CLA - oily curtain - cause for concern?

Avotius said:
Yes yes, someone please already inform us who is doing these weird repair jobs so we can know not to send our stuff to them!
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I sent a Leica IIIf RD to Youxin Ye last November. Upon return it was dripping oil and the curtains were saturated with oil. Even after he replaced the oily curtains I had to separate the crate/shell and wipe out excess oil. It is now April and the slow speeds are non-working.

Someone said their's smelled strongly of WD40 mine smelled and still does like oil.
 
I just put a roll of film through it. The rangefinder image is not aligned properly at infinity - I guess I'll have a go at adjusting it myself later.

I haven't developed the roll yet, so I'm not sure if focus is accurate prior to infinity.

I'm asking for a refund - this is appalling. It makes me sad that a pristine camera had been violated like this.
 
I've just been issued a full refund and yet for some reason I feel bad about it. The repairer is out of pocket for extra postage, certainly, and time.

Then again, so am I.





I'm resigning myself to the fact that my camera will need an expensive, proper (and lengthy) CLA in a year or two.
 
Don't feel bad, as a paying customer you are entitled to the services promised. It's too bad you can't get recompense for the damage done to your camera as well.
 
Atleast a refund has been given. I don't think that he will get much business from here again after oiling up a few cameras. I take it you are in the US. Any problems I have had, and 3 cla's, have been done by Will van Manen here in NL. Shame you can't send it here!
 
Nobby, no I'm in Australia - postage back and forth was a pain in the arse. :bang:

In other news, I feel kind of dirty: I just took a photo of a test chart. I guess I'm officially a measurebator:

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Focus seems a little of at 1m.

I just adjusted the infinity focus so that rangefinder images align perfectly now. Everyone seems to suggest starting with the infinity focus adjustment before proceeding to adjusting the length of the coupling arm, so I'll run another roll and see how it goes I guess.

Hopefully no further adjustment will be required.

Thanks everyone,
Benno
 

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If the repairer is the person who has been mentioned that's a shame because he is a nice guy and has given me excellent service.

That said ... the last couple of cameras that he CLA'd for me weren't quite up to the standard of previous encounters with his work ... when I read stories like Benno's I wonder what is happening in that person's life that may be affecting the quality of their workmanship?
 
benno said:
I've just been issued a full refund and yet for some reason I feel bad about it. The repairer is out of pocket for extra postage, certainly, and time.
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Don't feel bad...
I removed the top cover of the camera I sent him late last year and found old caked grease on the disengaging lever and speed disk which means he never opened the camera and properly cleaned it..

After cleaning out the old grease and applying a thin coat of lith grease to the parts I now have my slow speeds back.

As for the rangefinder it was dead on when I sent him the camera but was way off upon return. I fixed that problem the day I got it back..
 
Keith said:
If the repairer is the person who has been mentioned that's a shame because he is a nice guy and has given me excellent service.

That said ... the last couple of cameras that he CLA'd for me weren't quite up to the standard of previous encounters with his work ... when I read stories like Benno's I wonder what is happening in that person's life that may be affecting the quality of their workmanship?
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Overworked perhaps?

I did get excellent communication throughout the whole ordeal and neither the curtain replacement or the refund was a problem.



colyn said:
Don't feel bad...
I removed the top cover of the camera I sent him late last year and found old caked grease on the disengaging lever and speed disk which means he never opened the camera and properly cleaned it..

After cleaning out the old grease and applying a thin coat of lith grease to the parts I now have my slow speeds back.

As for the rangefinder it was dead on when I sent him the camera but was way off upon return. I fixed that problem the day I got it back..
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How did you adjust yours Colyn?

All I've done at this point is adjust the infinity focus, and I'm hoping that's all that will be needed... messing with the rest of the rangefinder coupling arm doesn't look fun.
 
benno said:
How did you adjust yours Colyn?
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I adjusted infinity focus with the focus adjust through the front access hole next to the viewfinder window. Vertical alignment is done by removing the bezel on the round window closest to the speed dial and turning the window. I then did a series of test shots to check focus..

benno said:
All I've done at this point is adjust the infinity focus, and I'm hoping that's all that will be needed... messing with the rest of the rangefinder coupling arm doesn't look fun.
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The coupling arm on mine was undamaged so there was no problem in that area.
 
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