An evening with Youxin Ye

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hteasley

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I spent several hours with Mr Ye this evening, at his kitchen table, talking Leicas. I took my M8 to him because the viewfinder vertical sync was off. He lloked at my camera, and this led to showing me how the viewfinders have changed through the years, showing me the parts from various M models, and how the designs evolved. And how the focal adjustments work in various models, and how to go about making the adjustments myself. I had some questions about my 35mm 'cron, which he answered, and of course showed me many lenses and how the designs there have changed. What was going to be a quick visit to look at my camera turned into a couple hours of wonderful Leica history and conversation.

He's preparing a Leica exhibition in Beijing, and showed me some of the things that will be in the exhibition, including a Noctilux 1.2, which he let me shoot with. Here are a couple shots from his kitchen, of cameras that are going to be in the exbhibition, with a lens that will also be in the exhibition.

M4 cutaway
L1021513.jpg


M4 cutaway and Leica 1a
L1021514.jpg


He is without a doubt the nicest guy, and clearly knows Leicas inside-out and upside-down. If anyone needs their film M serviced, I would unhesitatingly recommend him.
 
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I think that second camera is a Leica 1a.

I sent my 1930 Leica 1a to Youxin a couple of years back after it broke something off the shutter dial shaft in the bottom of the camera. He had to make the part and also CLA'd it for me and suggested I be careful with the camera in future as it was one of the best ones he'd ever seen. He has a couple himself I think!

Nice guy!
 
I've never met him, but did send my M6 for a RF alignment. He was very nice and did a CLA as well as adjust one of my lenses (which he suggested i send). Very polite and a long way from the very rude email sherry krauter sent me when i asked if i can send my camera in.

The M6 by the way is working fantastically (even sounds quieter)
 
Where is he located? I'd love to stop by some time and see him. I have my M4 that I'm going to take to the Leica plant in Solms but I'll be getting an M3 soon and I'd like to send it to Youxin for servicing.
 
Youxin is great, but he will not be doing service work after he leaves for China next month. He'll be gone the rest of the year working on his Beijing Expo, which is going to be a huge event.

I got an email from him last night: "The Leica Insight exhibition stirred a big wave in Beijing. Beijing TV station and China TV station will make one hour programs for this.
The exhibition company is planning to move this exhibition to some other major cities in China after the exhibition in Beijing."

If you have anything that needs servicing I'd recommend emailing him...
 
Yes, get there before he leaves for China! Youxin not only works with you to resolve the problem, but wants you to learn how to service a camera yourself. Some adjustments are tricky and have taken him years to learn, and he wants to share what he knows because he loves Leica's.

btw, He doesn't like to work on Kiev's! When I went with an M4 and Kiev, he said the Kiev was too crude, not a beautiful machine. Thought some might find that funny!
 
Yes, Youxin rocks!

I sent my Summarit to him for cleaning before my wife had a heartattack and a subsequent stroke. He cleaned the lens and sent it back me and was very patient in allowing us to find a time later that would allow us to send him payment!

I would recommend him any time! Thanks, Youxin...:D
 
I'd love to know how to contact him in China, if at all possible. I realize he will be very busy on his project there...but it looks like I'll be going to Beijing in September and as a Leica newbie, it would be a real honour and very useful to meet him.
 
Youxin did my M3 and DR in April over a weekend. He got it on a Friday and shipped it to me on Monday with no payment! Asked me to send him a check after I checked out the camera! Needless to say, I fired it off to him right away. He told me at that time that he was off to China in mid May. Great experience. Just like the way it went when I sent my Contax to Henry Scherer, another great tech.
Vic
 
Rob-F said:
How is his name pronounced?
Click to expand...

He was too polite to tell me if I was pronouncing it incorrectly. I tried to press him on the correct pronunciation, but he resolutely refused to let me know if I was pronouncing his name incorrectly.

My wife is Chinese, so with my multitude of Chinese in-laws and general exposure to Chinese names, I guessed it at approximately "Yoo-shin Yay" but as I think about it, his family name is probably pronounced "Yuh". But I don't know anyone with either of his names, so I'm only guessing. I'm not well versed in deciphering pinyin or Wade-Giles, I just hear folks' names a lot.
 
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I'm chinese (though I must admit my english is way better) so I hope this helps. Based on the spelling, his name should be pronounced as You Sin Yeh. The third word is his surname, and the closest pronunciation if you are having trouble with it is to say "Yeah!" really short and fast.
 
I also have only great things to say about him.
He did a CLA on my 1957 M3 -(first and only Leica I own)
it didnt need anything, but being a newby- i felt it should go for CLA.

"whisper smooth"

If I ever get any other Leicas, he will be on the very short list of masters to consult.
 
my wife's surname is xu, which sounds much like shoe. Most people seem to think her name is more like "zoo". It is not. X is not a Z sound. Along the same lines, xin is like shin. There his name is pronounced more like "yo shin yeah".
 
dfoo said:
my wife's surname is xu, which sounds much like shoe. Most people seem to think her name is more like "zoo". It is not. X is not a Z sound. Along the same lines, xin is like shin. There his name is pronounced more like "yo shin yeah".
Click to expand...

Not if it is Pinyin, x is actually more like "hs," not like "sh."
(A B C in Mandarin = "ei" "bi" "xi")

Judging by the spelling of his name, it is like pinyin:
yoe (like toe) hsin yuh (short "uh")

Chinese people who provide their names to Americans might do it different for the sake of making it easy. My last name, for instance, is not pronounced correctly in English, but I do it because I don't want to provide a lesson each time I give my name.
 
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