I sent my M4 to be repainted...

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Yes, I finally decided to get it done. My M4 is definitely a beater; no dents, but used so much that a lot of the chrome was worn off, and the vulcanite was lifting up and coming off in pieces.

I found a guy in Tokyo who will strip, CLA, replace the vulcanite, and repaint the camera in black enamel for what seems a fair price. I've seen a few examples of his work while shopping around, and it looks like he does a good job.

I sent him my camera today, he says turn around time will be one week. His price seems quite good considering the amount of work included, I'll post a review with pics once I get the camera back.
 
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Is this Shintaro?

I've currently got an M2 with him for the full black paint beauty treatment.
 
Is this Shintaro?

I've currently got an M2 with him for the full black paint beauty treatment.


No, it's not Shintaro. It's another company in Tokyo. I'll share the info when I get the camera back.

I thought of sending my camera to Shintaro, but the place I sent my camera to does business with some of my customers, so I thought I would give it a try. As I said, the price was very fair, and the turnaround time is quick.
 
No, it's not Shintaro. It's another company in Tokyo. I'll share the info when I get the camera back.

I thought of sending my camera to Shintaro, but the place I sent my camera to does business with some of my customers, so I thought I would give it a try. As I said, the price was very fair, and the turnaround time is quick.

Is it Masa (itscoolmasa on the YJ auctions)? He offers fairly cheap paint jobs via the YJ auctions or directly.

http://openuser.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/user/itscoolmasa
 
Hey jonmanjiro....I'm glad I spotted you here. You know any cheap places to have a VF fixed or replaced in Tokyo? I went to Leica Ginza and they quoted me a price that's as much as the cost of a whole new body. I nearly had a heart attack. My M4-P's VF has a bit of yellowish stain inside it. Still usable and I can focus but it's a bit flare prone and under certain conditions I have trouble focusing.

Thanks.
 
Shintaro does great work. I've seen his paint, beautiful, but I hear he is short on communication and can have your camera for months.
 
Hey jonmanjiro....I'm glad I spotted you here. You know any cheap places to have a VF fixed or replaced in Tokyo? I went to Leica Ginza and they quoted me a price that's as much as the cost of a whole new body. I nearly had a heart attack. My M4-P's VF has a bit of yellowish stain inside it. Still usable and I can focus but it's a bit flare prone and under certain conditions I have trouble focusing.

Thanks.

There's quite a few repair shops in Tokyo that should be able to clean your finder! You should be able to find something close to you. Where are you located?

Here's some repair shop lists:
http://www.cnet-sc.ne.jp/skyshop1/sinsatu3.htm
http://www3.pf-x.net/~russia/repair.htm
 
I had a Masa-repainted M2 for some time, nice work and looks durable but not on the level of a Shintaro-repaint ... ;)
 
My M4-P's VF has a bit of yellowish stain inside it. Still usable and I can focus but it's a bit flare prone and under certain conditions I have trouble focusing.
Thanks.

... the yellow stain might be haze from some sealing material (was changed by Leica during the production run) but won`t effect RF flare. The latter is due to the removed condenser lens / redesigned frame-illumination window during the M4-2 production.

Leica Ginza has very reliable prices and they do excellent work, BTW.
 
I'm in Kichijoji. And I can't read a word of it. Could you make a recommendation? Cheers.

You gotta work on your Japanese. There's a lot of local information out there, if you can read it ;)

Why not try Masa (itscoolmasa). His English is good and he does Leica repairs as well as repainting. He's in western Tokyo too, though a little further out than you. I'll dig up his contact info, and post it when I find it.

Edit: here's his email address masa-saita@ac.auone-net.jp



Saita-san by NateVenture, on Flickr
 
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Yes, I sent my camera to Masa. He sent me an email today saying that he would have the camera back to me "no later than November 23rd", which is phenomenal when you consider it is already the 19th...

I might have to send him another camera or two if he does a good job on my M4...
 
Yes, I sent my camera to Masa. He sent me an email today saying that he would have the camera back to me "no later than November 23rd", which is phenomenal when you consider it is already the 19th...

I might have to send him another camera or two if he does a good job on my M4...

:eek:

With that kind of fast service a decent price to go with it, this guy is in for some serious repaint backlog pretty soon :p

I'm looking forward to seeing the results!
 
:eek:

With that kind of fast service a decent price to go with it, this guy is in for some serious repaint backlog pretty soon :p

I'm looking forward to seeing the results!

Fast doesn't describe Masa's service, he sent me pics of my camera today, and it's already painted!

He just received the camera in the mail yesterday, did the CLA, shutter replacement, painting, and then sent me pics of it by this morning. Maybe his name should be "Merlin" instead of Masa...

I hope the camera looks as good in real life as it did in the pics he sent me.
 
Fast doesn't describe Masa's service, he sent me pics of my camera today, and it's already painted!

He just received the camera in the mail yesterday, did the CLA, shutter replacement, painting, and then sent me pics of it by this morning. Maybe his name should be "Merlin" instead of Masa...

I hope the camera looks as good in real life as it did in the pics he sent me.

what about price?
 
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