R Lenses : still Serviceable

[rsolomon]

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I understand from another thread that Leica is no longer providing R Camera repairs .... shame.  My question is are they still repairing and doing CLA's on R Lenses ? with the R  Adapter for M cameras im thinking of investing in some longer R glass 

[ramarren]

A year or so ago, Leica USA told me they could still do the one-cam to three-cam conversion on my 1964 Summicron-R 50mm, along with a CLA. Best to call and ask for specific service needs. 

Of course, DAG and Cherie can do lens service too. Electronic parts for ROM lenses might be gone, but most service for the pre ROM lenses is cleaning, collimating, and lubing.

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[masjah]

Some adjustments I suppose might be problematical. Suppose one was to drop an aspherical lens, and thereby decentre an element. I always understood that aspherical lenses had to go back to Leica because of the specialist equipment needed to set them up. Does anyone know of independent repairers who could do this if required (perish the thought!).

[tritentrue]

When I inquired about sending my 280mm 2.8 APO-Telyt-R to Leica for CLA, more specifically to fix a sticky aperture lever, this was the response I received:

"This lens can only be repaired to a limited extent and at your own risk because we don´t have all spare parts on stock anymore."

Fair enough, I reckon, for a lens that's almost thirty years old.  However, they were kind enough to send, FOC, some screws for the mount, which was missing one of the longer screws.

[rsolomon]

Sounds like the commitment for R lenses is not there, seems ...... "if they can they will" . For me it puts the R lenses into the: don't invest list" Darn !

[tritentrue]

My oldest R lens is from the 1970's and I expect it'll continue to make great images for at least as long as I'll be around.

Coincidentally, the plastic inner fastening ring broke off the hood of my two-month old 60mm TL today.

[ramarren]

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The R lens line, along with the R bodies, are now discontinued in production by ten years. Like with any other products discontinued for a decade, parts begin to become a problem which is why service becomes a problem for some kinds of repair needs. The standard service needs for lenses, however, are generally just labor and I've not seen Leica refuse to take a piece of equipment in for a simple CLA, presuming they have the equipment and personnel with the skills to do it available.

However, lenses are amazingly robust things for all their precision and complexity. I felt no great risk at all in buying a dozen R lenses over the past seven years, one of which was manufactured in 1964, and most of the others in 1970 to 1985. Only two of them have needed service—one was serviced at Leica USA and the other by DAG. They are still amongst the very best lenses I've ever owned and used. I have used 9 of those dozen lenses on Leica SLR, Leica SL, Leica M, Leica CL, Sony A7, Olympus E-M1, and Nikon D750 bodies over the past decade with satisfying results. They work best on the Leica bodies, of course, because Leica provides lens profiles for them and designs their digital body sensors with that compatibility in mind. 

(BTW: I see this "invest" word used about buying gear all the time. It always seems a bit off to me. I don't "invest" in lenses, or any camera gear. I buy camera gear to use. I invest in things which have a potential value return in monetary value. The value return of equipment is in its use: what I produce with it. Equipment is a depreciating asset, not an investment. The fact is that my purchase of a bunch of Leica R lenses has actually returned back more money than I spent on them, from time to time, but that doesn't make them an investment.)

[fernando_b]

16 hours ago, ramarren said:

...

However, lenses are amazingly robust things for all their precision and complexity. I felt no great risk at all in buying a dozen R lenses

...

I fully agree!

Fernando.

[wizard]

Am 29.10.2018 um 20:02 schrieb rsolomon:

Sounds like the commitment for R lenses is not there, seems ...... "if they can they will" . For me it puts the R lenses into the: don't invest list" Darn !

To the best of my knowledge, Leica at least here in Germany does service R lenses. They replaced the front element of a non-apo R 2.8/180 Elmarit lens for me not too long ago. Of course, there may be a point where certain parts, such as certain lens elements, are no longer available. But that is true for devices of all kind once they get to the age of 20, 30 or even 40 years. In this repect, Leica's service is way above average.

Andy

[Per P.]

I've had R lenses serviced by Leica Switzerland this year without problems. No idea if they can handle things like CAM conversion.

[earleygallery]

Plenty of independents can service lenses. I’d go to one of them first anyway. 

[ropo54]

On 10/30/2018 at 6:06 AM, tritentrue said:

My oldest R lens is from the 1970's and I expect it'll continue to make great images for at least as long as I'll be around.

Coincidentally, the plastic inner fastening ring broke off the hood of my two-month old 60mm TL today.

Rob,

This seems to be a recurring problem with the TL 35 and 60 mm lens hoods. It is easy enough to fix with some adhesive. Mine was done by a local camera repair shop as a courtesy, so it is probably not worth sending back to Leica.  See the threads on the CL/TL forum on this.

Rob

[wildlightphoto]

Leica refused to repair my 280/4 APO due to a lack of parts but DAG repaired the lens.  Parts needed? three screws.  I had the impression that Leica was more 'not interested' than 'no more parts'.

[timo832000]

I don´t see much of a problem, especially in Germany and I believe in other countries also there are several well known repair companies who are able to service our Leica R cameras and lenses more than sufficiently, no matter whats Leica does, says or thinks.

 

best regards

 

Timo

Edited November 5, 2018 by timo832000

[dkCambridgeshire]

On 10/29/2018 at 8:15 AM, masjah said:

Some adjustments I suppose might be problematical. Suppose one was to drop an aspherical lens, and thereby decentre an element. I always understood that aspherical lenses had to go back to Leica because of the specialist equipment needed to set them up. Does anyone know of independent repairers who could do this if required (perish the thought!).

I'm aware that in the UK Leica dealers have used CamServe to service Leica lenses … including fungus removal from APO lenses 

http://www.camserve.co.uk

dunk 

[edstock]

I've not used DAG for lens repair but my M's and R's.

[TheBestSLIsALeicaflex]

FYI -- A few years back I had a 60 macro repaired where the technician (Sherry Krauter) claimed she had to fabricate the replacement part because this part was no longer available.  Something involved with the focusing. 

[jaapv]

Leica has no spare parts any more

[TheBestSLIsALeicaflex]

My understanding, at least here in the USA, is that Leica sold spare parts for a lot of the old stuff to prominent repair technicians (e.g., Sherry Krauter).  Those are the folks who have what is left of the spare parts.

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[edstock]

Some years ago I started using the R series in addition to my M system. I purchased an R 6.2 and a R 7. The lenses I bought are a 60 f 2.8 macro, the 135 f 2.8., a 35-70 f 3.5, 70-200 f 4 and a 110-280 f 4. The 110-280 produces gorgeous results but, it is heavy. All are in excellent shape and I anticipate they will continue to perform.