DAG comes through, we're cool

summicron1 · Dec 4, 2022

Having started another thread in which I expressed some frustration with Don Goldberg, DAG Camera Repair, I feel I need to put the end here. It was a frustrating situation all around, but Don is being nice, lord knows I'm trying to be too, let's go into the holiday season on good terms all around.

The original thread is here: https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/how-long-does-dag-take-these-days.195593/

End result -- I heard from Don today -- he fixed the small mechanical thing I wanted fixed, but says the auto shutter speeds are off and he spent "many hours" trying to get it right and just can't. He sent me a picture (see below) of the wiring that Leitz put into those things, which resembles a rat's nest, I'm really disappointed Leitz would make something so sloppy but Don said that Leitz tried to backfill spot metering into a Minolta design that didn't have it and this was the result.

Don says this experience only confirmed, to him, his decision not to do R3s any more...just not worth it.

So he's sending it back and I'm fine with that. The only criticism I can find is I wish he'd sent me a note to update me more often -- something along the lines of "this damn thing of yours won't let itself be fixed" so I'd know.

But that's the past, Don does a LOT of good work for the Leica community and I really thank and admire him for that.

Sincerely,

Charles Trentelman
Ogden Utah

madNbad · Dec 4, 2022

Good update. It’s a particularly hard time to be a camera technician. Film is making a resurgence and many of the used cameras that are available need service. Don is a one person shop and work is constantly coming in. The owner of a local repair shop is in much the same situation. He keeps trying to find someone to train but no one is interested. His main assistant injured herself and hasn’t been able to work. He’s doing his best to keep up but every day there are more jobs. Don has the parts and the experience to fix a lot of things other technicians miss which is why people send him work. Even with all of his experience, there are mistakes and with the internet, customers hear about them. I’ve been happy with the work he’s done for me but he could do a better job up front by letting the customer know if he can fix it and how long it will take.

summicron1 · Dec 4, 2022

madNbad said:
Good update. It’s a particularly hard time to be a camera technician. Film is making a resurgence and many of the used cameras that are available need service. Don is a one person shop and work is constantly coming in. The owner of a local repair shop is in much the same situation. He keeps trying to find someone to train but no one is interested. His main assistant injured herself and hasn’t been able to work. He’s doing his best to keep up but every day there are more jobs. Don has the parts and the experience to fix a lot of things other technicians miss which is why people send him work. Even with all of his experience, there are mistakes and with the internet, customers hear about them. I’ve been happy with the work he’s done for me but he could do a better job up front by letting the customer know if he can fix it and how long it will take.

yeah, he needs to find a grandchild somewhere who needs hobby money to answer his email, if nothing else.

ct

Sirius Glass · Dec 4, 2022

summicron1 said:
yeah, he needs to find a grandchild somewhere who needs hobby money to answer his email, if nothing else.

ct

Why don't you offer to be adopted by him?

MattKing · Dec 4, 2022

I've amended the title to the first thread, included links to this thread, and then closed that first thread.

summicron1 · Dec 4, 2022

MattKing said:
I've amended the title to the first thread, included links to this thread, and then closed that first thread.

Thanks!

summicron1 · Dec 4, 2022

Sirius Glass said:
Why don't you offer to be adopted by him?

my wife says i can't do it.

4season · Dec 5, 2022

summicron1 said:
the wiring that Leitz put into those things, which resembles a rat's nest, I'm really disappointed Leitz would make something so sloppy

It's as if they rushed an early prototype into full production. Workmanship looks about as good as they could make it, considering that the hot mess of a design than they had to work with.

GregY · Dec 5, 2022

4season said:
It's as if they rushed an early prototype into full production. Workmanship looks about as good as they could make it, considering that the hot mess of a design than they had to work with.

Well it was a huge jump in design from the Leicaflex SL2 and was done in cooperation w Minolta & built in Portugal.

beemermark · Dec 5, 2022

The surface mount circuit boards with the wiring, and bits and pieces are soldered by hand directly to the board. Besides the board on top you can see a CB on each side of the prism. One controls manual SS and the other one controls the AE. The CBs flex due to weather and the solder joints become brittle so after decades the connection breaks. Take it all apart, figure out the problem, cram it all back together and another joint breaks. So now you start over, you get it working, send it back to the happy owner and 2 months later another joint break and you get back a warranty repair. Surface mount circuit boards was cutting edge technology up until the '90's or so when some smart engineer figure out to design all the chips directly onto the board (no soldering). I can remember buying blank boards at Radio Shack, etching the electrical paths onto the board, and then soldering in the components. BTW there are other cameras (no longer remember which ones) that repairman won't touch because the insides look just like the R3.

summicron1 · Dec 17, 2022

GregY said:
Well it was a huge jump in design from the Leicaflex SL2 and was done in cooperation w Minolta & built in Portugal.

yeah, but you know after all the hubbub i got out my SL2 and put film in it and it is such a joy to shoot I kick myself for not using it more.

But of course the R3 was great to use when I got it. Such is life.

guangong · Dec 17, 2022

My main camera repairman now refuses to work on any German designed SLRs because the convoluted over engineering takes too much time to repair. Friends who worked at Leitz, and then Leica Camera, would comment as well on the rough work often seen inside cameras. I don’t attempt camera repair, so just repeating what I was told. The secret behind Nikon shutters...ball bearings. Leica only used them once, briefly, on Leica C during WWII.

ronw · Dec 17, 2022

Love Don, he hooked me up big time recently. I have nothing but positive things to say about my experience though not R3 related, a positive one non the less .

