Camera and Photographic Equipment Repairers
In short: today's best AI models could do about 7% of this job's working time (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) if the work were set up for them, and about the same by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The people and hands-on work, about 93% of the time, stays with people.
Repair and adjust cameras and photographic equipment, including commercial video and motion picture camera equipment.
1,650 people do this job in the US. $52,720 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on3 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people37 h
Camera and Photographic Equipment Repairers, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 3 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 37 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Read and interpret engineering drawings, diagrams, instructions, or specifications to determine needed repairs, fabrication method, and operation sequence (about 1 h); Requisition parts or materials (under an hour); Record test data and document fabrication techniques on reports (under an hour).
Estimates for a typical week of this job, if progress keeps its long-run pace, counting work the best models finish four times in five. Every task is below.
of the working time. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- 7%
- 0%
- 93%
of the work: Anthropic's measure of what people already bring to Claude at work (2025). It counts help with part of a task, so it can be higher than the share within reach.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
Change assumptionsHide assumptionsLong-run pace, four in five
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 2.4 work days long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 1%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 6%. Today's estimate: 7%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Measured use over time
Of the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled and tied to a work task, no reportable share went to this job's tasks in May 2026; 0 of its 15 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.037% to 0.0056% (released February and March 2025); 0.0097% to 0.0025% (August 2025 to February 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.037% | 322 of 708 | 4 of 15 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.0056% | 566 of 703 | 2 of 15 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.0097% | 457 of 655 | 2 of 15 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.0069% | 529 of 672 | 2 of 15 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.0025% | 629 of 677 | 1 of 15 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 15 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 15 |
Measured, not estimated: Anthropic's samples of Claude.ai conversations, each tied by a model to an O*NET task, from the Anthropic Economic Index. It says where Claude's use goes, not how much of this job's working time it covers, so it is not on the same scale as the reach above. The releases differ in their sample, their classifier and the smallest share they report (the June 2026 file rounds each task to a hundredth of a percent, so a smaller task reads as none), which is why a change of method starts a new line. At least 96% of each older release's task-tied use matched this site's tasks, and all of the newest. Claude.ai only, so use through other tools and other companies' models is not in it. Every job ranked.
Robots and the physical work
Anthropic rates 85% of this job's working time as physical work. For 30% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 30% in a purpose-built cell. 0.30 of 3, the 389th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 15%
- No robot shown 55%
- In a purpose-built cell 30%
Anthropic's rating, not this site's estimate: Claude Opus 5, searching the web, rated each physical O*NET task by the kind of setting in which a robot it could cite (deployed, sold or demonstrated) does most of the task, weighted by its own estimate of each task's share of the time (What work can robots do?, September 30, 2026, data CC BY 4.0; every job ranked). A robot shown somewhere is not a robot in your building: cost, setup and safety decide that. The share within reach on this page still counts no body work. The robot behind each rated task is under the task below.
