Leica repair costs

[ericdan]

My MP and I took a small hit when I fell hiking. Shoulder dislocated and MP's bottom plate has a minor scratch and the lens got a little wet and became hard to turn the focus near infinity. Otherwise it was working fine and I used it for the rest of the trip.
I decided to take it to Leica for a checkup anyhow just to see if everythign is ok.
Apparently, the hit knocked the 1/500th sec shutter speed out a little and the lens needs some cleaning.

Leica quoted me 1000 USD to fix the 1/500th shutter speed and 500 for the lens overhaul.
To say the least, I am shocked. How could fixing that cost 1/4th of the list price?

Repair costs like this considered, Leicas are not a good long term investment at all.

 

[bence8810]

Sorry to hear that Eric. I never had anything repaired by Leica so I can't say. Was it Leica Ginza? I hear they need to ship it to Germany for anything that involves more than a couple of screwdrivers so there's shipping / insurance calculated in the prices.

Try Ginza Lemonsha, they did stellar work on my M3 and was reasonably priced. It will of course not come with the Leica warranty...

Ben

 

[ericdan]

H Ben, yes, they told me they'd have to ship it to Germany.
Overkill I thought. I'll get a second opinion at Lemon and Kanto. If not there's YYeCamera, too.

 

[bence8810]

H Ben, yes, they told me they'd have to ship it to Germany.
Overkill I thought. I'll get a second opinion at Lemon and Kanto. If not there's YYeCamera, too.

You can also try Don over at DAG - if you can live without your camera for a few months. He is the best out there from the independent ones but he is slow and that might even be an understatement.

Keep us updated on how things are going! And nice photos from all those islands man!
Ben

 

[cuthbert]

Welcome to the Leica club, they have fun and games.

 

[blockend]

Beautiful cameras that attract disproportionately luxurious fees.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

If nobody can fix it locally, "There's YYeCamera", yes, people sending cameras to him from all over the world.

 

[OptiKen]

Without the fall, your Leica may well have run forever. This is part of the 'cost' of owning a luxury anything. Cadillacs have historically cost more to repair than their Chevy counterparts even though the parts were identical. Ford had a premium line called Mercury and their cars were always higher to buy and repair than the exact same car in the Ford line. Even today, the same holds for my Kia vs the same vehicle with the Hyundai name. I remember having to search for the 'real' oil filter for my Jensen Healey because the one at the dealership was $50 and the same part was available at the auto store for less than $10.

 

[gone]

I could live w/o the 1/500 speed, clean up the lens myself, and save the $1500 :] And there's no guarantee that a Leica will last longer than say a Pentax or Nikon camera before needing work.

You have to be careful w/ oil filters. I was a factory mechanic w/ Toyota for many years (also Volvo, Nissan, Fiat, Mazda and Alpha Romero). Everyone complained about the cost of the Toyota oil filters, but if you used anything but that you voided your warranty.

Factory parts are built to a totally different standard, and what may be "good enough" for some people is not good enough for a car builder that warranties it's products and designs everything specifically for their cars. If you just picked up a Toyota dealership filter and compared it to a OEM filter you would see a vast difference in quality. The Toyota filter is much heavier, made of much better materials, has much more filtering ability, and also has a small valve inside that the OEM filters don't have. It's there to keep oil pressure on the main and rod bearings so that when you start the engine it's not running on only the residual oil that is sitting in the bearings, just waiting for the pressure to bring more oil. We kept a Toyota filter in the shop that we cut in half to show people, along w/ a FRAM filter that we also cut in half. That convinced them. I would not recommend skimping on something as important as an oil filter. Engine rebuilds are not cheap.

 

[Patrick Robert James]

I have read so many stories like this over the years that I think Leica must have some minimum charge, which is the maximum they think people will pay to get their camera fixed instead of buying a new one. $1000 and $500 is outrageous. I only have one Leica, but I would never send it to Leica to have it fixed. DAG would be my choice. Never heard a single bad thing said about him.

 

[4season]

$1500 seems wildly excessive to me, but someone's got to pay for their fancy new facility in Wetzlar.

Am guessing the shutter of your camera was always like that: Unless someone has super-tuned it, the shutter speeds in a new mechanical M camera body are likely to be on the order of +/- 1 stop accuracy, and that's actually common. Have seen the test results from a stock M camera and one which had been tuned-up by a good craftsman and it was an impressive difference. But unless you're shooting transparencies and simply hate to bracket, it's not hugely important. And if accuracy is your top priority, you probably want an electronically-timed shutter anyhow.

As an investment? No!! Buy to enjoy here and now.

 

[Ai Print]

That is so beyond high priced it is incomprehensible. I had a nicked rear element totally replaced on a 35mm 1.4 asph for less than $300, it took 4 months but I got it back in great working order for that price.

I would send it to Youxin Ye, it will cost you no more than $500 for both and you will get it back in a couple weeks.

 

[Ian Grant]

When I accidentally cracked the front viewfinder glass on my M3 I found it was covered on my household insurance. It went to Leitz in London and came back repaired at a cost way under the original quote, the company always give a full service as well as a repair. In my case they found it had been serviced for the Leica dealer I'd bought it off and tested OK.

In the UK I'd use Malcolm Taylor who does work for the Leitz factory collection, I'd go with the above recommendation Ben's given you as you're in Tokyo.

Ian

 

[Ko.Fe.]

I'm just thinking... I know some Leica users who are taking theirs under rain and it is nothing. But fail with water getting into the lens...
If you think of cameras and lenses as investment treat them like investment, not like hike and fail gear. If I ever commit jumping on the rocks by the creek, I'll take Konica off-road camera which is shock and water resistant and available in Japan. Or at least I'll put camera in the bag until this hiking part is finished.

 

[ericdan]

You can also try Don over at DAG - if you can live without your camera for a few months. He is the best out there from the independent ones but he is slow and that might even be an understatement.

Keep us updated on how things are going! And nice photos from all those islands man!
Ben

Youxin just got back to me. I think I'll send it to him.

 

[bence8810]

Youxin just got back to me. I think I'll send it to him.

Why don't you have a chat with Gabor, a fellow German. You'll find him on RFF under maddoc. He has quite a few leicas and have used all the above mentioned repairmen.

Good luck with whatever you do and hope that MP is back into full operation in no time (as well as your shoulder!)
Ben

 

[maddoc2003jp]

I paid US$500 for regular overhaul plus US$250 for new winding unit of my former Leica M4-P already in 2008 here at Leica Japan (Ginza). The reason the repair was required was that a repairman had ruined the mechanics with an overdose of I-don`t-know-type of oil. As they say, buy cheap buy twice.

 

[Ronald Moravec]

After a few tumbles I learned to keep my camera in a padded bag when moving about. Leaves gather over exposed tree roots you know. Then there was a tumble on a BMX course in Wisconsin.

 

[bence8810]

Eric - any updates on your camera? What did you end up doing?

Ben

 

[ericdan]

Eric - any updates on your camera? What did you end up doing?

Ben

Youxin fixed it already!
$210 for the M body and $90 for the summicron.

 

[bence8810]

Youxin fixed it already!
$210 for the M body and $90 for the summicron.

How did you like the work he's done? I assume all is well with your setup?

Ben

 

[ericdan]

on its way back now. I'll update the thread once I receive it.

 

[bence8810]

Sounds good and hope it'll work just like it did when new!

 

[ciniframe]

That price sounds about right. He charged about the same to me for cleaning and relubing a slow speed escapement on a M4-2 that had jammed. Camera now works fine.

 

[Huss]

I've been very happy with Youxin's work. He is also very honest about if any should be done, also to the point if he can do it.