CLA for my old Canon P

Mainecoonmaniac · Oct 25, 2019

Hi,

I have this old Canon P with in accurate shutter speeds. I emailed my local camera facility in Sacramento and they don't want to do a CLA. They said it was too much work. Could somebody recommend a place where you had a good camera repair experience? I used Essex Camera repair, but they closed.

Thanks in advance!

jimjm · Oct 25, 2019

Youxin Ye advertises that he will work on Canon P bodies. He did an excellent job on a CLA & curtain replacement for a Canon IVsb I sent him. Good communication and his prices are reasonable.

David Lindquist · Oct 25, 2019

Was that by any chance California Precision Service, 1714 28th St.? Some years ago they fixed my Nikon 2000 but more recently when I asked them about doing a CLA on a Leica M2 they were quite reluctant (despite having a big sign saying they were an authorized Leica service shop).

You might ask Henry Paine in Stockton: https://www.henrypaine.com
He's mostly done view camera shutters for me but also made a Hasselblad back work right. His website says he works on film SLR's but does not mention rangefinders. Maybe this is to weed-out point and shoots. He's good about answering his emails.

David

Mainecoonmaniac · Oct 25, 2019

David Lindquist said:
Was that by any chance California Precision Service, 1714 28th St.? Some years ago they fixed my Nikon 2000 but more recently when I asked them about doing a CLA on a Leica M2 they were quite reluctant (despite having a big sign saying they were an authorized Leica service shop).

You might ask Henry Paine in Stockton: https://www.henrypaine.com
He's mostly done view camera shutters for me but also made a Hasselblad back work right. His website says he works on film SLR's but does not mention rangefinders. Maybe this is to weed-out point and shoots. He's good about answering his emails.

David

Hi David,

Yes it was California Precision Service. I think they don't want to service old mechanical cameras. I'll email Henry Paine. He's close by at Stockton.

StepheKoontz · Oct 25, 2019

Youxin works on the Leica clone Canons (has done an excellent job on two for me), but told me he doesn't work on the later models.

So I sent my Canon VT with non-functioning low speeds to Jacks Camera Repair. When I got it back the low speeds were still very erratic and would only run at the set speed, if I set it to that speed before I wound it. None of the other Canon cameras I own of that vintage act like this. When I emailed him about it still not working right, he replied "You might have to use it everyday for the low speeds to work right, the previous owner probably didn't use them much", which is complete nonsense. I wasn't going to argue with someone who clearly doesn't want to stand behind their work. I always say you learn how honest a company is by how they deal with a problem. Clearly that was a waste of $225. I'll never waste my money sending anything to Jacks Camera Repair again.

I will say Youxin 100% stands behind his work. I understand these are old and no one is perfect. One lens Youxin CLA'd for me had a small hair inside, he apologized and fixed it quickly, as you would expect someone to.

Mainecoonmaniac · Oct 25, 2019

StepheKoontz said:
Youxin works on the Leica clone Canons (has done an excellent job on two for me), but told me he doesn't work on the later models.

So I sent my Canon VT with non-functioning low speeds to Jacks Camera Repair. When I got it back the low speeds were still very erratic and would only run at the set speed, if I set it to that speed before I wound it. None of the other Canon cameras I own of that vintage act like this. When I emailed him about it still not working right, he replied "You might have to use it everyday for the low speeds to work right, the previous owner probably didn't use them much", which is complete nonsense. I wasn't going to argue with someone who clearly doesn't want to stand behind their work. I always say you learn how honest a company is by how they deal with a problem. Clearly that was a waste of $225. I'll never waste my money sending anything to Jacks Camera Repair again.

I will say Youxin 100% stands behind his work. I understand these are old and no one is perfect. One lens Youxin CLA'd for me had a small hair inside, he apologized and fixed it quickly, as you would expect someone to.

Thanks Steph!

I'll avoid Jacks and look up Youxin.

Best,
Don

Dan Ingram · Oct 25, 2019

Youxin CLA'd my Canon P last year. He does great work.
Dan

Mainecoonmaniac · Oct 25, 2019

Dan Ingram said:
Youxin CLA'd my Canon P last year. He does great work.
Dan

I just emailed him. The two thumbs up is reassuring.
Thanks for your response!

