Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/09/21
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]>But how does one find a trusted, experienced repair tech Through discussion with others who have used their service in the past. By talking to them and judging their expertise and ability to collaborate on repairing your equipment. By taking some risk in the process ... there's nothing in the world without some element of risk in it. Basically, the same way you find good auto repair people: by reputation and experience of others. >> ... or the rangefinder needs to be adjusted ... >How sensitive is the rangefinder to shock? The rangefinder in the Leica Ms is very robust by the standards of such devices, and the M6 rangefinder is more robust than earlier models through omission of various adjustment options that are now fixed at the factory. However, it is indeed the most sensitive part of the camera and the most likely to be damaged by shock loads. How much shock does it take to throw it out? Well, I wouldn't be the one to try measuring it. You should avoid dropping or throwing your camera, certainly. Normal knocks and usage shouldn't affect it, you can tell when you wack the poor thing hard. Any bounce hard enough to make a dent in the camera's skin is a candidate for throwing the rangefinder calibration off, although not all of them will. >You're lucky that he knew what he was doing. Having worked in this kind >of job myself, I know how undertrained people can sometimes be, and it makes me >nervous. Well, before I sent the camera to him for work, I'd researched who he was. He was ex-Rollei service, actually worked on the production line for some time, and was a deep Rollei enthusiast as well. All the other Rollei owners who had had him work on their cameras were extremely enthused about the work he'd done. I figured the risk involved was very low that he would intentionally or through inexperience do a shoddy job. But there's always risk. My beloved and beautiful Minox B sprung its shutter blades on a trip to Ireland a couple of years ago. When I arrived home, I sent it off to my Minox repair guy, one of the most honored men in the profession. He'd told me that he was a little backed up but that he might be able to get it done for my next trip. I was stunned when he called a week later to tell me that he'd done the whole job already and it was less than I expected ... he just got a break and did it. He put the camera on the truck back to me, 24 hour express shipping.. It never arrived. Repeated calls, repeated attempts to locate it over the next several weeks, then months ... it was lost in the system, probably stolen. It was insured for 3x what I'd paid for it and I was paid that amount in full, but I still miss that camera: I'd been carrying it for several years and had taken many hundreds of photographs with it. I've not seen one as clean and pretty since, and certainly not for the price I paid, but the sentimental value was far greater then the cost. IN the end, however, it's just another camera. The photographs are more important to me. Godfrey