Post recommendation for Leica CLA

What it says above. Also share your experiences good or bad.

I have had excellent service from Youxin Ye. But there are the usual suspects, you’ll find them if you do a search. This question come up periodically. Good luck!

Perhaps you should say where you are and see if anyone can recommend someone within driving distance. There are likely some lesser-known repair people out there - one might be near you.

Las Vegas

Youxin Ye (YYE), Don Goldberg (DAG) and Sherry Krauter (Golden Touch) are the most common recommendations in the US. I've used YYE for an M4 CLA and was happy with his work.

Youxin did my IIIC and a lens several years ago.
Still works great.

Youxin is great for all brands.
Don and Sherry are Leica specialists. They're legends and that's not for free, both money and turnaround wise.
There's also another legend, Radu, an Alpa specialist, who at this point has no time to answer the phone or to reply to your email.
Then there's me.

Don Goldberg, DAG has done superb work for me on my black M4 & on a CL 50th anniversary (meter cell replacement)
More recently I found a local repairman. Gary Clennan www.lensmedicyyc.com. An 1.5 hrs away and works on everything.... Rollei, Nikon, Leica....et al.

Youxin offers an additional service for older M cameras: installation of multicoated glass in the viewfinder window to reduce glare. It’s custom glass he created for the job. I like his work on classic Ms.

Moderator note: I've removed a couple of posts (or parts thereof) because they involved direct requests or offers to conduct business. Please keep this thread focused on recommendations / suggestions, and/or reach out through private messaging (or use the Classifieds section) if you want to talk business. Thanks all.

Had a great experience with DAG for my M7. Communication was clear, work was done quickly, and well.

Zack, an advertiser here.

Youxin did a nice job on Leica M3 12 years ago, and the camera still works silky smooth today.

KEH. Download a form, fill it out, send with the camera, and not much waiting. Prices are clear and they'll make some repairs without charging any more. They did a good job on my M2 and a Rolleiflex. Both cameras had issues, but they fixed them without charging any more. The M2 has gone with me all over the world and works like a new camera, and the Rollei is also great.

I've been using DAG since the 1990s. He has worked on a couple of used M's and several lenses and all have been serviced turnaround time for a lens, is about 3 weeks. I don't know about M's as I haven't had to send any CLA in years.

DAG has been the best amongst the techs with Leica lens CLAs, in my experience.

Axelwik said:

KEH. Download a form, fill it out, send with the camera, and not much waiting. Prices are clear and they'll make some repairs without charging any more. They did a good job on my M2 and a Rolleiflex. Both cameras had issues, but they fixed them without charging any more. The M2 has gone with me all over the world and works like a new camera, and the Rollei is also great.

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was the rolleiflex repair expansive?

Radost said:

was the rolleiflex repair expansive?

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It was a film advance repair - don't know how involved it was.

I used YYE to cla my m2 and m3 and install multicoated viewfinder glass. Very pleased with the results and the viewfinder upgrade makes a huge difference

hardly any color said:

I used YYE to cla my m2 and m3 and install multicoated viewfinder glass. Very pleased with the results and the viewfinder upgrade makes a huge difference

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Is your horizontal and vertical alignment good?

Radost said:

Is your horizontal and vertical alignment good?

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As far as I can tell, yes.

hardly any color said:

As far as I can tell, yes.

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You are lucky!

YYE did a nice job on my IIIf and collapsible LTM 'Cron.

But, the only person I will let touch my Ms and M lenses is DAG. Expensive? Yes. Quality and care cost money. I don't find his 4-5 week backlog time outrageous.

Well, I do have an M4 that was overhauled by Sherry Krauter on behalf of the person that sold it to me. The camera is just flawless. It runs butter smooth and very quietly. So Sherry is definitely in the mix for Ms. However, I hear conflicting reports on whether or not she's taking on much new work.

I've used DAG for the past twenty years with full confidence.

I'm having a hard time with Leica service for specific problems. I think for CLA on cameras already working ok, any of the usual service people are fine. Likewise if you mostly care about operation feeling "buttery smooth" and luxurious, they will come back feeling smooth and premium. But if you are specifically concerned with things like shutter timing and reliability, etc, it's harder. Last camera I sent to YYe he sent back untouched, saying he doesn't disassemble cameras far enough to clean/lubricate the shutter drum springs and bearings, which would have been necessary to have it stop sticking open and overexposing. DAG also seems to prefer standard CLA service rather than requests to fix specific problems - I asked for a IIIg's shutter to be adjusted because it was exposing half the frame almost a stop more than the other half at 1/250 and above, and got it back worse than before and with the shutter not opening at all at 1/1000. It was out of my hands for over a year before I gave up. So I'm not sure where to turn. And I don't mean to put down the services these guys provide - they are terribly overloaded and there's nobody taking up the excess work; they're certainly capable and knowledgeable and great resources. But I find that if I want a camera actually fully functional and working, sometimes the only practical option is to just buy a new one that's already been fully overhauled and tested, rather than getting someone to address what's wrong with an existing one. I fully expect to get flak for saying any of this, because it seems almost taboo to mention these guys in any but the most glowing terms, but they're human like everyone else and it's not reasonable to expect every single thing they do to be perfect.