Who still repairs Leicaflexes?

[johannielscom]

That's the question.

I'm seeing a lot of nice early Leicaflex bodies online and whenever I really like 'em, they've got some faults. Like faulty meter, broken eyepiece surround, etc.

Anybody that can still fix them? Preferably in Europe!

Or else, how hard is it to transplant top and bottom plate from the one camera onto another myself?

 

[p.giannakis]

Not sure if i can answer your question but there are a few reputable repairmen in UK. Maybe give them a call?
* http://www.mwcamerarepairs.co.uk/ (Used him in the past, loads of info about him on the net, very reputable - i would call him first)
*http://www.lutoncameras.co.uk/ (They used to work on Leicas - on the expensive side)
* http://www.newtonellis.com/ (They have good reputation in the field)

I hope it is a good starting point.

 

[Erik van Straten]

Repairing Leicaflexes is one of the most difficult things to do in camerarepairland. People at Leitz who could do it, received a special diploma.

Tomosy gives some tips in his Leica Camera Repair Book.

Erik.

 

[Pete B]

The Master is Malcolm Taylor
Address: Upper Lye Farm, Leominster HR6 9SZ
Phone: (0044)1568 770542

He's not on the web. You can't email him. Phone or write.
Pete

 

[mooge]

Repairing Leicaflexes... I made an attempt a number of years ago on one - easily the worst camera I've ever worked on. Unnecessarily complicated and difficult to disassemble.

The top and bottom plates aren't bad to take off, if I recall. Other camera designers would be content with holding the base plate on with a couple of screws; Leitz adds a square-drive nut within the tripod hole on the Leicaflex. Sure, I guess, but more expensive machining. And yet they cut corners with plastic bits in the lens release tab and under the frame counter dial...
According to my notes, the top plate should be pretty straightforward. No left hand threads.


Holy cow the Tomosy books are expensive now...


oh yeah, I think Kanto camera will repair Leicaflexes; they had one on their instagram a while ago.

 

[johannielscom]

Oh dear.

thanks for all the responses, seems this might get expensive quickly and that might be the end of the plan... I saw a cheap nice body online but it's only partially working so for a doorstop it's a bit silly money...

I'll give it some thought.

 

[Dralowid]

I think there are people who will do this, some of the ones I'd suggest in the UK have already been mentioned. Peter at CRR used to do the whole thing, including prism re-silvering but I am not sure how much work he still takes on. In my experience, once they work they just keep on working.

 

[MrFujicaman]

You might PM member Calzone..he's had some Leicaflexes repaired.

 

[Graybeard]

DAG repairs Leicaflexes as a matter of routine. In the past he has offered reilvered prisms for the mechanical Leicaflexes.

Sherry Krauter repaired a Leicaflex Standard for me earlier this year.

You might also check with Gus Lazzari.

If you have the camera in a shop, have the metering circuit recalibrated for a silver oxide battery - the will be little, if any additional charge.

 

[Flat Twin]

Johan,

Ian Pettman at Newton Ellis here in the U.K. just did a superb job on my SL MOT. It is positive and smooth and works perfectly. Even Malcolm Taylor couldn't fault it when I showed him recently. I highly recommend calling them and chatting to Ian if you have a need. It really wasn't expensive either...

Malcolm has recently serviced and cleaned my 90 Summicron-R and he currently has my 50 Summilux-R for the same treatment.

There are people out there if you want to get the work done...

Kind regards,

Simon



Leicaflex SL MOT - 50mm Summilux-R
TMY-2 @200, Perceptol 1+2, 11mins.


Bath, England. 22nd July 2017 by Flat Twin, on Flickr