Leotax needs rangefinder repair, Who in UK?

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Leica1Conv

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Hello dear members,
My newly acquired Leotax Elite, a camera I have wanted for a long time, needs the rangefinder put right.
Can someone tell me who I should send it to? Possibly in London and definitely in the UK?
Please let me know if you have anyone you trust.
Leotax Elite is a lovely Leica II clone, with added features like a wind on lever and M6 style rewind knob.
 
I had my Leotax F curtains replaced by the ever excellent Patrick at Cameratiks , Edinburgh. I'll be taking my Bessa RF e-messer to him shortly to recalibrate the rangefinder following a minor knock
 
ACullen said:
I had my Leotax F curtains replaced by the ever excellent Patrick at Cameratiks , Edinburgh. I'll be taking my Bessa RF e-messer to him shortly to recalibrate the rangefinder following a minor knock
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Thank you,
I am in London do you think they would take mine?
Are they expensive?
 
I was considering ed trzoska (who did shutters of large format lenses for me)
or cameraworks uk (who seem to specialize in rangefinders)
has anyone got any feedback on cameraworks doing rangefinders?
 
@Leica1Conv, adjusting the rangefinder on a Leotax is incredibly simple. If that's all that needs doing, you can save yourself a small fortune and do it yourself, and I'd recommend doing that and shooting a roll or two to see if you need the camera overhauled before you send it off to someone. If you have the right tools (two small flatblade screwdrivers), I can talk you through the process. Failing that, I could do it for you - I'm only in Tunbridge Wells and pop into London for things from time to time. It only takes two seconds to sort it out if you have something far enough away to focus on.

Cameraworks would be very expensive. Aperture in Rathbone Place should do it, but I suspect they'd charge their full CLA prices - still cheaper than Cameraworks, but you get what you pay for. PPP is relatively cheap, but my Leotax (the same model) came back mauled, with a different top plate, and with the detent in the film reminder dial removed. He did put my original top plate back on the camera after I complained, but I've had to put a couple of other things right since, and I'll always have to deal with the scratches he left on the top of the winding lever in the process.

Miles Whitehead is my go-to guy if you do need a full service; he replaced the curtains in my IIIg for a very reasonable price. The Leotax has enough "quirks" in disassembly that it might catch any of the above techs out, though.

One last thing I will say is that the Leotax lens that came with my T2L/"Elite" noticeably back-focuses compared to any other LTM lens; I'd recommend testing and calibrating the camera with a reliable LTM lens like an Elmar instead of basing the calibration on the Leotax lens in case yours is the same.
 
Coldkennels said:
@Leica1Conv, adjusting the rangefinder on a Leotax is incredibly simple. If that's all that needs doing, you can save yourself a small fortune and do it yourself, and I'd recommend doing that and shooting a roll or two to see if you need the camera overhauled before you send it off to someone. If you have the right tools (two small flatblade screwdrivers), I can talk you through the process. Failing that, I could do it for you - I'm only in Tunbridge Wells and pop into London for things from time to time. It only takes two seconds to sort it out if you have something far enough away to focus on.

Cameraworks would be very expensive. Aperture in Rathbone Place should do it, but I suspect they'd charge their full CLA prices - still cheaper than Cameraworks, but you get what you pay for. PPP is relatively cheap, but my Leotax (the same model) came back mauled, with a different top plate, and with the detent in the film reminder dial removed. He did put my original top plate back on the camera after I complained, but I've had to put a couple of other things right since, and I'll always have to deal with the scratches he left on the top of the winding lever in the process.

Miles Whitehead is my go-to guy if you do need a full service; he replaced the curtains in my IIIg for a very reasonable price. The Leotax has enough "quirks" in disassembly that it might catch any of the above techs out, though.

One last thing I will say is that the Leotax lens that came with my T2L/"Elite" noticeably back-focuses compared to any other LTM lens; I'd recommend testing and calibrating the camera with a reliable LTM lens like an Elmar instead of basing the calibration on the Leotax lens in case yours is the same.
Click to expand...
Hello, well my eyes are not so good at close range, so i don't think I wanna try that. Did you imply in your message you might wanna take a look at it yourself? I am in London, West Hampstead, very accessible via tube, overground, thameslink.
Otherwise, is Miles Whitehead the one you would reccommend? I talked to Ed trzska, who is a Zeiss specialist and has fixed several large format lenses for me. Very good guy by he has a three/four month backlog and honestly I do not know how good he is with a camera like Leotax.
hope to hear from you and thank you so much for the advice given to me so far.
all the best
 
Coldkennels said:
@Leica1Conv, adjusting the rangefinder on a Leotax is incredibly simple. If that's all that needs doing, you can save yourself a small fortune and do it yourself, and I'd recommend doing that and shooting a roll or two to see if you need the camera overhauled before you send it off to someone. If you have the right tools (two small flatblade screwdrivers), I can talk you through the process. Failing that, I could do it for you - I'm only in Tunbridge Wells and pop into London for things from time to time. It only takes two seconds to sort it out if you have something far enough away to focus on.