The tasks
Sorted by . 15 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Install electrical assemblies and wiring in aircraft camera housings and memory cards or film in cameras, following blueprints and using hand tools and soldering equipment.Done several times a day by most who do it.Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Comau Racer-3-0.63 robotic soldering cell (with ETNEO soldering system) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 15% | 1.7 h38 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Assemble aircraft cameras, still or motion picture cameras, photographic equipment, or frames, using diagrams, blueprints, bench machines, hand tools, or power tools.Done several times a day by most who do it.Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 14% | 2.1 h50 min to 4.2 h | Stays with people | |
| Adjust cameras, photographic mechanisms, or equipment such as range and view finders, shutters, light meters, or lens systems, using hand tools.Done hourly or more by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 12% | 38 min17 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Clean and lubricate cameras and polish camera lenses, using cleaning materials and work aids.Done several times a day by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 11% | 38 min17 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Disassemble equipment to gain access to defect, using hand tools.Done several times a day by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 10% | 33 min13 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Calibrate and verify accuracy of light meters, shutter diaphragm operation, or lens carriers, using timing instruments.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 8% | 42 min17 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Test equipment performance, focus of lens system, diaphragm alignment, lens mounts, or film transport, using precision gauges.Done several times a day by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, TRIOPTICS CamTest Smart / CamTest Focus (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 8% | 29 min13 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Fabricate or modify defective electronic, electrical, or mechanical components, using bench lathe, milling machine, shaper, grinder, or precision hand tools, according to specifications.Done more than monthly by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Hadrian factory-as-a-service production cell (Opus software) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 7% | 2.1 h50 min to 5 h | Stays with people | |
| Examine cameras, equipment, processed film, or laboratory reports to diagnose malfunction, using work aids and specifications.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, OptoFidelity FUSION (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 33 min13 min to 1.1 h | Stays with people | |
| Read and interpret engineering drawings, diagrams, instructions, or specifications to determine needed repairs, fabrication method, and operation sequence.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 21 min8 min to 50 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Measure parts to verify specified dimensions or settings, such as camera shutter speed or light meter reading accuracy, using measuring instruments.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, KT Camera End-of-Line (EOL) test stations (Konrad Technologies) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Requisition parts or materials.Done daily by most who do it. | 2% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | 100%Half by now |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Photographic Process Workers and Processing Machine Operators14% now, 14% by 2028
- Calibration Technologists and Technicians37% now, 55% by 2028
- Motion Picture Projectionists3% now, 3% by 2028
- Lighting Technicians12% now, 12% by 2028
- Electrical and Electronics Repairers, Commercial and Industrial Equipment26% now, 32% by 2028
- Computer, Automated Teller, and Office Machine Repairers18% now, 18% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
- Local Government, excluding Schools and Hospitals230 people
- Professional and Commercial Equipment and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers180 people
- Elementary and Secondary Schools40 people
- Personal and Household Goods Repair and Maintenance40 people
- Commercial and Industrial Machinery and Equipment (except Automotive and Electronic) Repair and Maintenance30 people
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Camera and Photographic Equipment Repairers is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 7% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 7% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five. Within reach means a model could finish work that long at that reliability. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
- Which tasks of Camera and Photographic Equipment Repairers come within reach first?
- Weighted by the time each takes, the tasks with the most within reach now (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) are: Read and interpret engineering drawings, diagrams, instructions, or specifications to determine needed repairs, fabrication method, and operation sequence (100% of the task's time now); Requisition parts or materials (100% of the task's time now); and Record test data and document fabrication techniques on reports (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Camera and Photographic Equipment Repairers stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Install electrical assemblies and wiring in aircraft camera housings and memory cards or film in cameras, following blueprints and using hand tools and soldering equipment; Assemble aircraft cameras, still or motion picture cameras, photographic equipment, or frames, using diagrams, blueprints, bench machines, hand tools, or power tools; and Adjust cameras, photographic mechanisms, or equipment such as range and view finders, shutters, light meters, or lens systems, using hand tools. Together such tasks are about 93% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Camera and Photographic Equipment Repairers?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026, no reportable share went to this job's tasks. Anthropic's labor market measure puts the share of the job's tasks seen in real Claude use at work at 4%. These are measures of use, not of how much of the work AI could finish, and they cover Claude only.
- Can robots do the physical work of Camera and Photographic Equipment Repairers?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 85% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 30% of the working time. Its index is 0.30 of 3. One example: Comau Racer-3-0.63 robotic soldering cell (with ETNEO soldering system) for "install electrical assemblies and wiring in aircraft camera housings and memory cards or film in cameras, following blueprints and using hand tools and soldering equipment". A robot shown somewhere is not one in every workplace; this site's own estimates still count no physical work as within reach.
- How is this estimated?
- From the 15 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, each classed as desk, people or body work, and METR's measurements of how long a task the best AI models can finish, carried forward to the date from the latest, Claude Mythos Preview (early) in April 2026. Data checked November 10, 2026.
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