REPAIR SPECIALISTS

[iphoenix]

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5 hours ago, hektor said:

On his website there is reference to Leica restoration which to me implies he does some Leica work.

http://nagamicamera.com.au/index.html

Thank you Hektor, 

I only had his email address before.

Regards, David

[wlaidlaw]

Some good news on Leica repairers for a change. Malcolm Taylor, the ultimate Leica guru for odd, valuable and historic Leicas (he rebuilt Oskar Barnack's original cine camera for Leica, from the wreck that remained after WW2), is back to at least part time work after his recent serious illness. I wanted my 250FF Reporter totally overhauled, as something was obviously very awry in the film advance gear train. Nobody knows Reporters better than Malcolm. At one point, when he was still working for Derek Grossmark at The Hove Camera Co., he had 16 Reporters in for service/repair, all at the same time. That is close to 2% of the entire production! Amazingly he also still has a stock of spare parts for these rare cameras. He has found at least one extremely worn gear in mine, which he will replace. There is also a fault in the film tensioning system (the inner knurled disc in the middle of the wind on knob). He also has my motor drive IIIa and a pair of Summar lenses off the Reporter and IIIa for cleaning and collimating. I am going to send him my 28mm ASPH Summicron-M to see if he can extract the very mangled grub screws, locating the front section and if not, drill them out, re-tap to the next size up and get the front section properly located in the lens and not rattling about like at present. 

Wilson

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[Gibbo]

Good news but it would have been so much better if you had written that Malcolm has announced he has a fully trained apprentice to unleash upon us! 😜

[M9reno]

1 hour ago, Gibbo said:

Good news but it would have been so much better if you had written that Malcolm has announced he has a fully trained apprentice to unleash upon us! 😜

In an ideal world - sadly Malcolm is completely irreplaceable. 

[wlaidlaw]

I think the only repairer I know who has a younger person working for him is Alan Starkie, whose son James works with him. It is going to be a major problem for the younger generation, who want to use film/vintage/antique cameras, as most of the repairers are now approaching or even beyond retirement age and new ones are just not being trained. Given that I am about the same age or older than many of the older repairers, it is unlikely to be a big problem for me. Leica only now has one technician who can repair film cameras. Given Leica's apparent interest in their history, with the new museum imminent, maybe we need to be leaning on them to train or pay to get trained, a younger person, who can service and repair older cameras. He could be viewable at certain times of the day at the museum and I feel would be a good attraction.

On a similar point, I was trying to get a spare part (a battery compartment door) for an R9. Leica UK tell me that they think Leica has sold off all their stock of R spare parts to Photo-Arsenal. Now this may be good for Boris' profits but I doubt it is good news for R owners. 

Wilson

[hektor]

On 1/16/2019 at 12:02 PM, wlaidlaw said:

 Leica UK tell me that they think Leica has sold off all their stock of R spare parts to Photo-Arsenal. Now this may be good for Boris' profits but I doubt it is good news for R owners.

Dear Wilson,

Last year I sent my R7 to Wetzlar and was advised that all R spare parts had been sold to Paepke Fototechnik in Düsseldorf.  R service work has likewise been sub-contracted.

Dieter Paepke has been servicing Leica cameras for over thirty years and his father before him.

 

http://www.paepke-fototechnik.de/eng/index.html

[wlaidlaw]

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46 minutes ago, hektor said:

Dear Wilson,

Last year I sent my R7 to Wetzlar and was advised that all R spare parts had been sold to Paepke Fototechnik in Düsseldorf.  R service work has likewise been sub-contracted.

Dieter Paepke has been servicing Leica cameras for over thirty years and his father before him.

http://www.paepke-fototechnik.de/eng/index.html

 

Hektor, 

Many thanks. I have had no response as yet from Boris at Photo-Arsenal, so will try Paepke Fototechnik as well for an R9 battery compartment door. 

Wilson

 

[hektor]

Hi Wilson,

Over the years I have only found Foto Jamchtchik  Photo-Arse nal responsive when they want to sell something.  In 2003 when in Nürnberg I bought from Boris a brand new Hektor f = 12.5cm 1:2.5 still in its red box.  An incredible lens.

Kind regards.

[wlaidlaw]

I have had a response from Paepke Fototechnik. Sadly they neither service the R8 /9 nor do they keep spares for them. They do service and keep parts for the earlier R cameras/Leicaflexes plus M and LTM cameras. It looks like it is back to Boris then, who still has not responded to my query. 

