They're At It again

[snaps]

I received my2 6-bit coding lenses back today after sending them in on Feb 5, 2008. As per expected one of the lenses a 50 1.4 summilux came back after 8 weeks in the New Jersey Gulag with the following note.
"Work Performed:"
This lens can not be modified with 6 bit coding."
When I agitatingly call repair and talk to Sarah, she said they look at the lens when the come In (that would be Feb 11th) and then they go in the queue for 6-8 weeks. I asked why they didn't return the lens immediately to me upon determining they weren't going to 6-bit its. She said the only 6-bit lenses with serial numbers above 3xxxxxx (mine is a 2xxxxxx lens bought in the 1990's and basically new at the time) She couldn't explain why they kept the lens they weren't going to work on for another 7 weeks saying maybe because it was shipped with another lens they decided to call it one order and not bother to contact me by letter or writing with and message regarding their decision.

____the follow is related and from an earlier forum regarding the same 2 lenses.
Leica New Jersey is the worst (5 ***** stars here) company for camera repairs on Planet Earth.
They seem from some other Planet, totally desensitized or just plan uninterested in their client's needs.
It took 7 months of email and phone calls from May last year until January this year just to get 2 8-bit upgrade coupons. Besides the slothfulness there is also the outright lies and avoidances. I called in December and early January regarding the coupons not being sent. A few days later I called again and the woman said she had her assistant send the coupons. When they didn't arrive I called and asked for a "higher up". The "higher up" said the 1st woman didn't even have an assistant. When I actually received my coupons the letter was postmarked on the date of my last phone call not the day the woman said she had sent them.
Do these folks get a call just sit back and think the customer will forget and "maybe I'll get to their little problem if I remember sometime".
When I finally could send my 2 lenses in, the letter from leica 10 days later said there would be the usual 4-6 weeks before I could expect the enactment of the difficult and highly technical operation of attaching 2 plates to the lenses. I assume the lenses sit on a shelf until the precise Leica egg timer goes off and the repair person springs into action. The lenses still haven't arrived, but last week I called and was told they would check in on it. They of course never called back, so I gave them 4 days and called again. I spoke to the same person, who of course couldn't remember my earlier call but would check for me and said after a minute or so that my lenses would be sent out that very day. Lets see if the 2 day delivery service holds true and if the lens are still in focus. A company that had so much respect from working photographers in the 1950's - 70's has fallen greatly and though I use this camera for personal work (and have used Leicas since 1965) despite its laughable new rangefinder guides, everytime I try and use it for a job (and the client ohs and ahs about the expensive Leica and how envious they are) I am back to a through-the-lens in about 10 minutes when the camera freezes up or some other weird anomaly pops up. Too bad the reality is so far from the myth.
I hope the customer service doesn't bring the company down, because I can live with the physical flaws, but there is NO excuse for the companies continuing blunders and DISERVICE in the service sector.

Good luck with repairs

[metaxyz]

Real Problem @ NJ is lack of people..
I'm fortunately living close by allendale, so i can make trip to Leica when i need..
But overall service is very very poor..

There is only 3 technician, only one guy for digital..yes only one guy fixing all of annoying m8s + 6bit codings..

In addtion, they have 3 (again 3) custumer service including manager.. they are fairy new to Camera bussiness, so they don't know leica camera at all, (even don't know what is Shutter speed..)

with gratest problems, i describe above..

Leica sales in US is just amazing!!!!

[cbretteville]

Originally Posted by snaps

She said the only 6-bit lenses with serial numbers above 3xxxxxx (mine is a 2xxxxxx lens bought in the 1990's and basically new at the time)

If they can code a thin 90mm Tele-Elmarit and a 3rd gen 50 'cron why would a 90s 50 'lux be a problem. The v3 50 cron ended at #2.97x.xxx and AFAIK the muont of the T-E didn't change.

Edit: checked the references and it seems #3.000.000 was allocated in 1979.

- Carl

[doubice]

Carl is correct, a 3 000 000 lens would have been produced around 1979. If the Summilux is an earlier number, it would have been made even earlier. The production date of a lens is determined by its serial number, not when it is bought.....

If I remember correctly, the early Summilux does not have a removable lens mount; the bayonet mount is a part of the rear of the lens body. Are there screws on the lens mount face? If not, the mount cannot be removed and cannot be coded by Leica. They 'code' lenses by installing a new mount.

That is of course no excuse for keeping your lens for 8 weeks but, I just wanted to explain the coding issue.

The only way to code the lens permanently (by that I mean no Sharpies or felt pens...), would be to ask John Milich if he would machine the indentations into a lens with the optics still in it. Usually he only works on mounts without optics, for obvious reasons.

Best,

Jan

[diogenis]

Even though I can understand the need for fast lens recognition when you switch lens, just a simple option in camera's menu would have solved all that...

[jaapv]

Originally Posted by doubice

Carl is correct, a 3 000 000 lens would have been produced around 1979. If the Summilux is an earlier number, it would have been made even earlier. The production date of a lens is determined by its serial number, not when it is bought.....

If I remember correctly, the early Summilux does not have a removable lens mount; the bayonet mount is a part of the rear of the lens body. Are there screws on the lens mount face? If not, the mount cannot be removed and cannot be coded by Leica. They 'code' lenses by installing a new mount.

That is of course no excuse for keeping your lens for 8 weeks but, I just wanted to explain the coding issue.

The only way to code the lens permanently (by that I mean no Sharpies or felt pens...), would be to ask John Milich if he would machine the indentations into a lens with the optics still in it. Usually he only works on mounts without optics, for obvious reasons.

Best,

Jan

Get the M-coder, stick gaffers tape over the vulnerable (to dust) parts of the lens and take a Dremel to make the indentations yourself. Less that ten minutes work, I would guess.
It is good to bear in mind that there is no technical reason to code any lens longer than 35 mm, though.

