REPAIR SPECIALISTS

[Pyrogallol]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

The Camera Repair Man.

Taken many years ago with a Leica M3 and 50mm Summicron.

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

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

[pegelli]

On 3/11/2020 at 12:01 PM, pegelli said:

I'll take the plunge next monday, my M2 and 3 lenses (35 summaron, 50 Summicron DR and 90 Elmarit) go to Will van Manen in Zoetermeer. General CLA on all and adjusting the rangefinder on the M2 (the split image is slightly offset vertically, 😟) and the lenses all have some haze (I hope it's not fungus 🙄)

Setting up the appointment was quick via email and I hope that he can keep to the 4 weeks he's claiming for most jobs. But still enough time before the meeting in Tilburg if there's a slight delay.

I'll report back here when the work is done.

So today the equipment returned to me. All well packed and very quicky dispatched after my payment was received on their bank account.

The M2 also needed new shutter curtains and is completely adjusted and as expected the range finder seems spot on and is perfectly aligned vertically..

The lenses look much cleaner than when I sent them in, only the 90 had some fungus which irreversibly damaged the back side of the front element. However it still looks much cleaner than it ever did before so I bet the images will be more than OK (they were even OK with the dirty lens, albeit a bit lower contrast). They also reported some haze between two joined glass elements of the 50 which they couldn't fix, but I have a hard time spotting it. Most of the haze I saw when bringing the lens to them is gone.

 

The next step is to run a few films through it and test the body and three lenses, but I have full faith it will all work as intended. It finally took more time than the typical 4 weeks they say on their website but for me as a hobby photographer with plenty other equipment to play with during the Covid confinement that really wasn't a problem.

 

I can highly recommend them, very friendly people, they know what they are doing and very clear communication.

Edited May 14, 2020 by pegelli

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[Avemarcus]

On 2/25/2020 at 9:43 PM, Jerry Attrik said:

Alan Starkie has come up trumps.

Camera returned to me yesterday (Monday)

It is in superb condition, no cosmetic work just a service. The body seems to gleam.

D.Lox

Nice...it was expensive service? I need CLA for my IIIf.

[spydrxx]

Another Plug for DAG

I'd used him years ago & he did a terrific job, but it took quite a while. Last week, after discussing a focusing problem on my M & LTM bodies with a LTM Nikkor H.C.50/2 I'd purchased a couple of years ago and been using on my m4/3 body  with another well known repairperson, who declined the job, I contacted Don, who told me to send it to him. I did and sent him  a Paypal for his estimate & postage and was totally blown away when I opened my mailbox today (1 week exactly later) and there was a box from Don. I guessed,  given the short turnaround, that he probably examined it and decided to not tackle it. To my delight the issue was fixed and the lens was all  cleaned up...when I checked it out everything was perfect. Congrats to the master and just in time for the Memorial Day weekend!

[Geoff Marshall]

Looks like the shutter curtains in my IIIf have given up the ghost, getting serious dark banding horizontally across my last 2 films at high shutter speeds. 
I have  just filled in the paperwork online tonight for a Cameraworks repair so I can get it posted tomorrow, does anybody have any idea what their turnaround times are at the moment. 
 

Geoff

[wlaidlaw]

You could give Alan/James a ring. His mobile number is on the website. I find their turn around is generally between 4 and 6 months. Alan did a lovely job replacing the totally rotted out red blinds on my 1941 IIIc Stepper, with new red blinds and doing a CLA. He then could not get the shutter times 100% accurate (Alan is a perfectionist). The camera had been factory upgraded to IIIf spec and after a bit of research, it was found that a lot of these cameras suffered from inaccurate shutter timing. The drag of the flash sync is just too great for a shutter not designed for it. Disconnected the flash sync and it timed perfectly. As I have a number of other LTM cameras with working flash sync (IIf, IIIg, Ig, Reid & Sigrist III-2 plus all my film M's) this was no great loss. Alan has done some amazing work for me, like working out how to rebuild my giant rangefinder Combat Graflex 70mm film camera from a 1950's US Navy manual, including having to get unobtainable broken parts 3D printed in titanium. 

Wilson

Edited May 22, 2020 by wlaidlaw

[Avemarcus]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

3 hours ago, wlaidlaw said:

You could give Alan/James a ring. His mobile number is on the website. I find their turn around is generally between 4 and 6 months. Alan did a lovely job replacing the totally rotted out red blinds on my 1941 IIIc Stepper, with new red blinds and doing a CLA. He then could not get the shutter times 100% accurate (Alan is a perfectionist). The camera had been factory upgraded to IIIf spec and after a bit of research, it was found that a lot of these cameras suffered from inaccurate shutter timing. The drag of the flash sync is just too great for a shutter not designed for it. Disconnected the flash sync and it timed perfectly. As I have a number of other LTM cameras with working flash sync (IIf, IIIg, Ig, Reid & Sigrist III-2 plus all my film M's) this was no great loss. Alan has done some amazing work for me, like working out how to rebuild my giant rangefinder Combat Graflex 70mm film camera from a 1950's US Navy manual, including having to get unobtainable broken parts 3D printed in titanium. 