Wilson

[Stacey]

Another positive endorsement for Youxin Ye. I recently sent a Leica IIIc in for a CLA and replacement of the beam splitter. I figured I might was well go ahead and get the shutter curtains replaced since I'm no expert, but this was an extra cost item. I included a check for the shutter curtains, CLA and the beam splitter. He emailed me back saying the shutter curtains were fine and would be sending a refund check back with the camera for that part of the repair.  It's nice to see someone this honest, to not just go ahead and take my money for an unneeded repair I had agreed to. I've had him do work in the past and it's always been high quality and a quick turn around for basic things like camera/lens CLA. I'm going to send any future cameras to him just for CLA service before they are actually broken just for peace of mind!  http://www.yyecamera.com/

 

[iphoenix]

On 11/14/2018 at 8:45 AM, hektor said:

On his website there is reference to Leica restoration which to me implies he does some Leica work.

http://nagamicamera.com.au/index.html

Now received my Canon L-2 and Nikon F Photomic T after their attention.

I sent the Canon L-2 for a service. Before, it sounded and felt a bit rough, as though it just needed one. A$100 and seems to be a good job. A lot smoother.

Shutter speed repair (inc. a part's replacement) on the Nikon F, plus adjustment of the Photomic T to accept modern batteries: A$250. No g'tee on the future accuracy of the meter (understandable), though is currently accurate. Shutter's great.

I'll be sending him a Leica IIIA now for his attention.

He may take a while, but from my experience, he's better than any other Australian repairers (except Perth) I've tried (including certain local franchised ones).

Edited February 23, 2019 by iphoenix

[Ivar B]

I see that several users here are happy with the service of Youxin Ye in MA, USA. I can add my name to the list. I just had an M4 Black Canada and a IIIb back today, and now everything is perfect. His prices are ok, his turnaround quick and he responds quickly to e-mails. 

[M9reno]

Was that with US - Norway posting involved and was that aspect hassle-free?

[FHPdoc]

Just got my early 1960s vintage M3 and 50mm f/2 DR Summicron back from Gus Lazzari, based in North Carolina USA.  Both look and feel BEAUTIFUL--practically brand new!  Took a while, but I sent them to him when he was already backlogged 120+ jobs.  Nevertheless, I am very happy with the result.  Shown here alongside my new Q2 😊:

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[TomB_tx]

32 minutes ago, FHPdoc said:

Just got my early 1960s vintage M3 and 50mm f/2 DR Summicron back from Gus Lazzari, based in North Carolina USA.  Both look and feel BEAUTIFUL--practically brand new!  Took a while, but I sent them to him when he was already backlogged 120+ jobs.  Nevertheless, I am very happy with the result. 

Yes, Gus did some very nice work for me some years back - but he takes whatever time it needs, so I use others for rush work.

[romualdo]

Another Gus beauty - it was well worth the wait - my very "close to new" looking (plus the smell of a newly serviced camera) iiif bd after Gus had finished with it - got it back late February

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[romualdo]

note the far right rangefinder window contains a dot, a modification by Gus - he calls it a "contrast dot mod" - I wonder if this is comparable to the OKARO filter that fits over the window to improve contrast?

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[FHPdoc]

7 hours ago, romualdo said:

Another Gus beauty - it was well worth the wait - my very "close to new" looking (plus the smell of a newly serviced camera) iiif bd after Gus had finished with it - got it back late February

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Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

 

7 hours ago, romualdo said:

note the far right rangefinder window contains a dot, a modification by Gus - he calls it a "contrast dot mod" - I wonder if this is comparable to the OKARO filter that fits over the window to improve contrast?

VERY nice!  There is just, je ne sais quoi, "something" about a beautifully crafted precision instrument...  🤗

[dkCambridgeshire]

I need to find and choose a UK company offering lens polishing and recoating. I've searched online and found a number of companies offering these services but not sure which of them actually polish and coat 'in house' … as distinct from using a third party. I can remove the front element myself thus want to send same to the company rather than the whole lens. Has anyone any experience of dealing with a UK optical company direct which can offer both polish and multi-coating for a single lens element? The actual lens front element is from a s/h Hasselblad 80mm Planar which is fairly easy to remove https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32FJflTRsjo  The front element has numerous cleaning marks but the lens still produces good images. 'As is' the lens and 500CM body would be difficult to sell … but I need to sell it to fund a Leica lens purchase. This is not a clandestine sales post so enquiries about selling the H'blad will be ignored  

dunk 

 

Edited April 4, 2019 by dkCambridgeshire

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[wlaidlaw]

Dunk, 

Malcolm Taylor did exactly this job some years ago, on a Contax 35-70 lens for me, which had been badly scratched by Johnsons Photopia, when I sent it to them for adjustment (they were the Contax repair agents at the time but completely hopeless), as it was not parfocal on zooming. However Malcolm takes his own time. He has had my 250FF Reporter and motor drive IIIa plus 2 Summars (a chrome and a nickel) since before Christmas. I am afraid to phone him to discuss progress.

Alan Starkie (Cameraworks-UK) will be doing this in the future, as he is rebuilding a high frequency vacuum sputtering machine, which will be able to do multi and hard coating. I don't know the estimated finish date for this project. He re-polished the front element of my grandfather's 5cm Hektor with excellent results but of course, that is uncoated. 

Wilson