Questions about purchasing an IIIc from Facebook seller

[Reini]

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You give me hope ... my next camera is from Houston Texas.
It will also be dried out ...   do my services without CLA.

 

@Johnbuckman.

If you're talented yourself, you can fix the label yourself.
I already did that too.

 

[wlaidlaw]

Do I recognise the dulcet tones of NobbySparrow?

 

I find the chrome Leica's easy to refill the black. I normally finish with a quick rub from an Artists brown eraser, once the paint has completely dried to restore the correct appearance to the chrome. Filling in the very shallow engraving on older black Leicas is much more difficult. Leica originally used Wood's or Lipowitz's alloy, a very low melting point (around 70ºC) bismuth/lead/cadmium alloy. I have tried white and silver paint sticks but without much success. 

 

Wilson

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[johnbuckman]

Has anyone experience with Midwest Camera Repair? They have a classic camera section to their webpage with a Leica pictured and quote, "Because Midwest was an  Authorized Service Center for Leica, Graflex and Rollie in the past we still have a large inventory of new parts for many of the older models."

 

The quote was "Clean, lube and calibrate on the body is $185.00, the lens is $98.00 + return shipping." with a 2 week turnaround time.

 

I was hoping to not wait three months   

 

http://www.midwestcamera.com/classic.html

[wlaidlaw]

John, 

 

I would be a little concerned that they don't have a long wait time. I found a repairer in France who had a very similar story and when Alan Starkie had a three month plus wait time last year, I sent him my Grandfather's model II for a CLA. It took four months to come back and was not particularly well done in the end, with inaccurate RF alignment and the RF not properly cleaned. It is going to need doing again at some point with a new RF mirror but as it is a camera I use mostly with a Visoflex II reflex mirror box, it can wait a bit. Some other member may know more about them but I had never heard of them. 

 

Wilson

[BlackPaint]

Did you ever get this? 

[pico]

 

That's the hard way. A lacquer stick is faster, cleaner. Oh, the whole top should have been cleaned first.

[spydrxx]

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I too have used Youxin Ye as well as DAG and Sherry Krauter for CLAs and other repairs. Mr. Ye is the most responsive, and I can endorse him. I'd strongly suggest you use one of the 3 mentioned or Gus Lazzardi, although his prices are higher and turnaround time often is longer. I've also used locals on my non-Leica gear. Although nobody is perfect, the value of using the most experienced, is that they not only do a good job but they are also able to diagnose and fix issues which may not be apparent in a cursory normal repair. You want your camera to have the reliability it was designed to have, so why not go with quality known repairpersons. BTW, based on my experiences over 45 years, choose the above persons over Leica N.J. They took almost a year and did a crappy job on an item I sent them a few years back.

[wlaidlaw]

I too have used Youxin Ye as well as DAG and Sherry Krauter for CLAs and other repairs. Mr. Ye is the most responsive, and I can endorse him. I'd strongly suggest you use one of the 3 mentioned or Gus Lazzardi, although his prices are higher and turnaround time often is longer. I've also used locals on my non-Leica gear. Although nobody is perfect, the value of using the most experienced, is that they not only do a good job but they are also able to diagnose and fix issues which may not be apparent in a cursory normal repair. You want your camera to have the reliability it was designed to have, so why not go with quality known repairpersons. BTW, based on my experiences over 45 years, choose the above persons over Leica N.J. They took almost a year and did a crappy job on an item I sent them a few years back.

 

Agree 100% - those folks for the USA. The other point is that there is an ever decreasing pool of spare parts and what stock there is, tends to have become concentrated on the few good Leica repairers. As they have a steady turn over of Leicas for repair, they can from time to time commission the manufacture of replacement parts. For example, Alan Starkie has had a sheet of optical quality glass half silvered. From this stock he can cut new image combiners for the Barnack rangefinders. He is also building a sputtered UHF vacuum deposition chamber for hard and multicoating of lenses. I put off having the front element of my 5cm/f1.5 Summarit re-coated when he did the service, until the hard coating machine is up and running. 

 

Wilson

[johnbuckman]

Why yes I did purchase! Based on everyone's feedback I sent it off to Youxin Ye, and he agreed to a rush delivery for which I'm very greatful. I can't wait to get it back and start shooting. I'll be sure to post some shots when I do. Everyone here has been great.