Beemermark
Veteran
Brian, you have a Mechanical Engineer that will work for $100/hr?! (Retired ME).
Question about DAG
- Thread starter xasthur
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He is the company... I have him under contract.
You are an engineer and they LET you retire? You should look around for a part-time or consulting job. I got offered more per hour than what I get now, to take retirement and come back as a consultant for another company. Crazy. Good thing I like what I do.
It is getting very difficult to hire engineers and skilled technicians.
Can I start referring you for Jupiter and Sonnar repairs... So Easy, a Fortran Programmer can do it.
helen.HH
To Light & Love ...
Gawd, I am so tired of hearing You complain....
Why don't You just stick a dagger thru Don's/Dag's
heart and be done.
(at some point doing your difficulties I offered in this thread
to talk to Don, asking for your real name and city You live in, but You never responded, preferred always to complain, so I got bored with your posts)
Thankfully You will not use him anymore...
Don has always done excellent work for me since 2008 and I consider him a friend.
Emile de Leon
Well-known
I never used Don for repair work..dont care 1 way or another..
As I used Sherry for my Leica fixes..years ago..
But..I just heard from a former member here..he just bought a mint M4 from a well known Leica camera shop that was sent in to Don for a fix & cla etc before the cam was put up for sale..and was supposed to be 100% working..
It wasnt working at all when he got it..bum shutter..and got quickly returned..
So..
Take from that what you will..
But that said..there are horror stories from all repair people..no matter how great..
Just the luck of the dice..to see if you are gonna be the lucky one..that gets the Nightmare on Elmstreet "repair" job...lol..
As I used Sherry for my Leica fixes..years ago..
But..I just heard from a former member here..he just bought a mint M4 from a well known Leica camera shop that was sent in to Don for a fix & cla etc before the cam was put up for sale..and was supposed to be 100% working..
It wasnt working at all when he got it..bum shutter..and got quickly returned..
So..
Take from that what you will..
But that said..there are horror stories from all repair people..no matter how great..
Just the luck of the dice..to see if you are gonna be the lucky one..that gets the Nightmare on Elmstreet "repair" job...lol..
helen.HH
To Light & Love ...
Yes, I am sure people make mistakes...
Hopefully there was 'Paperwork' to prove it was DAG that serviced the camera...
If it was , it should be under a guarantee and sent back ,no charge for work to be properly completed.
Today who knows what is 'Truth'.
Don, Youxin, Sherry, give Paperwork of their services.
That should always be requested whether You buy from an Individual or a Store or having your equipment serviced.
Stating what was done, length of service guarantee and how much you paid.
I would not trust that camera shop as they do not test the equipment before selling it. Testing a shutter is basic and easy to determine if there is a problem.
helen.HH
To Light & Love ...
well said !
Emile de Leon
Well-known
No need to be a fan boy of any camera company..repair person..or photog..
Just does not serve any purpose..
Just the facts..was it fixed..or...not..
Helen..you know the dude that bought the M4..name begins with H***...
He knows the biz..
Maybe the Leica camera shop lied (probably not though..as it went right back to DAG..and had the DAG paperwork)..maybe the fix wasnt really a fix (bad day)..or maybe gremlins got hold of it in shipping..like Willie Shatner on that plane back in the day...lol..
Who really knows..
No ones perfect..
Roll the dice on a old camera repair..see what happens..
I had great repairs from Sherry..others not..
I remember when Wisner was in business..LF cameras..
Some got great cams..some..well...
I knew Wisner personally..and also knew people that got bum cams..and others that got great ones..
Funny how the guys that got great cams and were fanboys..absolutely100% refused to believe that anyone ever got a bad cam from Wisner..
But they did..
I was one of them...
I still remember the dude in Brazil that got a 20x24 Wisner Polaroid that was the Titanic of cams..born to fail..born to die..and it did.. never ever worked..arrived in box..DOA..and never fixed..doorstop..
Another dude in NYC..sweared his 8x10 was the best of the best..and it was for him..
Go figure..
But that said..DAG has a stellar reputation..and would probably just fix whatever is not right..even if returned a 2nd or 3rd time as old cams..can be a pita..
Just does not serve any purpose..
Just the facts..was it fixed..or...not..
Helen..you know the dude that bought the M4..name begins with H***...
He knows the biz..
Maybe the Leica camera shop lied (probably not though..as it went right back to DAG..and had the DAG paperwork)..maybe the fix wasnt really a fix (bad day)..or maybe gremlins got hold of it in shipping..like Willie Shatner on that plane back in the day...lol..
Who really knows..
No ones perfect..
Roll the dice on a old camera repair..see what happens..
I had great repairs from Sherry..others not..
I remember when Wisner was in business..LF cameras..
Some got great cams..some..well...
I knew Wisner personally..and also knew people that got bum cams..and others that got great ones..
