Leica Q3 43 - Got one?

Godfrey said:
They sent me a replacement shutter dial for my 1946 Leica IIIc when the old one was marred for $25.
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When was this? I had no idea they still had parts lying around for screwmounts. If this was recent, this is incredibly impressive. Imagine approaching Ford and asking for replacement parts for an Anglia... they'd laugh you out of the building.

My IIIg is a tatty thing - used and abused by a previous owner (a press photographer for a local paper). I wouldn't mind replacing the hacked-up RF window surrounds at some point...
 
Coldkennels said:
When was this? I had no idea they still had parts lying around for screwmounts. If this was recent, this is incredibly impressive. Imagine approaching Ford and asking for replacement parts for an Anglia... they'd laugh you out of the building.

My IIIg is a tatty thing - used and abused by a previous owner (a press photographer for a local paper). I wouldn't mind replacing the hacked-up RF window surrounds at some point...
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Actually, I misspoke ... My current Barnack is the '46 IIIc which I bought only recently. The camera they sent me a new shutter dial for was my 1949 IIc, which I purchased in 1969 and they sent me the shutter dial somewhere around 1980. I bought my current Barnack based on my fond memories of the IIc and IIf that I had back when. :)

At the time I got that, I wrote the office in New Jersey and asked if they had a shutter speed selector dial for it. They located one and sent it to me two-three weeks later. The best part of dealing with Leica has always been that they've been willing to look for stuff on a personal level, not just tap tap tap on the computer screen and say whether it is "in stock" or not. If you need a part for an old Leica, it never hurts to sent a note and ask if they can find it, in my experience. And be patient, an oh so rare quality lost in most consumers... ;)

(In a sense, it has always been much like dealing with Ducati Motorcycles in the years before the company was modernized by Cagiva. Up until about 1982 or so, you could get nearly every part for any/every motorcycle Ducati made all the way back to the beginning in the 1950s.)

Yes: I've been dealing with Leica for a very very long time.

G
 
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Working through Leica NJ, the Wetzlar group sent me a new rear element protective collar (shroud) for my pre-asph version 2 Summilux 35mm 1.4 lens. The previous owner had the original collar filed down for digital use (some of these needed this modification), but to the extent that it was virtually flush with the lens rear glass element, leaving it vulnerable. I got the replacement within a few weeks. I was among those who traded in a Leica M9 with corroded sensor for a deep discount on the M240 camera.
 
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ellisson said:
Working through Leica NJ, the Wetzlar group sent me a new rear element protective collar (shroud) for my pre-asph version 2 Summilux 35mm 1.4 lens. The previous owner had the original collar filed down for digital use (some of these needed this modification), but to the extent that it was virtually flush with the lens rear glass element, leaving it vulnerable. I got the replacement within a few weeks. I was among those who traded in a Leica M9 with corroded sensor for a deep discount on the M240 camera.
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This is what is strange about Leica. They will do things of great graciousness now and again. You are not the only one to report something nice like this. But across the ownership is the accepted reality that when you send in your camera for repair to Leica it can take a year. And this is how Leica treats the people who buy their gear. Shoddily.

Ask yourself, does this sound like a company that supports its users? The bandied excuse is that they are short on techs. Hire some. This is not rocket surgery. If Leica really cared there would be quick turnaround times. What I find surprising is the folks who defend this treatment. It is like defending an aberrant family member rather than looking at the truth.

I'm done bitching about it. It is plain by now that in my opinion Leica service is not.
 
boojum said:
This is what is strange about Leica. They will do things of great graciousness now and again. You are not the only one to report something nice like this. But across the ownership is the accepted reality that when you send in your camera for repair to Leica it can take a year. And this is how Leica treats the people who buy their gear. Shoddily.

Ask yourself, does this sound like a company that supports its users? The bandied excuse is that they are short on techs. Hire some. This is not rocket surgery. If Leica really cared there would be quick turnaround times. What I find surprising is the folks who defend this treatment. It is like defending an aberrant family member rather than looking at the truth.

I'm done bitching about it. It is plain by now that in my opinion Leica service is not.
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(bolded) Where are you getting your data from?

The vast majority of Leica owners are NOT on-line, are NOT participating in discussion forums like this one, etc etc. Listening to the whinging and negative remarks of Leica owners on these forums ... well, you're talking about the outspoken few who have had a problem and choose to bicker about it.

I know many many Leica owners that have nothing to do with the internet forums, boojum. Some of them have had some issues with their cameras, and Leica took care of them just fine ... Just like they've done for me, personally. Very very few, if any, have anything negative to say about their Leica cameras or lenses, or about the service they get from Leica.

If your attitude is already set, if you already feel that Leica is not a company that does not take care of you, why not just stop talking about it and don't consider buying a Leica Q3 43? It will be a moment of peace and quiet for the rest of us. I will gladly suffer the burden of owning my Leica cameras and all their foibles for you. ;)

G
 
boojum said:
Leitz did cover the expenses and then stopped. On the one hand Leitz replaced some cover glass. But the fact is that they sold shoddy goods. And then they disavowed responsibility. If they were a 100% ethical company they would have replaced all the sensors because they screwed up all the sensors. I am surprised the EU did not get on their case. I like the cameras. I do not like the company. If one breaks you wish you bought a Sony.
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About the company that you do not like: Read about the Leica Freedom Train during Hitler's Nazi Germany. I'll provide an overview and you can, if so inclined, read more in the attached link where you'll find documentation of their work to help Jews escape the holocaust. And recognition of the Leitz family and company by the Anti-Defamation League, the foremost organization that has fought and continues to fight anti-semitism then and now. Unethical company?
Leica Freedom Train - Wikipedia.

