Lens service (CLA) from Leica

[msamiullah]

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Hi Folks,

I have never sent any of my M lenses for service / CLA to leica or any other shop. I want know how much usually leica charges for these CLA and how much time it takes. One of my lenses, although recent production year (2021) is bit stiff to turn on the focus barrel and I was thinking of sending it to Leica. Please let me know.

Thanks,

Sami

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[wda]

You lose nothing by asking Leica for a quotation. And you wouyou possibly get a more accurate answer.

Edited December 5, 2024 by wda

[Mute-on]

Depending on where you live there are many faster, cheaper and better options than Leica for a lens service. 

[msamiullah]

6 hours ago, wda said:

You lose nothing by asking Leica for a quotation. And you wouyou possibly get a more accurate answer.

They wont give me a quote until I send the lens to them for evaluation.

[msamiullah]

6 hours ago, Mute-on said:

Depending on where you live there are many faster, cheaper and better options than Leica for a lens service. 

Better service than the Company who actually made the lens ? I strongly doubt that (cheaper may be yes).

[charlesphoto99]

1 minute ago, msamiullah said:

Better service than the Company who actually made the lens ? I strongly doubt that (cheaper may be yes).

Yes, better service than the company that made the lens. In fact, let me tell you about the time I sent into Leica a 28mm Summicron for a six bit coded bayonet, and after three months they sent it back coded as a 24mm...

All of my lenses go to DAG now. And if it's a modern lens with stiff focus, there's no guarantee that Leica won't tell you it's within spec. If you want a quick focus barrel, send to DAG, who has the old grease. 

[msamiullah]

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1 minute ago, charlesphoto99 said:

Yes, better service than the company that made the lens. In fact, let me tell you about the time I sent into Leica a 28mm Summicron for a six bit coded bayonet, and after three months they sent it back coded as a 24mm...

All of my lenses go to DAG now. And if it's a modern lens with stiff focus, there's no guarantee that Leica won't tell you it's within spec. If you want a quick focus barrel, send to DAG, who has the old grease. 

I am not sure, just do not trust anyone else opening up the lens and putting it together again other than the Company who actually put it together at the first place. The lens I am thinking of sending is 35mm 1.4 ASPH FLE II which as I understand is quite a complex arrangement.

[pedaes]

9 minutes ago, msamiullah said:

35mm 1.4 ASPH FLE II

Why does such a young lens need a CLA? How much do you use lens? If not frequently I would suggest you spend an evening with lens off camera intermitently 'working' focus back and forth as fast as you can and it should free up.

[charlesphoto99]

2 minutes ago, msamiullah said:

I am not sure, just do not trust anyone else opening up the lens and putting it together again other than the Company who actually put it together at the first place. The lens I am thinking of sending is 35mm 1.4 ASPH FLE II which as I understand is quite a complex arrangement.

Go look on Reddit Leica and see the post about the guy who just got his 35mm APO back from Leica repair with a huge scratch on the back of the lens. This after waiting months for the repair to be finished. If it's still under warranty by all means send off to them. But if in the States, DAG is the gold standard. His turnaround times aren't as good as they used to be, but still less than Leica's. And it has nothing to do with complexity of the lens. Only thing, is if an element is ruined they may not sell him the replacement, so cleaning is the best he can do (in cases of fungus, scratches etc). But what not ask him? Put together a detailed description with a pic or two and email him for a quote. If he doesn't think he can do it, or want to do it, he will let you know. He has too much business as it is, so doesn't need to 'open something up' just to make a buck.

He took three months to repair my 135mm APO, but it was a tough job because the previous owner had a botch job done on it. Don grumbled about it, but probably less than Leica would have, and I'll bet Leica would have taken six months and cost twice as much. I think Leica costs around $450 for a CLA now (let time I had one done for a 90mm macro, about five years ago). DAG did my 135, which involved a lot more than a simple CLA, for about $350 two years ago. 

But since you've already made your mind up to send it to Leica, why are you asking for advice about second party repairs? 

[charlesphoto99]

3 minutes ago, pedaes said:

Why does such a young lens need a CLA? How much do you use lens? If not frequently I would suggest you spend an evening with lens off camera intermitently 'working' focus back and forth as fast as you can and it should free up.

I get it. Lots of new Leica lenses run stiff, even with the 'working it in.' But then why send back to the place that manufactured the lens to be stiff in the first place? They'll just say it's within tolerance. They did that to me with my brand new black paint M10-R, when the rangefinder was obviously off at infinity straight out of the box. Tried to tell me that was within tolerance, though they would go ahead and fix it anyways, despite the fact I've been shooting M's for well on thirty years now, so damn well know how a rangefinder patch should look/work. Patronizing much? Took a month to do it as well, of course...

