MP another 35 years of spare parts?

[Paulus]

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One of the guaranties of the MP was. 35 years of spare parts, after the manufacturing of the last MP.

 

so another 35 year to go?

 

see:

 

On film cameras, Alfred Schopf said:

"We are now the world's biggest manufacturer of film cameras on the planet- because we are the only one, more or less. As long as we get orders we will continue. At the moment we get between 600 and 700 orders per year............"

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[earleygallery]

Thing is, it would be fairly easy to machine any one off components anyway - apart from the meter there's nothing much that can break.

[CalArts 99]

Like James says, nothing much to break and many parts can be fabricated. And there are plenty of parts floating around; the M3 is still repairable and that's been longer than 35 years. (Just recently there was an eBay auction by a LHSA member for thousands of brand new Leica parts; he had bought out a repair shop that had closed.)

 

Maybe a bigger question is how long left for the truly skilled and knowledgeable Leica techs to still be around. Leica ended its apprenticeship program a long time ago. I'm assuming that current hires are learning and working primarily on current digital Leicas. Who is going to fill the shoes of the Malcolm Taylors and the Don Goldbergs?

[Ulrik]

All has been said, bot not by everyone. 3D-printing will make it even easier in the future to produce spare parts (I wish that would have been possible when I desperately needed the main gear for one of my Hasselblad 1600F cameras which had lost a tooth). I t really comes down to the experienced technician who knows what to do with the spare part.

 

Ulrik

(the Hasselblad 1600F is back in service after I bought a truckload of 1000F/1600F parts and wrecks and after ruining the nerves of my repairman)