The Trescam legacy / Leon Treskunov
A craft carried
across continents.
A life built around cameras. From Leica repair beginnings in Ukraine to New York’s camera world, Leon’s story spans more than five decades at the repair bench.
Follow the story
Photographs from the Treskunov family archive.
- The foundationOptics & mechanics
- 1989 / New YorkA new beginning
- The Kyocera yearsA wider technical world
- A new chapterTechnician to co-owner
01 / The foundation
Old-world training.
A lifelong curiosity.
At twelve, Leon received a Contax camera from his grandmother. Curiosity became a vocation: opto-mechanical studies in St. Petersburg, followed by professional Leica repair work in Ukraine.
Understanding a camera meant understanding both the light passing through it and the mechanisms controlling it. That combination would remain central to his work, wherever life took him.
02 / Humble beginnings
A new country.
A familiar craft.
When Leon and his family arrived in the United States in 1989, he walked the streets of Manhattan looking for work. He found a job in his second week.
His first New York workplace was Eddie Smolov Camera Store on Seventh Avenue, at the corner of 29th Street near Madison Square Garden. A new life began with the work he already knew.
Second week in the U.S.
First camera repair job in New York.
03 / A life in New York’s camera world
Cameras bring
people together.
Over the decades, Leon built close ties with people from New York’s camera community, including Adorama, B&H Photo, and related industry circles.
His own professional path included Profoto in New York and, later, Kyocera/Yashica. It was a career shaped by cameras, repair work, and the people who devoted their lives to both.
04 / The Kyocera years
The craft evolves.
The care endures.
Kyocera, the company associated with Yashica cameras, became another important chapter in Leon’s professional life in the United States.
His technical foundation grew through work with different camera systems and changing technologies. The family’s 2002 photograph preserves a moment from that chapter: Leon at the workbench, surrounded by the tools of his trade.
From the family archive.
05 / Continuing the craft
From technician
to co-owner.
For close to two decades, Leon worked at Le Camera, where he served as head technician. The repair bench remained at the heart of his working life.
He later helped bring about the store’s acquisition and rebranding as NJ Camera & 1 Hour Photo. Today, he co-owns the store — a new chapter built on years of hands-on camera service.
From his first Manhattan job to helping shape the future of a camera store, the thread is the same: a life devoted to the craft, and to the people who care about cameras.
Visit NJ Camera & 1 Hour Photo06 / A lifetime of craft
The experience stays
in the hands.
50+ years of camera repair experience
Leon personally confirms over 53 years of professional camera repair experience. Mechanical film cameras, Leica roots, optical knowledge, and decades of service in the United States all inform the way he approaches a camera today.
At Trescam, that history becomes a personal conversation about your equipment: its design, its condition, and what can realistically be done to keep it working.
More about LeonHave a camera worth saving?
Tell Leon what’s going wrong.
Share the model and symptoms to start a repair conversation. Start with the repair inquiry form.