DAG; A Little Dissapointed

I have to send him my M4-2... but I'm also considering Sherry for this. She's a lot quicker, and just as thorough, but won't do certain work because it slows down her pace.

In any event, you can always make daily calls to Don. Eventually, he'll pick up the phone and will tell you something about your lens.
 
Knowing local greatest camera repair man, I'm not surprised - they just are that kind of people. You have choice either knock at their door or pass around. In the end, if they would hire secretary to answer emails and keep track of job to maintain fast response times - you know, that would become another company rising prices to pay for their new building and salaries for board.

Don't you think such slightly undetermined situation complements experience of using film - there's still place for doubts and hopes :)
 
Don has done wonderful work for me too, but I now use Steve Choi of Steve's Camera Service Center in LA. Excellent work, reasonable pricing, 3 weeks turnaround.
 
Thanx for all those replies. The "genius" angle wasn't something I considered. I'm sure I'll be pleased once that lens arrives. I'm a patient guy, but the lack of communication drives me crazy!
 
Folks who don't need the equipment, to use it, can afford the patience. Working photographers cannot afford to wait for a genius.
 
I sent him my m6 to get a flare-free viewfinder and some framelines removed. He asked me when I would need it returned. I told him August 31, thinking that would be a do-able time for him. I sent it to him July 23rd and he had it back to me before July 31st!
 
A few of the old-school great repairers are/were like this. The late George Gordon Carr was a genius and a friend -- and if he hadn't been a friend (and 35 minutes away at the time -- I was living in Scotland) I'd never have asked him to do anything. His re-finishings were sometimes a bit odd but his mechanical work was superb.

Cheers,

R.
 
kully said:
Using the "{good,cheap,fast} - choose two" idea, am I right in presuming DAG is cheap?
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I think cheap is relative to other repairmen and to the value of the camera. If you need your $1200 camera fixed, do you sent it to mediocre guy for $200 or DAG for $250? Are you going to risk something happening your "baby"over $50 or are you going to sent it to one of the best?


I sent him a lens and he met the promised turnaround time of 2 weeks and found his communication to be good.


I just think DAG needs a secretary. It's hard to fix stuff, answer emails, field phone calls, and whatnot. A secretary could know what he has in line and how much those things take to fix.
 
In case anyone's looking for alternatives., I gave my M6 to Steve's Camera for some adjustments, (stevecamera.com) and had it back in two days.
 
I'm having a similar experience with Mark Hama. I've had a camera out to him since May (a camera which he had CLA'd but had to be returned because it wasn't functioning properly).

I don't understand why somebody would want a barrage of phone calls asking for status updates vs. a one line reply to emails. But this thread reminds me I have to call.
 
Threads like this remind me just how fortunate I have been over the years, and the extremely bad luck of some here! - posts like -" I have used so-and-so many times, for CLA's, repairs over the years"....."I always send my cameras to Joe Bloggs", serve to remind that in over forty five years of regular use, the score is :- Cameras sent for CLA-----0
Lenses sent for CLA------0
Camera break-down in use------1 - ( OM2n with jammed shutter )
Cameras given 'kid glove' treatment-------0
Cameras used with reasonable care for semi-pro work (many and varied)
Lucky Dave! :)
 
Dave Wilkinson said:
Threads like this remind me just how fortunate I have been over the years, and the extremely bad luck of some here! - posts like -" I have used so-and-so many times, for CLA's, repairs over the years"....."I always send my cameras to Joe Bloggs", serve to remind that in over forty five years of regular use, the score is :- Cameras sent for CLA-----0
Lenses sent for CLA------0
Camera break-down in use------1 - ( OM2n with jammed shutter )
Cameras given 'kid glove' treatment-------0
Cameras used with reasonable care for semi-pro work (many and varied)
Lucky Dave! :)
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Yeah, I never have any cameras break, or computer problems, or amplifier/guitar problems. I had my Leica M2 for maybe 3 months when the rangefinder got knocked out of calibration. To be fair, the person I got it from apparently tried doing a lot of repairs themself and stripped a lot of screws, and I guess I did hit the m2 against a $25000 tripod (probably swung into it who knows). I still hope that a hit like that isn't going to always knock it out of calibration =\
 
I chose Don because of the work he's done on another member's 50/.95. I could have requested the basic mount, but I wanted the Visoflex III mount and the encoding. I also requested a click between .95 and 1.4.
 
Beemermark said:
No, not I do not believe this to be true at all. Camera and lenses are returned in haphazard order an in no relation to when they were shipped.
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I think he finishes the easy stuff first but procrastinates over the more challenging work.
 
Rayt said:
I think he finishes the easy stuff first but procrastinates over the more challenging work.
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That's called "job shop scheduling". Always doing the quick work first means that, by measure of number of jobs completed, the shop has higher throughput and more satisfied customers. The problem with that algorithm is that it has a tendency to "starve" the biggest jobs if the shop gets a steady inflow of small jobs.

I've had mixed experiences with Don's response time. Sometimes the work is done ahead of schedule; sometimes he doesn't respond to emails for weeks. I guess it depends on how busy he is at any given time. But if you call him on the phone in the morning, he does answer. One thing I can say, though, is that his work is always good, and it often comes in below the estimated cost. (Also, his rates tend to be lower than others such as Sherry Krauter and Essex Camera Service, though my experiences with those two have also been uniformly excellent.)

So give him a call if you're worried and/or pressed for time.

::Ari
 
BTW, the most reliable shop I've dealt with when it comes to sticking to their estimated turn-around time is Essex. Probably a function of the shop having 3-4 repair techs, rather than a lone gunman.

Just be sure you're very clear when communicating with them, and make sure you understand what they're saying to you. A couple of times I was sitting around waiting for them to call me to pick up the finished work, while they were sitting around waiting for me to call and give them the final go-ahead to do the work. :)
 
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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