[jimmy pro]

Originally Posted by metaxyz

Real Problem @ NJ is lack of people..
I'm fortunately living close by allendale, so i can make trip to Leica when i need..
But overall service is very very poor..

There is only 3 technician, only one guy for digital..yes only one guy fixing all of annoying m8s + 6bit codings..

In addtion, they have 3 (again 3) custumer service including manager.. they are fairy new to Camera bussiness, so they don't know leica camera at all, (even don't know what is Shutter speed..)

with gratest problems, i describe above..

Leica sales in US is just amazing!!!!

I live nearby too, and I agree, Leica-USA service is a joke, but that's nothing new. Ellwell's the only one left who knows the product inside and out but he isn't a service tech. I used to like going there more when Nils was around, he was a riot.

[thai.charlie]

Originally Posted by jaapv

It is good to bear in mind that there is no technical reason to code any lens longer than 35 mm, though.

Bingo

[wlaidlaw]

.......but at least Solms is getting better. I left my 2006 35 ASPH Chrome Summilux there for coding during my visit on 7th of this month. Apparently it will be finished about today and will be sent off to me by the end of the week. Now if it comes back just coded but otherwise as good as it was pre-coding, I shall be a happy bunny. I bought a lovely little 35/2.5 CV Color-Skopar Classic, with a JM mount, which I have coded as a Summarit 35, in the thought that my Lux might be a month or so. As it has either been raining or I have been house painting since I arrived at my French house a week ago, I have not taken a single photo with it and probably won't before my Lux arrives back. Still it is a very nice little lens for carrying around.

Wilson

[marknorton]

More to the point, how was your lunch with Stefan Daniels? I hope you plied him with enough wine to spill the beans on the launch date of the FF Leica M9 and the 24mm Summilux.

[wlaidlaw]

Originally Posted by marknorton

More to the point, how was your lunch with Stefan Daniels? I hope you plied him with enough wine to spill the beans on the launch date of the FF Leica M9 and the 24mm Summilux.

Mark,

I am afraid Stefan wimped out and took a "sickie". I therefore just got the standard tour from Michael Agel from the PR department. When I gently raised the ugly spectre of lenses still coming out the factory wrong, he claimed that my new 75 Summarit must have been dropped on its way to me - amazingly without managing to damage the box one iota.

They are still using mechanical/optical projection to check the lenses rather than the more modern Fourier scanning slit method. I had heard they were going to change over but it appears not. The machine they use to grind the aspheric elements was however, very impressive.

Virtually the whole factory was deserted, with nearly everyone being called in to a very important meeting - I wonder what that was about? Maybe "work harder or you won't have a job".

Wilson

[lilyblossom]

Originally Posted by wlaidlaw

Mark,
Virtually the whole factory was deserted, with nearly everyone being called in to a very important meeting - I wonder what that was about? Maybe "work harder or you won't have a job".

Wilson

Funny you mention this but my Leica dealer was trying to get support from them about my camera for two days and couldn't get anyone because they were all in a meeting.

I wonder what is happening?

[ljclark]

A call to Leica US on Thursday...They told me that Summilux 50's below 3675xxx could not be coded because of the lens mount. Naturally mine is 3251xxx...

[wlaidlaw]

You can always hand code it with one of Tim Issac's hand coders. match Technical Services

Wilson

[jdeed1]

I have a 35 ASPH summilux and 28-35-50 tri elmar. I have been quoted £125 per coding and 3 week turn around time -apparently both lenses have to sent to Solms as they cannot be coded at Milton Keynes. I'm tempted to ship them both out now. Does the time scale quoted match up to the reality and is there a potential problem with coding the 35 lux which does not exhibit any back focus problems ? Does Leica undertake any checks on the lenses before coding?

[wlaidlaw]

Originally Posted by jdeed1

I have a 35 ASPH summilux and 28-35-50 tri elmar. I have been quoted £125 per coding and 3 week turn around time -apparently both lenses have to sent to Solms as they cannot be coded at Milton Keynes. I'm tempted to ship them both out now. Does the time scale quoted match up to the reality and is there a potential problem with coding the 35 lux which does not exhibit any back focus problems ? Does Leica undertake any checks on the lenses before coding?

Leica say on the pro-forma they sent me for my 35 ASPH Lux coding; "Controle Initiale" (as I have a French address they talk to me in French) = initial check. I said when I left it with the young lady from the service department at the reception desk in Solms; "I want that lens back every bit as good as you have received it - it currently is in perfect focus with the tiniest amount of static front focus at f1.4 but next to no aperture shift and what there is, works in your favour." I would assume that all the bayonets are a standard thickness and all they do is remove one and replace with a new one. I did this on my Zeiss Biogon. I checked the focus before and after and it made not one whit of difference. I am no camera/lens technician, so if I can do it and get it right, Leica should be able to as well.

Wilson

[ljclark]

Originally Posted by wlaidlaw

You can always hand code it with one of Tim Issac's hand coders. match Technical Services

Wilson

I have the coder. Somehow I think there is a difference between what you do with magic marker and what happens when you actually mill a recess into metal and fill it with paint.

Also...I'm getting less than 50% success rate with the thing. Other than confirming that it is of marginal utility, it certainly wasn't worth the money.

[ljclark]

Originally Posted by ljclark

A call to Leica US on Thursday...They told me that Summilux 50's below 3675xxx could not be coded because of the lens mount. Naturally mine is 3251xxx...

An update...I e-mailed Don Goldberg today and he figured it would cost me about $65 to have him code my ealy Summilux 50. In my e-mail I indicated that I'd do the dot painting, but that's no problem for most of us. I didn't ask for an ETA, but that really isn't much of an issue for me.