NaChase
Well-known
I haven't seen a lot on this site having to do with KEH's in house CLA/ repair service, but having just got my S2 back I can say it seems top notch to me. The RF was badly misaligned and the prism was covered in some awful goop that made the RF patch invisible, but now it's got a new secondary prism and is velvety smooth. The repair took 2 weeks and the invoice I got provides a step by step process of what they did to service the camera. While I will stay with Youxin Ye for my Leicas, I think I'll go with KEH for all the other guys.
ray*j*gun
Veteran
Wow thats great to hear.... I have missed Essex Camera for all non-leica 35mm work. Thanks for the heads up. Anyone else have experience with KEH techs?
x-ray
Veteran
What was the cost? They replaced the shutter blades in my Hasselblad 80 planar a number of years ago and it was only $80.
NaChase
Well-known
It was mildly pricy at $212. They have flat rate pricing, which is good if you need a more involved repair, but may be expensive if you're just getting a CLA. Their full price breakdown is available at their website.
burancap
Veteran
Sounds great. I wonder if the work was done in-house or farmed out? I had an XPan there years ago and it was sent to Hasselblad/Fuji.
mbisc
Silver Halide User
They very recently repaired my "Made in W. Germany" 4/18mm Distagon lens (in Contax mount), since neither Zeiss nor ToCAD repairs those anymore, and they did a good job at a reasonable cost...
NaChase
Well-known
Just to reiterate, KEH CLA is very, very good.
My 75 Summilux had a problem where the front portion of the lens body--the part connecting the built in hood to the camera--was loose. I called KEH and they told me to send it in subject to their $180 flat fee for a CLA of a lens of this type. Lo and behold, I got the lens back today and they only charged me $55 because all they had to do was tighten a few screws. They charged my $55 even though I had pre-authorized a $180 repair. If that's not good business I don't know what it.
Contrast this to my experience getting the same lens CLA'd a couple years back by Leica USA. I am fairly confident that the lens lens body only came loose as a result of an error made by Leica. Oh, and they charged me $300+ and took four months to complete the same job KEH did in two weeks.
In summary, KEH is an excellent alternative for your CLA needs (if you refer to the beginning of the thread, they worked wonders on my Nikon S2 a few years back).
My 75 Summilux had a problem where the front portion of the lens body--the part connecting the built in hood to the camera--was loose. I called KEH and they told me to send it in subject to their $180 flat fee for a CLA of a lens of this type. Lo and behold, I got the lens back today and they only charged me $55 because all they had to do was tighten a few screws. They charged my $55 even though I had pre-authorized a $180 repair. If that's not good business I don't know what it.
Contrast this to my experience getting the same lens CLA'd a couple years back by Leica USA. I am fairly confident that the lens lens body only came loose as a result of an error made by Leica. Oh, and they charged me $300+ and took four months to complete the same job KEH did in two weeks.
In summary, KEH is an excellent alternative for your CLA needs (if you refer to the beginning of the thread, they worked wonders on my Nikon S2 a few years back).
raid
Dad Photographer
I sent KEH once a Rollei 2000 camera with damaged board. They quoted me a cost of about $400 to repair it, and in the end, they had to mail it to Germany for repair. The full repair bill was about $800, but KEH stuck to their initial cost quote of $400. The camera died shortly afterwards again, but it was not KEH's fault. The Rolleiflex 2000 were just crappy cameras.
samuelphoto
Established
Much of KEH’s repair work is done by Peachtree Camera repair in Marietta, Ga. they do great work.
Emile de Leon
Well-known
Great to know their repair service is on the money!
A little off track..does Keh ever have their 20% off sales anymore..?
I remember that used to be a semi regular thing...
A little off track..does Keh ever have their 20% off sales anymore..?
I remember that used to be a semi regular thing...
richardHaw
junk scavenger
really itching to do a Nikon S2 overhaul article but i first need to find a junk Nikon S2 
$212 is cheap. not a lot of people realize how much time is spent on an overhaul. it will also depend on how deep or thorough the repair will be.
for example, it takes me about a week's worth of nights (3-4 hours a night) to completely clean, lubricate, almost completely dismantle the camera and replace the shutter curtains. that's easily 20 hours worth of work. time I would otherwise spend with my daughter singing songs with her.
after a repair, i would shoot a roll just in case to check for minor stuff.
if somebody would pay me $300, I would refuse it so $212 is a real bargain if they did the same level of work.
if it's just a CLA, removing the body panels, cleaning, adjusting and testing then $212 is probably OK.
the Nikons are very tough and repairable despite being stored in terrible conditions. the corrosion goes away with acid or ultrasonic cleaning.
$212 is cheap. not a lot of people realize how much time is spent on an overhaul. it will also depend on how deep or thorough the repair will be.
for example, it takes me about a week's worth of nights (3-4 hours a night) to completely clean, lubricate, almost completely dismantle the camera and replace the shutter curtains. that's easily 20 hours worth of work. time I would otherwise spend with my daughter singing songs with her.
after a repair, i would shoot a roll just in case to check for minor stuff.
if somebody would pay me $300, I would refuse it so $212 is a real bargain if they did the same level of work.
if it's just a CLA, removing the body panels, cleaning, adjusting and testing then $212 is probably OK.
the Nikons are very tough and repairable despite being stored in terrible conditions. the corrosion goes away with acid or ultrasonic cleaning.
