Leica repair costs

[jbmia]

Same here!

 

[ericdan]

the camera just came back.
Viewfinder is super clear, all levers on the camera are really smooth.
My lens got rid of all dust stuck inside and the focus ring and aperture ring are smoother than I though they could ever be.
Apparently the shutter speeds were adjusted too. I'll have to run a roll of slide film through to see if everything is in order.

So far I'm very satisfied with his work.

 

[Huss]

So $300 for Youxin versus $1500 if Leica did it.
Excellent result!

 

[bence8810]

Great to hear that Eric! Enjoy the camera.
Ben

 

[Ronald Moravec]

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.[/QUOTE

There is a video on you tube where they evaluate oil filters. Fram vs a better brand. In the end the reviewer asks what the Fram is good for. Target practice and he blasts it off a fence post.

I just order a case from Rock Auto, cheap plus good.

 

[bence8810]

How's the camera holding up Eric? Hope the repair was done well and you get to use it for a long time without trouble.

Ben

 

[ph]

Yes, Ernst Leitz GMBH is no longer only a place for mechanical and optical perfectionism. Leica earns its living from fashionistas, and does spend cash on ads and image-building in order to keep volumes up, not just on technical excellence.

That should not yet scare away quality-conscious customers. Repair prices cover costs. Not just costs for what faults one may have noticed, but also costs for making the equipment conform to its performance as designed, cost of taking on trainees and costs of keeping spare parts (although that seems to be going).

I have had three encounters with Leitz\Leica repairs. Once, a long time ago, at wetzlar with a IIIc, once with an M3 at the local importers and more recently with solms and an R 35-70-ROM. Leitz\Leica went through all functions, not just the ones requested.

Their reasoning as explained a long time ago by a works representative at the Hauser Torwerk in VVetzlar was that once it left the service there should be no reason to complain about functions, so they did not reinsert, but replaced all screws that had been undone, tested and, if needed, adjusted all functions. Customers implicitly agreed with this. Rather like needing to put in a car for service to fix one fault, but also wishing to have it serviced to perform as new when you got it back.

I presume that one may ask that existing, but unnoticed faults should be allowed to persist, and that the repair then would be cheaper. No idea whether the company still tries to serve serious users, but I do hope it does.

p.