite performers include electronica artists, Jon Hopkins, Moderat and Bonobo. In quieter moments he’ll be found watching US drama series such as Breaking Bad, or reading a cyberpunk novel by William Gibson. He’d probably win the title of “Fixation’s Coolest Dude”.

 


Jay

Perpetually cheerful and all-round nice guy, Jay studied motor mechanics at Willesden Polytechnic before becoming a mechanical engineer at a machinery factory in 1978. In 1985 he joined Olympus as a repairer and in 1987 moved to Pentax where he happened to work alongside our own Navin Ranpura. Following a stint at Orion Photographic, Jay joined Fixation in July 1994, making him the second longest serving member of staff. Aside from family, Jay’s big love is cricket. Once an all-rounder, but now predominantly a batsman, Jay plays for Bharat CC in the Wembley area of Middlesex. He also values the sense of community and volunteers as a helper at events such as a 10-day Indian festival and summer BBQs that cater for 800 people. Jay also enjoys Eastenders and has fond memories of watching Crossroads in its heyday. Perhaps this is what gave him the incentive to fix broken things.

 


John-Jay

Possibly the quietest person at Fixation, no-one would be surprised to know that John-Jay is a keen chess player in his spare time, but even close colleagues may raise an eyebrow when they learn that John-Jay rocks out to the likes of Aerosmith and Bon Jovi in the privacy of his own shower. After studying electronics at Zamboanga University in his native Philipines, John worked with robotics and machine manufacturing for a company called Greatech Philipines Inc. before working as a programmer and wirer for companies such as Motorola, Samsung and intel. Chelsea fan John joined Fixation in October 2008 and repairs Nikon entry and mid-range cameras and their range of flashguns. He tries to return to the Philipines as often as he can, in fact life is a Bed of Roses if he’s able to do this every year.

You can read part 1 of the Nikon technicians feature here.

Fixation Team | Canon Technicians (Part 2) image

Fixation Team | Canon Technicians (Part 1)

Our Canon technicians are a talented bunch of rascals, hidden away in our Kennington workshop, feverishly fixing any body, lens or speedlite that comes their way. In this first part of a series we meet some of the guys responsible for keeping your Canon gear in top working order.

Mick

For the low-down on Mick’s history at Fixation we need to go back a few short years to 1982 when Mick was a teenager working for KJP. It was here he met Mike Allen and when Mike decided to start his own repair company, he took little Mick along too. It certainly hasn’t been a short-term career as Mick has been with Fixation ever since and now manages the Canon, Profoto, Aquatech and Fuji repairs. Mick is known, in no small way, for his sense of humour. He has no shortage of low-brow jokes and tall tales, although not always appreciated by his long-suffering colleagues. Mick enjoys motorbikes, but his big passion is for Scuba-diving. He organises his own club and instructs too, certainly no small feat. Keeping things short, we’d finish by saying that what Mick lacks in height, he makes up for in personality. Hopefully this comment won’t go over his head, but most things do.

 


Giuseppe

Giuseppe “Jo” Cirello’s career started in his hometown of Naples in 1991, where his jobs included the repair of audio equipment and installing Fujifilm Minilabs.  In 1993 he joined Camera Service Italia, Canon’s authorised CPS repair agent in Naples and during his time there advanced to Technical Manager and was responsible for repair output and customer service.

The economic downturn left him looking for pastures new and he and his family uprooted to London and a new start at Fixation in February 2013.  Jo continues to repair Canon pro kit and is also our chief repairer of Profoto kit.

 


David

When David originally joined Fixation in March 1998, it was as temporary help for the Admin team, of which his sister was a part at the time.  But when an opportunity to train as a technician arose, David made the move to the workshop and received training from both Barry and Mick.  During the period that Fixation was official repairer of Kodak’s DCS pro range, David was the primary technician involved, but now he specialises in the Canon 1D models.  David considers himself a “real” Game of Thrones fan, by which he means he was an avid reader of the books long before the television series came along.  A big sports fan, he enjoys playing pool and snooker, but his big love is for Liverpool FC and unsurprisingly he counts Bill Shankley among is heroes.  At home he is often called upon to act as referee – by breaking up fights between Felix and Kitty, his two warring cats!