Wilson

Thank you so much for your response!

[Geoff Marshall]

On 5/22/2020 at 7:45 AM, wlaidlaw said:

You could give Alan/James a ring. His mobile number is on the website. I find their turn around is generally between 4 and 6 months. Alan did a lovely job replacing the totally rotted out red blinds on my 1941 IIIc Stepper, with new red blinds and doing a CLA. He then could not get the shutter times 100% accurate (Alan is a perfectionist). The camera had been factory upgraded to IIIf spec and after a bit of research, it was found that a lot of these cameras suffered from inaccurate shutter timing. The drag of the flash sync is just too great for a shutter not designed for it. Disconnected the flash sync and it timed perfectly. As I have a number of other LTM cameras with working flash sync (IIf, IIIg, Ig, Reid & Sigrist III-2 plus all my film M's) this was no great loss. Alan has done some amazing work for me, like working out how to rebuild my giant rangefinder Combat Graflex 70mm film camera from a 1950's US Navy manual, including having to get unobtainable broken parts 3D printed in titanium. 

Wilson

I sent my IIIf in to Cameraworks for repair and got a message from Alan today, things aren’t as bad as I thought and he has quoted a very reasonable cost for the repair. Looking forward to using my favourite film Leica again. 

[Biplano]

I had my Leicaflex SL repaired in Hamburg, Germany by https://www.kamerareparatur.com/. The selftimer did not work anmyore which blocked the rewind after accidentally activating the selftimer. The communication with the shop for the offer and shipments was quick, detailled and friendly (they looked for the best solution). The turnaround of the repair was less than two months and the camera and lens came back well cleaned (the view through the Leicaflex is just amazing)  with nicely sounding slow times. The price was according the original offer. I can fully recomend them and plan to send my IIIg there next. 

[Jerry Attrik]

Good Evening  Avemarcus.

Please forgive this late response to your post of last May.

On 5/15/2020 at 1:51 AM, Avemarcus said:

Nice...it was expensive service? I need CLA for my IIIf.

I have a tendency to 'channel-hop' and only now have I read your post.

The cost of the service, February 2020 quote, was £145 plus other bits which, given the circumstances, I thought reasonable.

Did you send your 3f to him?  I can vouch for and recommend the gold plated which he uses for a rangefinder restoration.  Just try it!

D. Lox.

[GregNski]

My votes: I have had work done for me by both Youxin Ye and Don Goldberg. They both did excellent work. I would recommend either of them.

Youxin CLA'd my IIIf and replaced the shutter curtain, and Don cleaned up some nasty fungus on one of my ROM R lenses. Youxin was slightly faster, but I can't fault either of them, for speed, price, or quality of work.

[frame-it]

Kanto Camera >

Cool Video

 

 

[miguel_hyde]

Hi, i have read this thread very carefully, and read a lot about CLA and repairs, and my situation is, that i have an M4 which has some worn out pieces on the shutter system (when i stroke the shutter lever all the way with the camera with film in it, i cannot press the shutter button, i need to give it a second millimetric stroke to fully cock the shutter, this does not happend without film in the camera), not sure wich or in what part of the mechanism, so my question is, who is the guy to send the camera to, and if there is no one, since i am new to Leica i have to ask, does Leica repir in Germany still fixes this camera?

Thank you for the info

P.S. - based in Europe

Edited March 23, 2021 by miguel_hyde

[dkCambridgeshire]

39 minutes ago, miguel_hyde said:

Hi, i have read this thread very carefully, and read a lot about CLA and repairs, and my situation is, that i have an M4 which has some worn out pieces on the shutter system (when i stroke the shutter lever all the way with the camera with film in it, i cannot press the shutter button, i need to give it a second millimetric stroke to fully cock the shutter, this does not happend without film in the camera), not sure wich or in what part of the mechanism, so my question is, who is the guy to send the camera to, and if there is no one, since i am new to Leica i have to ask, does Leica repir in Germany still fixes this camera?