Cameraworks would be very expensive. Aperture in Rathbone Place should do it, but I suspect they'd charge their full CLA prices - still cheaper than Cameraworks, but you get what you pay for. PPP is relatively cheap, but my Leotax (the same model) came back mauled, with a different top plate, and with the detent in the film reminder dial removed. He did put my original top plate back on the camera after I complained, but I've had to put a couple of other things right since, and I'll always have to deal with the scratches he left on the top of the winding lever in the process.

Miles Whitehead is my go-to guy if you do need a full service; he replaced the curtains in my IIIg for a very reasonable price. The Leotax has enough "quirks" in disassembly that it might catch any of the above techs out, though.

One last thing I will say is that the Leotax lens that came with my T2L/"Elite" noticeably back-focuses compared to any other LTM lens; I'd recommend testing and calibrating the camera with a reliable LTM lens like an Elmar instead of basing the calibration on the Leotax lens in case yours is the same.
Click to expand...
Miles Whitehead will not take on new customers, as he is semi retired.
Would you let me know, if you know of course, what are the qiurks in the leotax top plate that I need to warn Ed Troszka about?
 
Leica1Conv said:
Miles Whitehead will not take on new customers, as he is semi retired.
Click to expand...
Ah, I thought that might be the case. He's actually working on my Leica IIIf right now but I know he's only doing three days a week these days... last time we spoke he told me that he doesn't think he'll ever stop working completely as he loves it too much, but I guess he doesn't have as much capacity for the work as he used to. Shame.

Leica1Conv said:
Would you let me know, if you know of course, what are the qiurks in the leotax top plate that I need to warn Ed Troszka about?
Click to expand...
I assume he'd be more than capable of dealing with a Leotax as it's mostly the same as dismantling a Leica, but with a couple of extra considerations. Basically, like most cameras, you just work you way around unscrewing and removing everything you see, but the lever wind and rewind knob both need a bit of special attention.

For one, the lever wind has a tiny ball bearing detent that will get lost the second you remove the film reminder on the top; being aware of that before it gets lost in the carpet is handy. Unscrewing the central section of the wind lever to remove it is easy enough, but it has a tendency to unscrew itself through use after replacing it; I ended up putting a tiny dab of nail polish on the threads and leaving it to set before winding the camera, and that seems to have done the trick.

The rewind knob/crank is the worst part; there's two springs in there and rebuilding it is a fiddly pain in the ass. The only footage or imagery I could find of someone disassembling or reassembling a late Leotax actually ended with him looking at it very confused and leaving it to one side. I can't remember the reassembly process I went for but it was far more annoying than your typical rewind knob.

If it does go in for service with Ed, you might want to have him check the "pad" that isolates the flash circuit is still intact. You can see that here: Leotax Flash Circuits

Leica1Conv said:
Did you imply in your message you might wanna take a look at it yourself? I am in London, West Hampstead, very accessible via tube, overground, thameslink.
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I could do, but I'm rarely in North London, and I'm going to be doing a lot of travelling in the coming weeks. I'd be happy to meet up for a drink and bring some screwdrivers if you can think of a place with a distant enough view to check the infinity calibration, though. That's normally all you need to do on these things - I don't think I've ever seen a Barnack with rangefinder issues at close-up.
 
Coldkennels said:
Ah, I thought that might be the case. He's actually working on my Leica IIIf right now but I know he's only doing three days a week these days... last time we spoke he told me that he doesn't think he'll ever stop working completely as he loves it too much, but I guess he doesn't have as much capacity for the work as he used to. Shame.


I assume he'd be more than capable of dealing with a Leotax as it's mostly the same as dismantling a Leica, but with a couple of extra considerations. Basically, like most cameras, you just work you way around unscrewing and removing everything you see, but the lever wind and rewind knob both need a bit of special attention.