Funny how the guys that got great cams and were fanboys..absolutely100% refused to believe that anyone ever got a bad cam from Wisner..
But they did..
I was one of them...
I still remember the dude in Brazil that got a 20x24 Wisner Polaroid that was the Titanic of cams..born to fail..born to die..and it did.. never ever worked..arrived in box..DOA..and never fixed..doorstop..
Another dude in NYC..sweared his 8x10 was the best of the best..and it was for him..
Go figure..
But that said..DAG has a stellar reputation..and would probably just fix whatever is not right..even if returned a 2nd or 3rd time as old cams..can be a pita..
raydm6
Yay! Cameras! 🙈🙉🙊┌( ಠ_ಠ)┘ [◉"]
Just to reinforce what Brian said, Youxin *is* really busy. A person recently mentioned (on another forum) that they waited for 5 months to get their IIIf back. But, they were really happy with the results.
Youxin is relatively young (I have been to his home several times as I am fortunate to be close by) and I imagine will be in the repair business for some time to come - unless he decides to get out of it. However, regarding his workload and time for repairs - we cannot predict. So I am grateful for these resources. I have never used DAG or Sherry. I have been very happy with Youxin however.
newst
Well-known
I want to reinforce the support for Youxin Ye. He has worked on many items for me over the years, including lenses and cameras, and I have been more than happy with the results each and every time. He did a CLA for me on a IIIf last year, and to my surprise, it was completed in half the time that he initially forecast. He has another IIIf from me now, and I am willing to wait patiently, because I know when I do get it back I will be happy with it.
I'll copy what I posted in that discussion- worth repeating- "Youxin has done CLA for five screwmount cameras, 1 Leotax, and one Nicca. PLus an M2. I would send it to him.
I did a CLA including flood cleaning the slow speed escapement of a Leica IIIa given to me. It was free, was able to do it myself. Which gives real appreciation as to why it is well worth Paying what the professionals charge."
Too funny. 35+ years ago I wrote some highly optimized code for a $130K "Attached Array Process". It overloaded and caught on fire, Halon discharge into the computer room. The Power Supplies overheated, could not take it. This was all Fortran-66 code.
No one here has complained about their camera or lens bursting into flames because the spring tension was set too tight. That would be my motto if I took on camera repair as a profession. "Your camera will probably not burst into flames after I service it, but that is possible."
Leaving a camera with uncapped lens pointed into the sun to burn the shutter, I can see that happening- but usually by the camera owner.
hap
Well-known
I recently asked Youxin to CLA and fix the stiff focus on my Zeiss 35mm Biogon in C mount. He responded, nicely, saying that he could not guarantee he could open the lens and therefore declined. Followed by "send me anything Leica". I interpreted that to mean, I'm not working on things like this when I can have plenty of Leica work, which I like better. He is not the first or the last camera tech to provide that philosophy.
Emile de Leon
Well-known
Thats better then having someone try to tackle a lens thats beyond their skill level..and send you back a trashed lens..
Thats what happened to a brand new lens sent in for modification at SK Grimes..and they sent me back..a battered to hell lens..
hap
Well-known
I knew Steve Grimes. In his day nothing like that would ever happen. Absolute genius.
ZivcoPhoto
Well-known
Like Helen, I’ve been sending Don cameras and lenses to repair since 2008. Of the many, many pieces of equipment he has done for me we have had only a few phone conversations. On occasion I have had to send a camera back for further adjustment, but it was always promptly fixed and returned. Even the late, legendary Nikon repairman Pete Smith received a Nikon S2 back from me, that wasn’t quite correctly adjusted. Camera repair is fast becoming a lost art and I am thankful that I was able to get the cameras I wanted to keep professionally repaired, and I have been quite satisfied with the professional repair people I have dealt with.
Without the proper documentation and correct tools, anytime you open a camera or lens it can be a one way trip. Things break, and without spare parts you turn a working lens into a parts lens for future projects. I've opened some "one way trip" lenses. Once- I agreed to work on a Type 1 Rigid Summicron in LTM. Someone installed 4 of the lens groups in backwards. The groups were in so tight that they fractured when coming out. SO- if someone declines work, it's because they are not comfortable working on someone else's lens for a learning experience.
Dralowid
Michael
Anyone know of a young camera repair person?
Jadon Rosado at Red Dot Repair.
qqphotos
Well-known
I'm sort of on the verge of giving up on older Leicas. I have a M2 with DAG that I've more or less decided to just forget the existence of, since he doesn't respond to email, so that if I get it back some day it'll be a happy surprise. I just got a IIIf back from YYe with a messed up shutter curtain and wrong speeds. I know both guys are capable of excellent work but there's so much demand now that it's just kind of crazy. Meanwhile I sent out a Retina IIa to Paul Barden for a quite complex repair and turnaround is a week.
