Rangefinder 35
Well-known
This must have been asked many times before; where to send the ZI for repair? Anybody had a good experience with trying to fix therir ZI? Thanks.
mhoskin
Member
I'm not sure it's a good place to send it to yet, but I sent mine back to Zeiss (it has yet to return). I'm in the states, so I sent it to Zeiss/NJ. They looked at it and said it was basically ---ked beyond what they could do in-house and it would have to go to Zeiss/Germany for repair. Total cost is going to be $178 including return shipping.
Essentially mine had an extremely misaligned rangefinder (both horizontal and vertical) and dust in the viewfinder (which was there within 30 days of me buying it new!). I have no idea how the rangefinder got so out of alignment, except I put it down on a desk and I live with two small children... I love my ZI but I think if I have to repair it again I'll sell it after fixing it. I need something a 4 year old can't destroy.
Anyhow, it's been about a month and a half so far. On the upside, the guy at Zeiss/NJ is very friendly and responds to email well.
-Mark
Essentially mine had an extremely misaligned rangefinder (both horizontal and vertical) and dust in the viewfinder (which was there within 30 days of me buying it new!). I have no idea how the rangefinder got so out of alignment, except I put it down on a desk and I live with two small children... I love my ZI but I think if I have to repair it again I'll sell it after fixing it. I need something a 4 year old can't destroy.
Anyhow, it's been about a month and a half so far. On the upside, the guy at Zeiss/NJ is very friendly and responds to email well.
-Mark
Rangefinder 35
Well-known
Thanks. Would you remember the address of the Zeiss/NJ? The only one I found on internet is in Thornwood, NY.
Bob Michaels
nobody special
My local camera repair tech has fixed everything that has gone wrong with mine over about 10 years of hard use. That includes RF alignment, stuck shutter, corroded shutter button switch, shutter speed / iso dial falling off, recovering, and all else.
He says they are quite simple to work on and quite intuitive. There seems to be a good supply of repair parts from donor cameras out there in the repair tech network.
I am always baffled when people send them cameras to NJ, Germany or Japan. Almost every reasonable sized city has a camera repair service. One just needs to ask the local pros who need their cameras repaired immediately who they are as these guys seldom advertise. Mine has no sign on his shop and an unlisted phone number. He says the clientele he wants knows where he is.
He says they are quite simple to work on and quite intuitive. There seems to be a good supply of repair parts from donor cameras out there in the repair tech network.
I am always baffled when people send them cameras to NJ, Germany or Japan. Almost every reasonable sized city has a camera repair service. One just needs to ask the local pros who need their cameras repaired immediately who they are as these guys seldom advertise. Mine has no sign on his shop and an unlisted phone number. He says the clientele he wants knows where he is.
rscheffler
Well-known
If Zeiss is charging $178 for service, that's pretty reasonable. Sure, you'll get a local shop to probably do it faster and maybe slightly cheaper. Definitely an alternative if you have someone you know does a good job. But if you don't, sending it to Zeiss doesn't seem like a bad idea.
Will be interesting to see how long it takes to be serviced in Germany (vs. Leica's glacial turnaround times).
As for whether or not the Thornwood address is correct... it seems clearly the one to use based on the Zeiss service webpage. Sorry, no firsthand experience dealing with them, yet (so far my ZM lenses have not required it).
Will be interesting to see how long it takes to be serviced in Germany (vs. Leica's glacial turnaround times).
As for whether or not the Thornwood address is correct... it seems clearly the one to use based on the Zeiss service webpage. Sorry, no firsthand experience dealing with them, yet (so far my ZM lenses have not required it).
YYV_146
Well-known
My experience with Zeiss Germany is that they are less responsive and just less courteous in general compared to Thornwood. My 15mm ZM Distagon had to go to Germany because Thornwood couldn't service it, and it came back with nothing - no documentation, records, proof. The only note was left by Zeiss USA when they inspected the lens. They even apologized for Germany's lack of support, claiming that they were very busy.
They did eventually fix the Distagon under questionable warranty situations, so I am ultimately grateful. Service was ~6 weeks which was about on par with Leica.
johnnyrod
More cameras than shots
No idea about the ZM but the older ones I've worked on seemed fairly easy.What's the problem you have though?