DAG; A Little Dissapointed

Don does great work, I recently sent him two lenses for cleaning and the turnaround was not bad at all. This tells me that he indeed does the easier jobs first.

He's just not that good about replying to emails, unless he has good news; then he'll reply quickly. If there is a delay or he hasn't gotten to the the project yet, he tends to avoid replying.
 
Have only had great experiences with DAG.

Sometimes it takes a while. There's a lot of stuff being sold as usable, that in reality, needs an overhaul or clean immediately. Probably last dozen "minty" lenses purchased needed immediate cleanings and/or overhauls in one case. This kind of stuff keeps DAG busy. If you want to have him less busy, then advertise your gear properly.
 
thomasw_ said:
My experience with Don agrees with Ari's. But because his time for job completion is erratic, I have found Kindermann to be a perfect substitute. Gerry is diligent and knowledgeable, he is meticulous and, above all, he gets the job done by the agreed upon time.
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I've found Gerry to be very good too. Not cheap, but he does great work and it takes as long as he says.
 
What DAG needs to do is raise his prices, this will lower his work load and he'll make the same or more money, and things will move faster. Oops, did I say that? ;)
 
Let's hope Don doesn't have to implement something like the following - see items # 5 and # 6 on the "Order Agreement" here
 
you guys gossip like old ladies.

if we keep talking up repair people we help to make them popular - another 'i had my whatever cla'd by dag' to show off to others here - and he will never have time for your gear.
let's start talking steve up and then we can complain when he has more work than he can handle.

time to move on folks.
joe
 
I used Don Goldberg's services,and I have also used Mark Hama and Eddy Smolov. There is reason why I "rotate" around repair people. They get very busy at times.
 
I`ve been using Youxin Ye for all my Leica LTM repairs, he even overhauled my very rare 1943' IIIC K Grey and he did a wonderful job.......he just does`nt do lenses, I have been on the search for a good lens person, someone who can also repair rim dents ~ someone suggested ESSEX CAMERA, but they too are slow to the email. ~ "who has experience with them?"

Youxin normally get`s anything I send to him done in less than two weeks turn around, I have a IIIC K Grey there now for adjusting and it`s due back on the 11th, while I have a paid convention starting on the 12th and I`ll be shooting up the place with that camera and my M6!

I have talked to Don often about doing specialty work for me on my M6, but the turn-around scares me, I did request a 4 week turn about, and really his prices are not cheap by other standards, I have`nt gotten anything done by him yet, I figure I might just pay/buy all the parts from him and have someone else do the work????? ~ it`s just really hard to be out of one of my worker cameras for more than a month.......

Tom
 
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It's all a trade-off. Don is top quality. If he were more expensive, he'd be faster. As it is, he's inexpensive but he takes longer.

Maybe someone can ask him if he will rush stuff if you pay him more, and see what he says. :)
 
heh.. I'm keeping my guy's name out of this thread - he's up the road from me, factory trained by Leica themselves, and happily returns my cameras to me after a whopping, tops, 5 days.

To me, that's a good enough reason to keep going to him :)

Cheers,
Dave
 
John vS is great. Just got three lenses back from him yesterday, and he still has my Tokyo Nikkor for recoating.

Really hard to believe how close to new my M2 Summaron, LTM 90/2.8 Elmarit and Nikkor 35/1.8 came back from him.

Not sure if John works on cameras though.

Roland.
 
ferider said:
John vS is great. Just got three lenses back from him yesterday, and he still has my Tokyo Nikkor for recoating.

Really hard to believe how close to new my M2 Summaron, LTM 90/2.8 Elmarit and Nikkor 35/1.8 came back from him.

Not sure if John works on cameras though.

Roland.
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Roland,

Was the coating gone in the Tokyo Nikkor or was there another problem?
 
i've sent a camera or two to Don for repair. he is slow to return them, but my cameras came back perfect. i won't go into bashing other 'repair' people, but they are not all created equal.
one other thing, if you don't like the price at DAG($290ish,) try leica, they're $350 for a CLA these days. and because of the M repair guy at their new jersey facility retiring, they are sending anything difficult over to solms. i just sent in my M7 for a new DX reader and the MP upgrade and was told it would be a 6 week minimum turn around.

bob
 
raid said:
If all glass elements of a low contrast lens were to be recoated, would the end result be a "better" lens overall?
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Don't know, Raid. Plus, with a Sonnar, it's very difficult (expensive) due to cemented groups.

The Nikkor behaved very well also with the scratches on its front element. No real technical reason to do the re-coating, really, in particular since I use it with hood. But it's a rare lens, important to me and all that ....
 
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As I said, I'm still waiting for my camera to come back, but barring any kind of unexpected problems, I have to say I think his prices are pretty low. I'm getting the RF arm completely replaced (stripped screws--out of sync) which he quoted me 2 weeks and $90, original quote when I emailed him was $120. After cracking it open he told me it needs a complete overhaul due to being dry etc quoting me $290 for the repair and overhaul, and if i wanted my shutter curtain I repaired replaced (i repaired it, works fine) it would be another $80.

So, a complete overhaul, replaced RF arm, and new curtain would be less than when Sherry quoted me new a new shutter curtain on my friend's m5.

I had to pass on the overhaul for now, but I think $200 for a full overhaul/cla is not absurd, considering his reputation
 
ferider said:
John vS is great. Just got three lenses back from him yesterday, and he still has my Tokyo Nikkor for recoating.

Really hard to believe how close to new my M2 Summaron, LTM 90/2.8 Elmarit and Nikkor 35/1.8 came back from him.

Not sure if John works on cameras though.

Roland.
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so, that's why you're using only 2 lenses for a year, so that you can all the rest to the spa!!!

joe
 
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