Best Place for a CLA

I live in Vancouver B.C. but the camera has just been purchased in the States, thought I might have it taken care of and then sent up.
Chris
 
I've had a P for a few weeks and have managed to make contact with Mark Hama. He quotes $165 for a complete CLA, considerably more than Essex but I'm going with him on the basis of his fine reputation. I'll let you know how it turns out.
 
I made the decision to go with a fellow named Ken Ruth, he owns Bald Mountain Repairs. I decided on him for three reasons, he has a good reputation on the web, he is listed by the Leica Historical Society for LTM's, and when I talked to him he knew the camera and its workings inside and out. I will let you all know how everything works out.
Chris
 
Canon P back from Mark Hama's shop

Canon P back from Mark Hama's shop

Oh happy day!

Total time (including transit from SF bay area to GA and back): exactly two weeks. Arrived via UPS carefully packaged.

Total cost: Invoice says $172 (although Mark quoted $177 and that's what I sent him).

First impressions: Slipping original metal lens cap on 50/1.4 no longer slips, viewfinder/rangfinder glass polished & spotless but yellow patch the same (as expected), lens and filter glass obviously polished and spotless (was nice, now looks mint), wind lever no smoother (it was already great) but has somewhat greater resistance indicating something was tightened up, low shutter speeds (under 1/60) now have a different sound (kind of a click-shoop-click sound...maybe slightly more noticeable than before), high speeds crisp and very quiet, shutter release has the same travel but is notably smoother (no gritty sensation at all).

Prior to shipping the camera out, I saw some occassional white vertical banding at the far right of the frame on my first two rolls; I'll follow up after I have a chance to do some shooting.
 
I sent my Yashica Mat 124g to Mark Hama and he did a bang up job on it. I believe that Yashicas are his specialty though so I can't really comment on other models. I can say I was happy with his service.
 
I used Mark Hama for my Canon P, and it came back from the CLA in fabulous order. The wind-on is like silk, the viewfinder/rangefinder is perfect: it's putting my M6 to shame. I'd happily recommend Mark to anyone for this type of job.
 
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