Richard Jepsen · Dec 30, 2022

Don had my M5 from late Nov 2020 to Aug 2021. He failed to respond to 3 email requests for update. I was in Madison, WI for the summer and contacted him by phone. He had the camera CLA with new BAT compartment in 2 days. Don was nice to visit with, implied the camera was in backlog too long and during the in person pickup mentioned his purchase of ELCAN M5 parts as reason for part of the delay.

I was relieved to get my camera back repaired. I found him in person to be credible and honest.

miha · Dec 30, 2022

Richard Jepsen said:
Don had my M5 from late Nov 2020 to Aug 2021. He failed to respond to 3 email requests for update. I was in Madison, WI for the summer and contacted him by phone. He had the camera CLA with new BAT compartment in 2 days, was nice to visit with, implied the camera was in backlog too long and during the in person pickup mentioned his purchase of Leica ELCAN M5 parts as a reason for part of the delay.

I was relieved to get my camera back repaired. I found him in person to be credible and honest.

What a lovely camera!

Richard Jepsen · Dec 30, 2022

Yes, the M5 is nice looking. It lacks a bit of the hand feel of the traditional M3 shape but it’s far from too large. Photographers use a camera to expose film and the M5 viewfinder and shutter speed dial are superior to the M3, M2, M4, etc.

MTGseattle · Dec 30, 2022

As sad and overwhelmed as the camera repair field seems to be, I almost wish I could apprentice with someone 1 day per week or something. Sadly, a shop we had here in Seattle closed its doors as well.

Richard Jepsen · Dec 30, 2022

Members should start a new post and provide addresses of credible Leica repair techs.

Kodachromeguy · Dec 30, 2022

MTGseattle said:
As sad and overwhelmed as the camera repair field seems to be, I almost wish I could apprentice with someone 1 day per week or something. Sadly, a shop we had here in Seattle closed its doors as well.

Which shop in Seattle closed?

My only recent Leica and Canon LTM lens repair is from DAG. Highly recommended.

MTGseattle · Dec 30, 2022

Cameratechs is the Seattle shop that closed. They were in the Ballard neighborhood. They had a really good stash of used filters and adapter rings and maintained a decent rotating stash or used and consignment gear.

rulnacco · Jan 6, 2023

summicron1 said:
View attachment 323331

Mein Gott in Himmel! I know repairing cameras can sometimes be very tricky--but it looks like you'd have to be damn near a neurosurgeon in skill level to tackle that thing. Looking closely at it, I think I can see a hippocampus or something down in there.

dave olson · Jan 12, 2023

MTGseattle said:
Cameratechs is the Seattle shop that closed. They were in the Ballard neighborhood. They had a really good stash of used filters and adapter rings and maintained a decent rotating stash or used and consignment gear.

summicron1 said:
Having started another thread in which I expressed some frustration with Don Goldberg, DAG Camera Repair, I feel I need to put the end here. It was a frustrating situation all around, but Don is being nice, lord knows I'm trying to be too, let's go into the holiday season on good terms all around.

The original thread is here: https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/how-long-does-dag-take-these-days.195593/

End result -- I heard from Don today -- he fixed the small mechanical thing I wanted fixed, but says the auto shutter speeds are off and he spent "many hours" trying to get it right and just can't. He sent me a picture (see below) of the wiring that Leitz put into those things, which resembles a rat's nest, I'm really disappointed Leitz would make something so sloppy but Don said that Leitz tried to backfill spot metering into a Minolta design that didn't have it and this was the result.

Don says this experience only confirmed, to him, his decision not to do R3s any more...just not worth it.

So he's sending it back and I'm fine with that. The only criticism I can find is I wish he'd sent me a note to update me more often -- something along the lines of "this damn thing of yours won't let itself be fixed" so I'd know.

But that's the past, Don does a LOT of good work for the Leica community and I really thank and admire him for that.

Sincerely,

Charles Trentelman
Ogden Utah
View attachment 323331

This is late but I just saw your post reference DAG. My experience with Don goes back to the mid 1990's. I reached out to him reference a couple of Leicas and lenses. He and I chatted on the phone, and knowing I was busy shooting professionally he made every effort to get my equipment fixed and returned in good time. I just recently had the occasion to reach out to him about a Leica M lens where the aperture ring had come loose. I told him I was long retired and now only used my equipment for my own enjoyment. He still had the lens returned to me fixed and overhauled within three weeks.

summicron1 · Jan 13, 2023

dave olson said:
This is late but I just saw your post reference DAG. My experience with Don goes back to the mid 1990's. I reached out to him reference a couple of Leicas and lenses. He and I chatted on the phone, and knowing I was busy shooting professionally he made every effort to get my equipment fixed and returned in good time. I just recently had the occasion to reach out to him about a Leica M lens where the aperture ring had come loose. I told him I was long retired and now only used my equipment for my own enjoyment. He still had the lens returned to me fixed and overhauled within three weeks.

Glad to hear it. He is a good guy who, I suspect, sometimes has issues with email. As do we all.

GregY · Jan 13, 2023

My CL 50th anniversary which I sent to Don in November, just shipped back to me today. Given how in-demand, Don is and the postal slowdowns & Holiday Season pressures.... that's excellent timing!

Radost · Jan 14, 2023

GregY said:
My CL 50th anniversary which I sent to Don in November, just shipped back to me today. Given how in-demand, Don is and the postal slowdowns & Holiday Season pressures.... that's excellent timing!

So he does CL but not CLE?

DAG comes through, we're cool

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