Leicaflex - where to buy?

[mdjchat]

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Hello all,

 

Within the last week I won a Leicaflex SL on eBay and have now unfortunately had to return it due to problems with the viewfinder/ prism. It was bought on a whim as the price seemed very reasonable and I reasoned that it wouldn't lose any money if I decided that I didn't like it.

 

Now that I have had the opportunity to handle one I am impressed by both the quality (though it shouldn't be a surprise) and the ergonomics of it. It's probably the most comfortable SLR that I have had the pleasure of playing with.

 

I'd therefore like to ask your advice about the best place to source one that doesn't have viewfinder/ prism issues and how much you would consider a fair price to be for a good useable camera. I'm not interested in any special editions and am more than happy to have the ordinary chrome version of the SL.

 

For those of you who regularly shoot these I'd like to ask if you have had your prisms replaced or resilvered and what price I should expect to pay if I needed to have such a repair in future?.

 

Thanks for your help,

 

Mat.

[TomB_tx]

Desilvering of the prism is a common problem with that model. I’ve had mine since 1968 and it is still fine. I also bought one a couple years ago (for a friend) from KEH that they had rated Excellent, and it was fine also. Their ratings are usually reliable, and they have a good return policy.

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[AdamSinger]

Hello all,

 

Within the last week I won a Leicaflex SL on eBay and have now unfortunately had to return it due to problems with the viewfinder/ prism. It was bought on a whim as the price seemed very reasonable and I reasoned that it wouldn't lose any money if I decided that I didn't like it.

 

Now that I have had the opportunity to handle one I am impressed by both the quality (though it shouldn't be a surprise) and the ergonomics of it. It's probably the most comfortable SLR that I have had the pleasure of playing with.

 

I'd therefore like to ask your advice about the best place to source one that doesn't have viewfinder/ prism issues and how much you would consider a fair price to be for a good useable camera. I'm not interested in any special editions and am more than happy to have the ordinary chrome version of the SL.

 

For those of you who regularly shoot these I'd like to ask if you have had your prisms replaced or resilvered and what price I should expect to pay if I needed to have such a repair in future?.

 

Thanks for your help,

 

Mat.

 

Mat

Hi

I have no doubt others will have different and equally valid experiences. I find ebay for buying cameras  a bit of a lottery. Thus have always been happy  to pay a modest premium from a decent retailer,  most of whom guarantee for month or two what they sell.  I bought a  Leicaflex  and a R9 recently from  Classic Cameras in London. All perfect. Also have had good experience from Red Dot in London, Ffordes, and the Leica Shop in Vienna where I got a great SL2, Meister Camera Germany , got a good R3,  and of course there is Bellamy at Japan Camera Hunter. Have bought quite a bit from all of them never had a problem. This is a UK centric answer as not sure where you are but there is no shortage of good Leica specialists in the US.  So never had a silvering  prism issue, and if you trawl round their sites you will get an  idea of current prices.

 

[mdjchat]

Thank you for your replies! There are a couple of shops there that I wasn't aware of so I will have a look. I'm in the UK so I'll probably try to find one within Europe first.

[spydrxx]

I've had 3 from Ebay, all in very good condition. Ithink the key buying from there is to ask the seller specific questions, before making an offer, which require knowledgible answers. If they are vague or incomprehensible, take a pass.

[mdjchat]

I've had 3 from Ebay, all in very good condition. Ithink the key buying from there is to ask the seller specific questions, before making an offer, which require knowledgible answers. If they are vague or incomprehensible, take a pass.

I do try to do this whenever possible and had asked the relevant questions in this instance. Working on the presumption that most sellers are open and honest I accept that sometimes other people aren't quite as thorough in their checks, may have worse eyesight than myself or just don't understand what they're looking for. It certainly won't put me off using eBay in the future.

[steed]

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I have had nothing  but wonderful experiences with KEH. One Leicaflex i ordered from them had a bizarre groundglass screen (for scientific use, i suspect) i had never seen before, and did not like. it was otherwise perfectly as advertised, by the way. When i contacted them and said that the screen was bizarre, they were prompt and wonderful about swapping the camera out for a perfect one with a normal screen. Even their bargain/ugly grades are perfectly servicable.

[d30gaijin]

I have a Leicaflx SL for sale. I just spent $500 it getting everhaulde by Sherry Krauter of Golden Touch Camera, arguably one of the finest Leica trained technicians in the USA... should you be interested.

 

Don