[Leica] Leica Digilux 2 repair issue epilog

[joeaksa at attglobal.net (joeaksa@attglobal.net)]

I posted a message on the LUG about three months ago on the LUG about my 
Digilux 2 that I had been having problems with. Most of the problems I felt 
were with 
the Leica NA service center, and dealing with a lack of communication. The 
camera 
had been sent in for a replacement in the on/off switch and returned in an 
unusuable 
condition. 

After posting to this list I received several emails. One of them was from 
Steve 
Barbour, a list member who lives here in Phoenix. He was very helpful and 
directed 
me to Sandy Ritz, who runs a camera store here in town and is an old hand at 
Leica's. 

I called Sandy and he then directed me to Leslie Sales, who is the Leica 
field rep for 
this part of the country. Lucky for me she as well lives in Phoenix. Leslie 
was out of 
town, but I ended up talking with her Brother. Leslie and her Brother work 
together 
and were very professional and always got back to me by phone or email.

I was told to send the camera back to Leica NA immediately and they even 
provided 
me with free shipping. The big change was that he told me to send everything 
in, 
batteries, charger and so on. 

Lucky for me Leslie was going to be in New Jersey at the Leica facility the 
following 
week when my camera arrived. She discussed my situation with various people 
and 
immediately I started getting progress reports, something that had never 
happened 
in the past. 

>From what I hear the camera was essencially taken totally apart and checked 
>every 
where. It had been getting hot on the back side of the case, and had a 
electrical 
popping noise at the same time in the same area. After sending it to Leica 
twice for 
the same thing after the on/off switch was replaced, and its then being 
returning in 
the same condition I was getting a bit perturbed at the lack of service. 

Evidently the Leica technicians use a bench type power supply when working 
on 
camera's, which is understandable. They want a clean, strong and accurate 
source 
of power for the camera and a battery runs down, needs recharging and so on. 
It 
seems that part of the problem was that once the camera is out in the field 
we use 
the battery, and this was masking part of the problem on my camera. The 
problem 
evidently was not occuring with the power supply but would with the battery. 

Next issue was that the display on the back was showing funny lines on it 
after being 
returned from one of the service trips. They ended up finding that the 
sensor unit was 
bad and they replaced it. Evidently this is a common issue with the D2 
recently and 
they are fixing many camera's that are out of warranty to take care of the 
problem. 
As well they ended up replacing both of my batteries! 

I have had the camera back for about two month's now and its been to various 
places around the world. I travel for a living and the camera worked 
flawlessly every 
time and every place I used it. The photos are excellent and new display on 
the back 
looks very nice. 

Thanks to everyone who assisted in this, especially Leslie Sales and her 
team, as 
well as Robert Fisk and the Leica group in New Jersey. Hope to someday meet 
Steve and Sandy and buy them a lunch or dinner for their help, and am 
scheduled to 
meet with Leslie for a M8 program in a month or so. 

Thanks again to the LUG!

Joe Abrahamson
Phoenix Arizona