For one, the lever wind has a tiny ball bearing detent that will get lost the second you remove the film reminder on the top; being aware of that before it gets lost in the carpet is handy. Unscrewing the central section of the wind lever to remove it is easy enough, but it has a tendency to unscrew itself through use after replacing it; I ended up putting a tiny dab of nail polish on the threads and leaving it to set before winding the camera, and that seems to have done the trick.

The rewind knob/crank is the worst part; there's two springs in there and rebuilding it is a fiddly pain in the ass. The only footage or imagery I could find of someone disassembling or reassembling a late Leotax actually ended with him looking at it very confused and leaving it to one side. I can't remember the reassembly process I went for but it was far more annoying than your typical rewind knob.

If it does go in for service with Ed, you might want to have him check the "pad" that isolates the flash circuit is still intact. You can see that here: Leotax Flash Circuits


I could do, but I'm rarely in North London, and I'm going to be doing a lot of travelling in the coming weeks. I'd be happy to meet up for a drink and bring some screwdrivers if you can think of a place with a distant enough view to check the infinity calibration, though. That's normally all you need to do on these things - I don't think I've ever seen a Barnack with rangefinder issues at close-up.
Click to expand...
Thank you, I am travelling lots too this summer, so away quite often.
I have taken a look where the calibration screw his (near the viewfinder), and I cannot quite seem to get any traction when I insert gently the tiny screwdriver. I have decided to send it to Edinburgh (see previous comments) I spoke to Patrick there and he has worked on Leotaxes before. Will be good to get the rangefinder area cleaned up too. The camera otherwise is in great condition, times sound pretty good, curtains are fine so I'd rather get it done by him.
For your info, the two images are bright and contrasty, the rangefinder image moves well but does not end up in the right place at infinity.
Thanks for your interest and your advice, I really appreciate it. Most kind of you.
 
Leica1Conv said:
I was considering ed trzoska (who did shutters of large format lenses for me)
or cameraworks uk (who seem to specialize in rangefinders)
has anyone got any feedback on cameraworks doing rangefinders?
Click to expand...
Ed serviced my Rolleicord last Xmas and told me he is retiring.
 
Leica1Conv said:
Hello, well my eyes are not so good at close range, so i don't think I wanna try that. Did you imply in your message you might wanna take a look at it yourself? I am in London, West Hampstead, very accessible via tube, overground, thameslink.
Otherwise, is Miles Whitehead the one you would reccommend? I talked to Ed trzska, who is a Zeiss specialist and has fixed several large format lenses for me. Very good guy by he has a three/four month backlog and honestly I do not know how good he is with a camera like Leotax.
hope to hear from you and thank you so much for the advice given to me so far.
all the best
Click to expand...

Personally, I would probably take it by Aperture. The gentleman who does their repairs works on Leica gear all the time, so if your Leotax is similar, he should do a fine job--and in fact, I'd be surprised if he hasn't got experience working on Leotax cameras. (He's repaired my M3, and a Hasselblad 180mm Sonnar lens for me, and I have been quite happy with his work--and what is also really good, you usually, unlike a lot of places, get it back within a week.)

Please note though, that one of the posts above is not correct about the location: they have opened a third branch, on Riding House Street, and that is where they do the repair work at present. The Rathbone Place store is now only for film sales and processing.

It's worth a trip into central London to ask them about it and show them the camera. Or, really, I'm sure if you called and described what you need done to it they could tell you if they do that sort of work and how much it is likely to cost.

Best of luck with getting it fixed!
 
I have another question, sorry. This is my Leotax Elite. Can someone tell me what these numbers in the rewind crank mean? Is that a tension setting?
thank you in advance.




IMG_4568.jpg
 
Leica1Conv said:
I have another question, sorry. This is my Leotax Elite. Can someone tell me what these numbers in the rewind crank mean? Is that a tension setting?
thank you in advance.




View attachment 4824972
Click to expand...
Looking at that, I see you're between film speeds. If you turn it, does it "click" into position, with one whole number selected?

It's got the obvious tool marks in the centre of the winding dial that every Leotax that's been opened seems to have, so I suspect someone may have opened it up and lost the detent, as happened to mine. It shouldn't spin freely!
 
Coldkennels said:
Looking at that, I see you're between film speeds. If you turn it, does it "click" into position, with one whole number selected?

It's got the obvious tool marks in the centre of the winding dial that every Leotax that's been opened seems to have, so I suspect someone may have opened it up and lost the detent, as happened to mine. It shouldn't spin freely!
Click to expand...
Yes it does not click into position
so it is like yours
I do not really mind it is just a film reminder thingy. Of course if it clicked into position instead of being half way like in the photo i would have understood what it was and not ask a silly question!
 
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