Analogue camera technicians with decades of experience retiring amid boom in film photography

Nestled away in a small second-storey shop in Perth's CBD, Clinton Howe dissects an analogue camera as the sound of mechanical whirrs fill the air.

The workshop smells of steel, leather and dust. 

It's an environment the technician knows well — after all, he's been fixing cameras for almost half a century.

Mr Howe is one of the last of his generation of analogue camera repairers in Australia, and he's worried it's becoming a dying art as he nears retirement next September.

Yet business is booming at the twilight of his career, as more young people discover the joy of using film cameras. 

"They're tactile, they're everything. You know, when you pick it up, you just go, oh, god, how good is this?" he says.

Young embrace film

Mr Howe has seen a resurgence in young people using vintage cameras, with most of his customers aged under 35.

"I like the fact that I can deal with people, especially young people. It keeps me young," he says.

He estimates there are less than a dozen people in his job across the country, and less than five in Western Australia, most of whom are semi-retired.

"It's a very hard business to get into because there are so many idiosyncrasies, and so many different things to learn, and each camera's different," he says.

"Once you learn the basics, it gives you the tools with which you apply to most cameras and that's why I've always been a hands-on repair man."

His hands have been hard at work since he took a break from university in 1978 to work at his stepfather's shop in Perth's picturesque London Court.

Forty-eight years later, Mr Howe is still there, making him one of Perth's longest-serving repairers still working. 

Film 'more precise'

Many in the tight-knit film photography industry know of Mr Howe's work, even if they don't know his name. 

Among them is 21-year-old music photographer Lizzie Wilkie, who's been shooting analogue for six years.

"It's an exciting process, I love it," she says.

"When it comes to film, I'm a lot more precise and careful with the photo ... it's a stronger memory."

Ms Wilkie has old cameras from her grandparents, and buys some second-hand from op shops. Not all of them work.

She's been putting off fixing some, but feels a sense of urgency now knowing that technicians like Mr Howe are retiring.

"My film camera, I use a lot with bands and for my job. If that were suddenly to die, I'd probably not know what to do," she says.

The new guard

When Mr Howe packs up shop in September 2026, it won't be the end of his legacy.

Daniel Ward, a 37-year-old camera technician, has bought Mr Howe's sea of spare parts, and is ramping up work for film camera repairs at the shop he owns in Malaga in Perth's northern suburbs.

With 19 years of fixing film and digital cameras already under his belt, Mr Ward says he's "not at all" worried about the future of film, but it might become harder to find camera parts.

Mr Ward has learnt a few things from his colleague — former co-owner of the camera shop in Perth's north and retiring technician, 69-year-old Nigel Boots.

"I have a lot of confidence in Daniel because he's been doing film cameras for [more than] 16 years, plus all the other ones," Mr Boots says.

Mr Boots has been repairing cameras for 53 years, and thinks his former business is in good hands, with plans to train up other young technicians.

Optimism about the future 

While Mr Howe has faith in the younger technicians, he is worried a generation of hands-on experience may become lost.

"Even now I'm getting problems I've never ever seen before, and I've been in the game for nearly 50 years, so what chance has a kid that's been in the game for five years?" he says.

But he remains optimistic about the future of film.

"Honestly, I think film photography will stay. Digital photography will go," the camera stalwart says.

"I guarantee that there will be certain [film] cameras that will still be going in another 100 years."

The veteran technician still plans to do the odd repair job after he leaves the workshop, but it's the relationships he's fostered with customers that mean the most to him.

"To me they're part of the family and they always have been," Mr Howe says, the hint of a tear in his eye.

"I look forward to seeing them again."