Zeiss Ikon Repairs Going Forward

[white.elephant]

I have and love a Zeiss Ikon ZM. No complaints about the camera or the way it handles.

Last Fall the shutter speed dial came loose, it turned out to be a simple fix, I sent it to Steve's Camera service center, he did a CLA, all is well.

However, before he accepted the camera he stated that parts for the ZI are very hard to come by, and that he couldn't guarantee he could repair it at all. This concerned me going forward.

I was wondering about this issue; was the repair center just covering their butt -- which I understand -- or is there some real concern here about ZI repairs?

I hope not.

Thoughts?

 

[Larry Cloetta]

Steve’s Camera is going to be much more authoritative in regards to parts availability and general serviceability than any of the civilians you are likely to find lurking in camera forums. I had one of the first run of ZI bodies. Whether one likes the camera or not, it was not a sales success and had a relatively short run. So there’s not many of them. There are follow on effects from that, and it’s probably unreasonable to doubt what your service man told you, as that’s pretty much to be expected under the circumstances. The only safeguard would be to buy a parts camera, which is not cost effective in the case of the ZI.
If you like the camera, use it until it doesn’t work any more, probably a long way off, then see if you can get it fixed. Then you’ll know. At this point, anyone not currently in the repair business is just guessing.

 

[Bob Michaels]

My local camera repair guy has no problem with my ZI. He says everything is very standard in construction. Parts do not seem to be a problem as camera repairs have an informal network telling each other what they have for parts cameras. He was able to find a replacement shutter button for mine in a few days. Plus the shutter is generic and some other parts.

 

[TenEleven]

To pitch in some extra knowledge, Cosina in Japan (I dunno about Zeiss in Germany) are still taking repairs without any warnings or mentions of scarce parts.

Someone with better knowledge might correct me here, but basically as far as I know they are bound by law to provide service coverage on this camera until 2024 I think. (Start of sales + 20 years)

In fact, I just sent them a camera today. No problems.

 

[Rob-F]

So the Zeiss Ikon was built by Cosina, then? I guess that should be obvious, but somehow I never put it together. That would seem to bode well for repairs and support.

 

[jawarden]

I have and love a Zeiss Ikon ZM. No complaints about the camera or the way it handles.

Last Fall the shutter speed dial came loose, it turned out to be a simple fix, I sent it to Steve's Camera service center, he did a CLA, all is well.

However, before he accepted the camera he stated that parts for the ZI are very hard to come by, and that he couldn't guarantee he could repair it at all. This concerned me going forward.

I was wondering about this issue; was the repair center just covering their butt -- which I understand -- or is there some real concern here about ZI repairs?

I hope not.

Thoughts?

They weren't covering their butts, as I heard similar news from Zeiss directly when my ZI was having problems. It's common with orphaned products like this, and a good approach is to use the hell out of your camera while you can. It's likely to last a long time with factory parts and service, and then decades longer with donor parts.