StepheKoontz · Oct 25, 2019

Maybe he just doesn't do the trigger wind models?

Mackinaw · Oct 25, 2019

StepheKoontz said:
Maybe he just doesn't do the trigger wind models?

Youxin will do everything but Canon rangefinders with a meter (Canon 7 or Canon 7s).

Jim B.

StepheKoontz · Oct 25, 2019

Mackinaw said:
Youxin will do everything but Canon rangefinders with a meter (Canon 7 or Canon 7s).

Jim B.

He turned down doing a CLA on my Canon VT

guangong · Oct 26, 2019

Youxin examined all of my Leicas and my Canon P after soot damage from house fire. Not only an excellent repairman, but also extremely ethical.

GRHazelton · Oct 26, 2019

Advance Camera did a fine job on my AsahiFlex IIa; the job involved replacing the mirror and making a few small parts. Eric Hendrickson had been unable to repair it because of those needed parts. Advance wasn't cheap, but the camera works like new.

mgb74 · Oct 26, 2019

StepheKoontz said:
He turned down doing a CLA on my Canon VT

Per his website, he only does Canon I through IV and the P. I also vaguely remember that he can't replace the metal shutter in the P, but don't quote me on that.

GRHazelton · Oct 26, 2019

mgb74 said:
Per his website, he only does Canon I through IV and the P. I also vaguely remember that he can't replace the metal shutter in the P, but don't quote me on that.

From what I gather the stainless steel shutter on the P is pretty tough. IIRC folks say that very few such shutters aren't wrinkled, but the wrinkles don't seem to cause troubles. My P's shutter is a little wrinkled but it works fine. Still looking for 40mm to Series 6 adapters....

mgb74 · Oct 26, 2019

GRHazelton said:
From what I gather the stainless steel shutter on the P is pretty tough. IIRC folks say that very few such shutters aren't wrinkled, but the wrinkles don't seem to cause troubles. My P's shutter is a little wrinkled but it works fine. Still looking for 40mm to Series 6 adapters....

I've been told the same regarding the Canon metal shutters. Mine has a slight wrinkle and works fine at 1/500 and below. Has slight shutter capping at 1/1000, but that's not due to wrinkle.

I found someone on UK ebay selling 40mm to 40.5mm step up rings and bought a couple (shipped to US). 40.5mm filters and hoods easy to find. Not sure why the step up rings are so hard to find.

John Will · Oct 26, 2019

Mainecoonmaniac said:
I just emailed him. The two thumbs up is reassuring.
Thanks for your response!

So long as all you need is a CLA Youxin will be able to do the job. However, if the camera need any parts Youxin has none available.

I contacted him a few months ago about my P which needed a replacement part for the film counter and this was his reply: " I can only do basic CLA on this camera, I have to open the camera, check out whether it just need a basic cleaning to work properly or anything is defective. If anything is defective, I cannot repair it since no parts available. Other problems are in the scope of CLA".

I eventually purchased a cheap parts camera on ebay and replaced the film counter part myself.

Ste_S · Oct 26, 2019

mgb74 said:
found someone on UK ebay selling 40mm to 40.5mm step up rings and bought a couple (shipped to US). 40.5mm filters and hoods easy to find. Not sure why the step up rings are so hard to find.

The Fuji X10/20 has a 40mm thread, and there's a few generic metal hoods out there for it. Most of them also incorporate a step up to 52mm too, either at the end of the hood or by a detachable ring. Have one for my P and it works great

jgoody · Oct 30, 2019

"filterfind" has various filters, step ups, hoods etc. for lots of hard to find sizes including the Canon 40mm. The Fuji 40mm also works well.
DAG (Don Goldberg) also works on the Canons including the P and the 7, as well as of course Leicas.

StepheKoontz · Oct 30, 2019

Yeah I lucked into a nice walz filter set with hood in 40mm size with a yellow, orange, red and green filter for B&W + a UV.

hap · Jan 6, 2020

jimjm said:
Youxin Ye advertises that he will work on Canon P bodies. He did an excellent job on a CLA & curtain replacement for a Canon IVsb I sent him. Good communication and his prices are reasonable.

He recently emailed me no longer working on Canon...and in this case it was a Canon P.

CLA for my old Canon P

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