[msamiullah]

52 minutes ago, pedaes said:

Why does such a young lens need a CLA? How much do you use lens? If not frequently I would suggest you spend an evening with lens off camera intermitently 'working' focus back and forth as fast as you can and it should free up.

Excellent observation, I recently bought (used) and am quite surprised as well and did I mention that it is a 2021 production lens. The reason I want to send it for CLA is because it has a stiff focus barrel, have to apply quite abit of force to move the focus barrel compared to my 2022 35mm cron and a much older (relatively) 50mm cron V5. Not sure why this 35mm 1.4  lens has a stiff focus ring. Any thoughts ?

[msamiullah]

56 minutes ago, charlesphoto99 said:

Go look on Reddit Leica and see the post about the guy who just got his 35mm APO back from Leica repair with a huge scratch on the back of the lens. This after waiting months for the repair to be finished. If it's still under warranty by all means send off to them. But if in the States, DAG is the gold standard. His turnaround times aren't as good as they used to be, but still less than Leica's. And it has nothing to do with complexity of the lens. Only thing, is if an element is ruined they may not sell him the replacement, so cleaning is the best he can do (in cases of fungus, scratches etc). But what not ask him? Put together a detailed description with a pic or two and email him for a quote. If he doesn't think he can do it, or want to do it, he will let you know. He has too much business as it is, so doesn't need to 'open something up' just to make a buck.

He took three months to repair my 135mm APO, but it was a tough job because the previous owner had a botch job done on it. Don grumbled about it, but probably less than Leica would have, and I'll bet Leica would have taken six months and cost twice as much. I think Leica costs around $450 for a CLA now (let time I had one done for a 90mm macro, about five years ago). DAG did my 135, which involved a lot more than a simple CLA, for about $350 two years ago. 

But since you've already made your mind up to send it to Leica, why are you asking for advice about second party repairs? 

Thanks for the insights but I never asked for second party repairs, I only asked for much Leica CLA costs.

[msamiullah]

53 minutes ago, charlesphoto99 said:

I get it. Lots of new Leica lenses run stiff, even with the 'working it in.' But then why send back to the place that manufactured the lens to be stiff in the first place? They'll just say it's within tolerance. They did that to me with my brand new black paint M10-R, when the rangefinder was obviously off at infinity straight out of the box. Tried to tell me that was within tolerance, though they would go ahead and fix it anyways, despite the fact I've been shooting M's for well on thirty years now, so damn well know how a rangefinder patch should look/work. Patronizing much? Took a month to do it as well, of course...

Very intresting !!!

[albertospa]

I've always had bad experiences with Leica service in Germany. Very long times, very high costs, material sent back several times to get the right result.
Better to find a good private repairer, but it's not easy.

[charlesphoto99]

50 minutes ago, albertospa said:

I've always had bad experiences with Leica service in Germany. Very long times, very high costs, material sent back several times to get the right result.
Better to find a good private repairer, but it's not easy.

Seriously. It's pretty sad when the worst repair for Leica is Leica. Of course, with digital electronics, they are the only option. Lenses and vintage bodies take elsewhere. 

[rcusick]

I’ve always had a good experience with Leica cla.    They were particularly good with finicky 50mm v4 summicron with plastic parts.  Generally they charge about $750 if there are no major issues.  Turnaround time is one to three months. 
 

As an aside - Samys in la has excellent technicians for both Hasselblad and Leica.  Turnaround time is a couple of weeks to a couple of months.  

[JimmyCheng]

I'll tell you a funny story. I bought this brand new Leica summilux 35. Went to Kanto camera in Japan to do a black paint on. After examining the lens, the technician told me the focus ring is not smooth and needs a CLA. I said, but it's brand new. They say, well it is not up to their standards. And you know what, I agree with them. The summilux steel rim re-issue is not as smooth as my other new glasses indeed. 

[gotium]

11 hours ago, msamiullah said:

Better service than the Company who actually made the lens ? I strongly doubt that (cheaper may be yes).

Absolutely. I would only use Leica service as a last resort. 

Edited December 6, 2024 by gotium

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[Jeff S]

12 hours ago, msamiullah said:

Better service than the Company who actually made the lens ? I strongly doubt that (cheaper may be yes).

Yes, better, less expensive and probably quicker.  Some of these third party repairers once worked for Leica, but decided to move on… thankfully.

BTW, the 50 Summilux ASPH also has a floating lens element (FLE). 

Jeff

Edited December 6, 2024 by Jeff S

[charlesphoto99]

I think it should be noted that in order to change out the grease, an entire breakdown of the lens is not necessary. It's really just a matter of exposing the helicoid, wiping the old grease away, and applying new. No elements need to be touched. The most whip fast lens I have is a late model pre-asph 50 that DAG fixed for me in about 2005. It could use a trip back though, as it has been put through the wringer.