Servicing Costs At Solms

[hektor]

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SERVICING COSTS AT SOLMS

 

As I have said before on this Forum, as recommended by the service department at Leica Camera AG, every ten or so years my equipment returns to its spawning grounds for a CLA.

 

This evening I received the quotes for the lenses to be done this year, and initially thought how expensive servicing was becoming until I divided the cost by the number of years since either the lens was new as in the case of the Vario-Elmar-R, or when it was last serviced.

 

Here are the annualised costs:

 

Summicron-R 1:2 / 35 € 19.96

Apo-Telyt-R 1:3.4 / 180 € 16.22

Vario-Elmar-R 1:4 / 80-200 € 17.78

Summicron-M 1:2 / 35 € 21.44

[peter_n]

Those prices are pretty high Justin. Your 35mm Summicron translates to about US $283. I use an independent Leica technician here in the US: Don Goldberg of DAG Camera. The most expensive lens CLA I've had from Don cost US $125, and that was a rigid 50mm Summicron that had some internal haze. Everything comes back from him absolutely perfect.

[earleygallery]

I'm of the opinion if it aint broke don't fix it, especially with lenses.

 

I've been quoted £50-70 locally for a lens service/repair (oil on blades).

[hektor]

Gentlemen,

I do not disagree with your comments. In fact I have Don Goldberg service the equipment that Solms can no longer do. Also there is certain merit in the argument, "if it aint broke don't fix it", however regular servicing is not only preventative maintenance, in forty years I have never been let down by a Leica, but it ensures optimum performance which is why most of us buy this equipment. I can tell you it is a hard call when you decide to send a ten year old, apparently perfect lens for a €180,- service, but all reservations are gone when it returns with an added sparkle to the optics and the focusing mount as smooth if not smoother than new. Dust and lubricant from the aperture blades also accumulates on the internal lens elements; Not noticeable to the naked eye, but over time enough to degrade image quality. I have a quiet chuckle when reading tests comparing lenses of the fifties with the latest. In what condition were these sixty old lenses?

The point of my posting was to show how, after the high initial capital cost of Leica equipment, the annual running cost is very reasonable. Tell me of any other working mechanical device which does not need periodic attention. Lawn-mower = annual; Cars = biannually; watches & clocks = two to three years.

What happens with apparently benign objects such as cameras, lenses, watches & clocks is the accumulation of microscopic dust, which in the gears, helical focusing mounts and aperture blades causes wear, and in the latter can cause them to buckle.

When Mercedes-Benz made quality cars, the servicing manual recommended the alternator and starter-motor be over-hauled every 160,000 kms. This I always did and today apply the same priniciple to our present cars.

To me the "if it aint broke don't fix it" principle could leave me with a broken down car at a most inconvenient time in a very remote place. A friend of mine, applying the rule to his Leica, was disabled in Russia and telephoned me asking what to do. I called Solms who advised they do not have any representation, either sales or service, in eastern Europe!

Enough said. Have fun guys.

Justin

[Angora]

Well less than 25€ per lens seems to be quite cheap actually ?

[marknorton]

I don't think many of us here would work for the time it takes to CLA a lens for the amount charged to do it, especially by the time sales tax, shipping, contribution to overheads, materials are taken off.

 

I had Solms CLA a 35mm pre-ASPH Summicron last year and it came back in great condition.

[Lucklik]

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Well less than 25€ per lens seems to be quite cheap actually ?

AsI understand it, you have to multiply that 25€ by 10.

250€ is a lot of money for a CLA of a lens.

 

Luc