Leica M “CLA” service

d.dulin

d.dulin

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Got a M2 that’s in pretty dire need of a service. Sherry, DAG, or Youxin Ye? Best bang for buck, turn over rate, customer service, personal experiences etc? I’ve heard go things about them all but just wanted a broader opinion from some people here. Thanks!
 
Youxin: Good turnaround time and excellent work.
DAG: May have your camera for many months but exceptional work.
Sherry: PM me.

Phil Forrest
 
You can always use the forums search tool and you will find that a considerable amount of posts made on RFF is that exact question. Its been beaten to death!

Phil sums it up nicely. Nothing else to say really!
 
B-9 said:
You can always use the forums search tool and you will find that a considerable amount of posts made on RFF is that exact question. Its been beaten to death!

Phil sums it up nicely. Nothing else to say really!
Click to expand...

It pays for the OP to keep in mind that threads containing non-positive experiences with some repair technicians have been deleted, so RFF is no longer a source of unbiased information on this question: the available public information here is skewed toward the positive.

I've not (yet) used DAG, but otherwise my response to the OP would be the same as Phil's above: Youxin has done good work for me. Happy to tell my experience with Sherry in PM.
 
Things change, and sometimes people who once had great service become shoddy. Thanks for the replies so far. I’ll likely send the camera to Youxin but will probably look for a couple more responses first
 
Youxin does excellent work, has a quick turnaround, and the price is reasonable. Don Goldberg also does excellent work, costs a bit more, and takes longer. I have used both and have been more than satisfied with their work. No experience with Sherry.
 
I've had a number of good experiences with Youxin and DAG. Turnaround on Youxin's work is pretty fast, and he will also usually rush things for free if you ask him. DAG on the other hand can take quite a long time, but again, his work is exceptional, as noted above.
 
I have had two M3's serviced by YY. Great communication, very fast turn around time and no issues after service.

Also, an M2 and M4 serviced by DAG. Zero issues after service.
 
I've used Don (DAG) and Youxin in the past. Both good service. I had a relatively minor problem with a lens serviced by YYe, but not enough to worry about. Don is the best ever. Period. I have not used Sherry for a few reasons. It might be worth PM-ing some of those who offered...

Cheap and fast, but not necessarily the best: YYe
Less cheap and longer, but simply the highest quality service you can get: DAG

Disclaimer: All of the above are the opinion of the post-writer and not necessarily the ultimate "truth".
 
I have interacted with all 3 of the individuals mentioned in this thread and my experience has been consistent with what has been written.
 
It’s been well established for a while that the two best options are YY and DAG. Some things YY can’t do. DAG is adept at almost any task and also has original precision Leitz test equipment. DAG is factory trained and is the son of Norman Goldberg, who was technical director with Pop Photo magazine for many years and who designed some rather unique gear for Leicas, holding several patents. There are other options like Gus Lazzari although he works on other brands too and is often backlogged as a result.
 
in case anybody wants to call Youxin by the phone, this is how you pronounce his name:

yosin,yeh as in "yo'seen,yeah"

i have heard a few people butcher his name :eek::eek::eek:
 
Leica M “CLA” service

Leica M “CLA” service

richardHaw said:
in case anybody wants to call Youxin by the phone, this is how you pronounce his name:

yosin,yeh as in "yo'seen,yeah"

i have heard a few people butcher his name :eek::eek::eek:
Click to expand...

Actually, his first name should be more like yu-shin. An X used like this in Mandarin is a sssshhhh sound, as in Xiamen the city and Xianhua the news aka propaganda outlet and of course President Xi (shi) himself. The intonations are more complex than a simple sssshhhh sound, but acceptable given Western tongues.
 
I have used the phonetic: "you-shin" with him directly in conversation and was not corrected.
The tonal sounds and relationships in that language family are truly amazing in their ability to convey completely different meanings between two words which may sound the same to westerners. I have been slowly attempting to learn Vietnamese over the past few years and my western brain just has a hard time with understanding the nuances. I can pronounce very well but I have no idea of my meaning. I'm still trying to wrap my head around diacritics.
Phil Forrest
 
d.dulin said:
Got a M2 that’s in pretty dire need of a service. Sherry, DAG, or Youxin Ye? Best bang for buck, turn over rate, customer service, personal experiences etc? I’ve heard go things about them all but just wanted a broader opinion from some people here. Thanks!
Click to expand...

I've used all three you mention. And recommend two of them.
 
that's the reason why many asians use a western name for everyday things like me :eek::eek::eek:

im fine with mr Haw otherwise...or just the Nikon repair blog guy
 
There are many who can properly service an analog Leica M. They are not complicated cameras. The "Big 3" don't have a magic wand. I've used them all, and others.

If speed an economy are an issue, I echo the recommendation of Youxin, but would also throw out the Vermont Camera Store as an option too.

Unfortunately I find DAG just to be a big old black hole. Even 15 years ago he was way busy.

I've had good results with Sherry repairing multiple Leicaflex SL and M5s (both are her specialty), albeit pretty expensive. Some bad stories out there about her, but I had an "unusual" experience with DAG which would not make me want to use him again, but that doesn't mean he's a bad technician. He's consistently rated as one of the top guys. So don't be scared of Sherry.

But like I wrote, many others too. Recently I had a good experience with the 'head bartender' (Steve Grandy, Cameraquest) repairing an old F.
 
I know I’m the OP but speaking with Youxin he is also currently back logged about 3 months just in case anyone was curious about sending anything right now.
 
There was a guy in the Southeast, North Carolina I think, that worked on Leicas. There has got to be more than just THREE people in all of America. Let's see a longer list once in a while, and reviews of OTHER repair shops. I'll start:

Monument Camera in Tucson - great place to browse old SLRs. Bad place to get a precision Leica worked on.
 
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