goamules
Well-known
I just got my Cooke Ivotal 50mm lens back from DAG, where I sent it to be cleaned of some bad fungus. It was so bad, I feared there would be coating loss. 5 weeks later (4 if you subtract the Christmas period) it arrived looking like a new lens. Sparkling clear glass, and the coatings look fine. Though I didn't ask for it, he even re-inked the lettering on the lens, and lubed it.
This is my 3rd lens, and 3 barnack cameras, all done by DAG to my total satisfaction. He has never been stumped. I've sent him cameras other repairmen couldn't fix, he did. I sent him a tiny C-mount Kern 10mm, and he got it apart and removed the paint flecks that had come loose in 50 years. He CLA'd an early, black Leica II so nicely, it feels like a new camera. And this Cooke is the latest. I'm no slouch when it comes to cleaning lenses, I do most of my own. I got this Cooke apart, but the optical block was very complex, and I couldn't break it into the individual elements, to get at the internal fungus. Don got it apart and taken care of. You can tell when someone trained by Leica works on your high end equipment.
This is my 3rd lens, and 3 barnack cameras, all done by DAG to my total satisfaction. He has never been stumped. I've sent him cameras other repairmen couldn't fix, he did. I sent him a tiny C-mount Kern 10mm, and he got it apart and removed the paint flecks that had come loose in 50 years. He CLA'd an early, black Leica II so nicely, it feels like a new camera. And this Cooke is the latest. I'm no slouch when it comes to cleaning lenses, I do most of my own. I got this Cooke apart, but the optical block was very complex, and I couldn't break it into the individual elements, to get at the internal fungus. Don got it apart and taken care of. You can tell when someone trained by Leica works on your high end equipment.
raid
Dad Photographer
Don is a master lens repair person.