Stuart

Back in June 1995 Stuart was a directionless teenager not sure where he wanted life to take him.  Then he came across a small ad in the Sit Vac section of his local paper inviting applications to join Fixation as a trainee technician.  With a bit of a push from his dad he decided to apply and although he turned up for the interview late, very nervous and having to perform a soldering test that was completely new to him, the team obviously saw the talent in him and he’s been with us ever since.  A fan of Brentford FC and a keen pool player, don’t be fooled by the gruff exterior – now the father of small girls, he has developed a penchant for the likes of Harry Potter and Disney’s Frozen on Ice and his favourite experience was swimming with dolphins in Mexico, so clearly he has a very soft centre!


Alfie

Gaming fan Alfie joined our Canon workshop in October 2016 as Assistant Spares Co-ordinator and trainee technician.  As part of a full training programme expected to last 3 years, Alfie currently repairs mainly EF-S lenses; but with 4 years’ experience as an apprentice electrician under his belt, he is also the perfect fit to safely take on some of our higher voltage Profoto repairs and has undertaken additional training in Sweden for this purpose. A regular traveller and particular fan of the US, Alfie is also a keen sportsman with rugby and judo recently giving way to rock climbing as his favourite pursuit.  He also has a sensitive side – he enjoys carving wood and has produced objects ranging from spoon to tables and he counts Bailey, his labradoodle, among his best friends.

 

We’ll be featuring the remainder of the Canon team soon, but in the meantime, you can read all about our Nikon technicians here.

Fixation Team | Nikon Technicians (Part 2) image

Fixation Team | Nikon Technicians (Part 1)

Our Nikon technicians are a dedicated team of specialists and can turn their hands to almost any repairs on bodies, lenses and speedlights.

 

Yusuf

Yusuf’s interest in computers and electronics began at an early age and he unofficially ran his school’s IT department.  He completed his degree in Computer Aided Design in 1996 and became a Field Engineer, later QA engineer, for Bromcom computers.  In 1999 he joined Motorola GSM Systems as a De-bug Engineer and in 2001 joined Alcatel Submarine Networks, working on their under-water fibre-optics.  He joined Fixation in 2002 and until 2016 performed our IT support as well as carrying out repairs.  These days he repairs Nikon film scanners and Quantum products, as well as Nikon’s mid-range and semi-pro bodies and lenses.  In keeps his hand in with computers by volunteering as IT Consultant at his local library.  Yusuf has a reputation within Fixation for enjoying his food, although his diet is going well.  He’s a fan of Stephen Hawking, whose theories he finds fascinating and his guilty pleasure is any film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

 


Noz

Chocoholic Noz joined Fixation as a trainee in March 2002 and the first camera he ever repaired was a Nikon FM2.  Two years later he had progressed to repairing Pro digital products like the D1 and D2 series and he remains the go-to technician for Nikon’s flagship cameras like the D4 and D5.  He rivals Melanie as a contender for Fixation’s loudest sneezer (please guys, it’s NOT a competition!) and as well watching his beloved Arsenal, he enjoys F1, running and cycling. In fact, he has completed the annual London to Brighton 55 mile bike ride three times with a pretty impressive PB of 2 hours 43 minutes.  It’s certainly one way to burn off all that chocolate.

 


Chris

Chelsea fan Chris was originally employed by Melanie in 2002 when she supervised the Customer Support team at Nikon UK.  But having always had an interest in how things work, when an opportunity came up to join Nikon’s workshop as a trainee in 2005, Chris swapped the telephone for screwdrivers and soldering irons and hasn’t looked back.  He joined Fixation in May 2012 and continues to repair Nikon pro and semi-pro cameras and lenses.  Chris has a strong interest in history, particularly the engineering feats of the industrial revolution.  But if you want to chill with Chris, don’t suggest a night in watching Game of Thrones – he’s very resolutely not a fan!

 


Joy

When Joy left college in 1982 she knew that pen-pushing was not for her and was determined to find a manual or technical career that suited her.  A visit to The Job Centre introduced her to the Government’s Youth Opportunities Program, specifically a chance to train as a technician at Luton camera Repairs where she remained for years repairing multiple major brands.

She joined Fixation in November 2011 and specialises in the repair of Nikon lenses.  As well as being dextrous, she’s green-fingered, plays tennis and keeps chickens.  She currently has two named Ginger and Sooty, both apparently eggcellent layers!

 

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