[Leica] Question about my poor broken lens.

[photo.forrest at earthlink.net (Philip Forrest)]

Hoppy,
I was nauseous that moment.
If you want to hear a real story, talk to Sherry Krauter about my M4 which 
she 
just repaired.  Talk about DAMAGE.
I was wearing my M4 around my neck like a tourist when on patrol in 
Fallujah, 
Iraq back in Nov, 2004 when I had to as low to the ground as fast as 
possible 
because of incoming 122mm rockets.  I basically fell right on the camera, 
bending the winder lever, over-winding the shutter and stripping some brass 
collar from the winder shaft.  After the patrol a few days later I was in my 
office (being the public affairs guy has it's perks) & took the camera 
apart.  
Once again using the aforementioned tools.  I saw what was wrong to my naked 
eye and having just a bit of camera hacking/repair experience I decided to 
give it a go.  The shutter was bound up & I "flexed" it through it's entire 
travel which reset it (it had worked before on a spotmatic of mine.)  After 
that, out machinist (US Navy Combat Engineering Battalion, we had all the 
cool tools and people) fabbed me up a brass collar which was as good as the 
original if not better Then we pressed it on the shaft & off I went.  The 
camera to this day still has a bit of vulcanite missing from that rocket 
attack.  It worked quite well, albeit with a little sloppy winding for the 
next few months.  I was on battalion movement to the states and deployed to 
Spain for 1 month to create our deployment book and gather up all the 
documentary media for the DON archive.  It was there in Spain where the 
death 
blow came.  I fell into the Bay of Cadiz while taking one of my two days off 
during that deployment and the camera barely recovered from that.  I had a 
minor CLA (lack of funds) done but eventually the corrosion caught up with 
it 
& Sherry just finished it.  I should be receiving it this friday as a matter 
of fact.
I always have wondered what the people walking by my bench on the beach 
thought while looking at me, soaking wet, frantically taking my Leica apart 
in an effort to dry it out...
It's all better now.
...and it's just a camera.

Philip

On Thursday 05 April 2007 00:24:29 G Hopkinson wrote:
> Philip, you have just made me quite ill. Never post any message again that
> includes the words Summicron, vise, vicegrips and a file. Yes, I do
> understand your circumstance ;-)
>
> Cheers
> Hoppy
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: lug-bounces+hoppyman=bigpond.net.au@leica-users.org
> [mailto:lug-bounces+hoppyman=bigpond.net.au@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of
> Philip Forrest
> Sent: Thursday, 5 April 2007 14:09
> To: Leica Users Group
> Subject: Re: [Leica] Question about my poor broken lens.
>
> Since it's a heavy Voigtlander lens, it's some nice brass.  Easily bendable
> when dropped, but this works to your advantage in repair.
> I dropped my 50 DR Sunnicron out in Iraq on a marble floor & bent the
> mounting flange good. ...an hour later after some work with a vise, channel
> locks, vise-grips and a file the lens was back to working fine.  The glass
> was still perfect & that's what mattered.
> I'm not encouraging you to do a hack like I did.  Leica repair is hard to
> come by in Iraq, so I had to.  It's not too hard though with the proper
> tools and knowledge.
> You probably bent a bit of the flange on the rear of the lens and it's
> impeding the motion of the focusing helical.  As long as your glass is
> intact, a repair should definitely be worth it.  Especially so if you like
> this lens. Philip
>
> On Wednesday 04 April 2007 22:30:06 alvaro sendon wrote:
> > Hello everybody,
> >
> >     I had what I like to call a "Bonk" moment last night.  Where for
> > no reason at all my Voigtlander 28mm F1.9 slipped out of my hands and
> > smacked the floor.
> >
> > Nothing seemed apparently broken until I checked the focus ring and
> > noticed the extreme stiffness when rotating it.  Does anyone know what
> > is actually broken?
> >
> > Just trying to decide if it is worth fixing considering the price of
> > the lens.  Where can I send it to get fixed? Is it worth shipping it
> > out to DAG or Sherry Krauter?
> >
> >  I am thinking that if it is $225 and under I will fix it, anything
> > above and I will have to consider it. Any opinions or suggestions will
> > be appreciated.
> >
> > Thank you;
> >
> > Alvaro Sendon
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Leica Users Group.
> > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>
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