Where to go for CLA of Nikkor ltm lens?

[Gary Clennan]

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Any suggestions? I'm quite familiar with all of the Leica lens CLA places but unsure of where (in North America) to go for my trusty Nikkor. Any advice would be most appreciated.

[TomB_tx]

Youxin Ye will work on an LTM Nikkor, and I believe DAG will also. And Gus Lazzari will restore almost any lens.

[richfx]

I've used Youxin Ye, who is excellent, very reasonable and fast for five Nikkor and Canon LTMs. Have used others (big names), who took very long and didn't fix a focus problem first time.

Rich

[Gary Clennan]

Thanks! Can Youxin do focus adjustment though? My lens back focuses....

[spydrxx]

If the focus issue is merely adjusting the focus ring it is pretty easy. Youxin Ye worked on a 50 Tanar for me to adjust the focus and mentioned that the advance of the ring against the cam wasn't exactly the same as a Leica lens, so while the rangefinder would give accurate focus, the indication on the focus ring wouldn't be 100% accurate across the scale on all of my LTM bodies.

[AB007]

I have used DAG for my Nikkor LTM.

 

Nippon Photo Clinic Service in NYC is very good too. I used them for my 50/2R.

[TomB_tx]

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Thanks! Can Youxin do focus adjustment though? My lens back focuses....

When I've had lenses with focus issues I've used DAG. I know he has all the optical bench tools to do it right.

[Lenshacker]

The Nikkor uses a Shim for moving the optics relative to the Cam. It needs to be thicker, and it is hard to find. DAG has a collimator, I do not know if Youxin added one to his equipment.

[Gary Clennan]

Thanks for the advice! I did a bit of research and am first going to try to build up the RF cam with adhesive copper tape. Seems quite easy and worth a try. Aside from focus, the lens is in real good shape and doesn't really need to be cleaned. Is this copper tape considered an electrical type item? Not sure where I should buy it.... Perhaps Ebay?

[Lenshacker]

I use thin gauge wire for shims for some of these lenses when I do not have the proper shim. The shim is too narrow to use the copper tape reliably, and it can "bunch-up". With the wire, try to get as close as possible. The jacket has some give to it, so the last fraction of a millimeter can be done by tightening the retaining ring and allowing the plastic jacket to compress. I did this on a Tanar 5cm F2, which is almost the same as the Nikkor 5cm F2.

[Gary Clennan]

Thanks again. I will use the copper tape though and not do any shimming with wire. I have seen quite a few samples where one layer of copper tape is applied to the RF cam on the lens which solves the back focusing problem. This way, I don't need to take the lens apart at all. Thanks again.