Thank you for the info

P.S. - based in Europe

Pls double check the rewind lever to make sure it's not partially activated . If your camera needs a service, best to find a reputable independent repairer ... Leica Germany charges relatively high repair fees 

[wlaidlaw]

7 hours ago, dkCambridgeshire said:

Pls double check the rewind lever to make sure it's not partially activated . If your camera needs a service, best to find a reputable independent repairer ... Leica Germany charges relatively high repair fees 

Dunk, 

The problem is arising that many independent repairers are running out of spare parts and Leica will no longer sell them any. This is the issue I had with my M7, where the motor drive/intermediate wind on gear spindle/shaft had sheared due to bad past service with misaligned components, leading to excessive drag on the shaft. After 6 months of waiting for a spare to arrive, I had to write a begging letter to the Leica CEO before they very reluctantly sent me a replacement shaft, for Alan Starkie of Camerworks-UK.com to fit. Alan and others are having to buy up poor condition old cameras and strip them down for parts.

Alan together with Will van Manen in the Netherlands, Ottmar Michaely in Ehringhausen, Germany and Jerzy Wasowicz in Vienna are who I would regard as the top level of Leica repairers in Europe. In the past I would also have recommended Malcolm Taylor but his work which was always excellent rather than fast, has slowed to glacial speed. He has had my IIIa and MOOLY for 2½ years now to do a CLA but has not even started on it. He also has had my 250FF Reporter for 2½ years but at least work is under way on that. I have now asked him three times to return my IIIa/MOOLY, so I can send it to Jerzy but a year on from when I first asked and I am still waiting. Not really acceptable. Once lockdown is over, I am going to have to drive up to Amestrey and collect it. As it has been so delayed, I will now have to deal with Boris' lunacy of customs declaration forms for fees relief on re-import of items going to Europe for repair. I spent a wholly fruitless 90 minutes on the phone to HM Revenue and Customs yesterday trying to find what forms I need to complete. 

Wilson

[dkCambridgeshire]

2 hours ago, wlaidlaw said:

Dunk, 

The problem is arising that many independent repairers are running out of spare parts and Leica will no longer sell them any. This is the issue I had with my M7, where the motor drive/intermediate wind on gear spindle/shaft had sheared due to bad past service with misaligned components, leading to excessive drag on the shaft. After 6 months of waiting for a spare to arrive, I had to write a begging letter to the Leica CEO before they very reluctantly sent me a replacement shaft, for Alan Starkie of Camerworks-UK.com to fit. Alan and others are having to buy up poor condition old cameras and strip them down for parts.

Alan together with Will van Manen in the Netherlands, Ottmar Michaely in Ehringhausen, Germany and Jerzy Wasowicz in Vienna are who I would regard as the top level of Leica repairers in Europe. In the past I would also have recommended Malcolm Taylor but his work which was always excellent rather than fast, has slowed to glacial speed. He has had my IIIa and MOOLY for 2½ years now to do a CLA but has not even started on it. He also has had my 250FF Reporter for 2½ years but at least work is under way on that. I have now asked him three times to return my IIIa/MOOLY, so I can send it to Jerzy but a year on from when I first asked and I am still waiting. Not really acceptable. Once lockdown is over, I am going to have to drive up to Amestrey and collect it. As it has been so delayed, I will now have to deal with Boris' lunacy of customs declaration forms for fees relief on re-import of items going to Europe for repair. I spent a wholly fruitless 90 minutes on the phone to HM Revenue and Customs yesterday trying to find what forms I need to complete. 

Wilson

Thank you Wilson ... spares situation noted. 

BW

dunk 

[pedaes]

2 hours ago, wlaidlaw said:

HM Revenue and Customs yesterday trying to find what forms

Wilson - please tell us the answer when you get it - maybe a 'sticky' here.

Malcolm must be in retirement mode by now - glad you know how to find his place!

[frame-it]

wonder if its possible to 3d scan all the components of e.g, a iiif, then then do precision Computer Aided  fabrication with steel?

[farnz]

1 hour ago, pedaes said:

Malcolm must be in retirement mode by now - glad you know how to find his place!

Keith, I don't know Malcolm personally although I've talked to him a number of times on the phone.  I am aware through another source that he experienced a life-changing episode a few years ago that completely took the wind out of his sails for a long time - as it would any of us. He hasn't retired and I understand that his son is now looking after the administrative side of the business so Malcolm can concentrate on his skills.

                                                                                                ----------------------

It does sadden me when I hear Malcolm criticised here when he has no means of reply since he doesn't use email or the internet at all.

Pete.

[Advertisement]

Hallo,

Look here: Interesting Leica gear

[hektor]

Over the years I have sent a number of screw-thread cameras to Don Goldberg.  I suggest you call him +1 (608) 835-3342 or e-mail dagcam@chorus.net