Huss
Veteran
good to know about KEH, they weren't on my radar for camera repair.
farlymac
PF McFarland
There is one going on right now until 5/23 11:59pm EDT on accessories (Code ACC5E).
PF
NaChase
Well-known
Update: KEH couldn't fix my busted M5 themselves, so they farmed it out to Leica. However, they are still only charging me their in-house rate, not the--certainly--more expensive Leica rate.
NaChase
Well-known
Update: I received my M5 back from KEH this week. It took five months to repair, but it now has an entirely new shutter assembly that was shipped in from Germany and installed for free under the terms of KEH's warranty. I think this is significant given the relative difficulty of finding technicians to repair M5s, and it's definitely worth reiterating that this is a 40+ year old camera we're talking about. It's essentially a new camera in terms of its functionality.
steveyork
Well-known
Looks like their flat rate repair for a film rangefinder is now up to $330.
lxmike
M2 fan.
I'm thinking of sending my black 1933 Leica to Ellis and newton
richardHaw
junk scavenger
$330 is still cheap.
overhauling a Canon 7 took me 3 nights.
overhauling and changing curtains of a Nikon S2 to Titanium took me about a week's worth of work.
a Nikon S would take me 4 nights for a complete overhaul.
a Nikon S3 will probably take me about the same time as an S2 to overhaul.
a Contax 2a will take me about 5-6 nights to overhaul.
a Contax 2 is probably about 4-5 nights to overhaul.
it all depends on how thorough the CLA is. if it's just opening up and oiling the bearings then adjusting speeds and wiping the prisms (and replacing foam seals) then it's easily a 1-2 night job. this is what many shops sell as a basic CLA. In my video on youtube, a legendary camera repair shop demonstrated that a Nikon F can get the same treatment in less than an hour if it's just as simple as this then $200 would probably be the right price.
This won't include thoroughly cleaning everything. about half of the time I spend on working with cameras involve cleaning old gunk. they can get unbelievably dirty.
A very thorough cleaning involves removing the RF assembly to clean it separately and flushing everything is considered more than a basic CLA to me. not to mention fixing anything that needs to be fixed. this is close to a proper overhaul.
I am sure that the pros can do it much faster than a tinkerer like me. it's a business after all and time means money
one of the reasons why I started my blog is to show how much time and effort it takes to work on a camera so that people will appreciate what really goes into a repair job and maybe buy their repairman a beer or a bagel for his time and health
overhauling a Canon 7 took me 3 nights.
overhauling and changing curtains of a Nikon S2 to Titanium took me about a week's worth of work.
a Nikon S would take me 4 nights for a complete overhaul.
a Nikon S3 will probably take me about the same time as an S2 to overhaul.
a Contax 2a will take me about 5-6 nights to overhaul.
a Contax 2 is probably about 4-5 nights to overhaul.
it all depends on how thorough the CLA is. if it's just opening up and oiling the bearings then adjusting speeds and wiping the prisms (and replacing foam seals) then it's easily a 1-2 night job. this is what many shops sell as a basic CLA. In my video on youtube, a legendary camera repair shop demonstrated that a Nikon F can get the same treatment in less than an hour
if it's just as simple as this then $200 would probably be the right price. This won't include thoroughly cleaning everything. about half of the time I spend on working with cameras involve cleaning old gunk. they can get unbelievably dirty.
A very thorough cleaning involves removing the RF assembly to clean it separately and flushing everything is considered more than a basic CLA to me. not to mention fixing anything that needs to be fixed. this is close to a proper overhaul.
I am sure that the pros can do it much faster than a tinkerer like me. it's a business after all and time means money
one of the reasons why I started my blog is to show how much time and effort it takes to work on a camera so that people will appreciate what really goes into a repair job and maybe buy their repairman a beer or a bagel for his time and health
Contarama
Well-known
Well said sir
Never had them repair anything for me but KEH is great whenever I've traded with them
Never had them repair anything for me but KEH is great whenever I've traded with them
maigo
Well-known
$330 is still cheap.
overhauling a Canon 7 took me 3 nights.
overhauling and changing curtains of a Nikon S2 to Titanium took me about a week's worth of work.
a Nikon S would take me 4 nights for a complete overhaul.
a Nikon S3 will probably take me about the same time as an S2 to overhaul.
a Contax 2a will take me about 5-6 nights to overhaul.
a Contax 2 is probably about 4-5 nights to overhaul.
it all depends on how thorough the CLA is. if it's just opening up and oiling the bearings then adjusting speeds and wiping the prisms (and replacing foam seals) then it's easily a 1-2 night job. this is what many shops sell as a basic CLA. In my video on youtube, a legendary camera repair shop demonstrated that a Nikon F can get the same treatment in less than an hour
This won't include thoroughly cleaning everything. about half of the time I spend on working with cameras involve cleaning old gunk. they can get unbelievably dirty.
A very thorough cleaning involves removing the RF assembly to clean it separately and flushing everything is considered more than a basic CLA to me. not to mention fixing anything that needs to be fixed. this is close to a proper overhaul.
I am sure that the pros can do it much faster than a tinkerer like me. it's a business after all and time means money
one of the reasons why I started my blog is to show how much time and effort it takes to work on a camera so that people will appreciate what really goes into a repair job and maybe buy their repairman a beer or a bagel for his time and health
That is some good work!
What is your website?
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