"To help his Jewish workers and colleagues, Leitz quietly established what has become known among historians of the Holocaust as the "Leica Freedom Train", a covert means of allowing Jews to leave Germany in the guise of Leitz employees being assigned overseas. Employees, retailers, family members, even friends of family members were "assigned" to Leitz sales offices in France, Britain, Hong Kong and the United States. Leitz's activities intensified after the Kristallnacht of November 1938, during which synagogues and Jewish shops were burned across Germany.

German "employees" disembarking from the ocean liner Bremen at a New York pier went to Leitz's Manhattan office, where they were helped to find jobs. Each new arrival was given a Leica camera. The refugees were paid a stipend until they could find work. Out of this migration came designers, repair technicians, salespeople, marketers and writers for the photographic press. The "Leica Freedom Train" was at its height in 1938 and early 1939, delivering groups of refugees to New York every few weeks until the invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, when Germany closed its borders".

This is not the main reason I buy and use Leica gear, but this legacy ain't gone unnoticed and it don't hurt.
 
ellisson said:
About the company that you do not like: Read about the Leica Freedom Train during Hitler's Nazi Germany. I'll provide an overview and you can, if so inclined, read more in the attached link where you'll find documentation of their work to help Jews escape the holocaust. And recognition of the Leitz family and company by the Anti-Defamation League, the foremost organization that has fought and continues to fight anti-semitism then and now. Unethical company?
Leica Freedom Train - Wikipedia.

"To help his Jewish workers and colleagues, Leitz quietly established what has become known among historians of the Holocaust as the "Leica Freedom Train", a covert means of allowing Jews to leave Germany in the guise of Leitz employees being assigned overseas. Employees, retailers, family members, even friends of family members were "assigned" to Leitz sales offices in France, Britain, Hong Kong and the United States. Leitz's activities intensified after the Kristallnacht of November 1938, during which synagogues and Jewish shops were burned across Germany.

German "employees" disembarking from the ocean liner Bremen at a New York pier went to Leitz's Manhattan office, where they were helped to find jobs. Each new arrival was given a Leica camera. The refugees were paid a stipend until they could find work. Out of this migration came designers, repair technicians, salespeople, marketers and writers for the photographic press. The "Leica Freedom Train" was at its height in 1938 and early 1939, delivering groups of refugees to New York every few weeks until the invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, when Germany closed its borders".

This is not the main reason I buy and use Leica gear, but this legacy ain't gone unnoticed and it don't hurt.
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I know well how Leitz treated their Jewish employees during WW II. It was noble. It has absolutely no bearing on their current business practices.

As for currently fighting anti-Semitism, I am sorry you find that exceptional. I would think it would be normal and decent. I see we disagree again.
 
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trix4ever said:
Wow. Didn't this thread turn to crap in no time....
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Yeah, complain about Leica service and see what it gets you. I see more defenses of bad service than noting of good service. But that is not an accurate survey, it is an observation.

That said, has anyone gotten the camera? Does anyone plan to? I see B&H and Adorama has them on backorder. I have not checked Leica to see what they have. Just did, they are back-ordered at Leica, too. Underproduced or overdemanded, the result is the same.
 
Godfrey said:
The vast majority of Leica owners are NOT on-line, are NOT participating in discussion forums like this one, etc etc. Listening to the whinging and negative remarks of Leica owners on these forums ... well, you're talking about the outspoken few who have had a problem and choose to bicker about it.
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Is there a term for this - sort of a reverse survivorship bias? Because if there isn't, I think we need to find a name for it.

Or maybe the better comparison is a reverse "tall poppy syndrome" - instead of the brightest and best standing out and being cut down, it's the outliers having bad experiences that are more likely to be shouting online.

If everyone had the negative experience of Leica that's being attributed to the company by Boojum, I'm pretty sure it would stop existing pretty quickly. Or maybe everyone who isn't complaining on the internet never even turned their camera on and just walks around with it for attention?
 
Coldkennels said:
... Or maybe everyone who isn't complaining on the internet never even turned their camera on and just walks around with it for attention?
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I'm not complaining, and I use my Leicas almost every day. :)

... eg: I posted a photo I made with the M10-R this morning on another thread (detail of the Kodak Retina IIc lens/shutter controls... I used the Macro-Elmarit-R 60mm f/2.8 fitted via the Leica R-Adapter M, and the Visoflex 020).

G
 
Well I recently sent my M6 0.85 to Leica Melbourne because the frame lines stopped changing when changing lenses or using the preview lever.
3 weeks to quote and 4 weeks to fix it including adjusting rangefinder and shutter and general checkover. Doubt anyone else would have done better.
No sending to Germany, no taking a year.
Very happy Leica customer here...
 
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