Leicas - Which are fixable? M's R's Digital

CameraQuest

CameraQuest

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Its a bitter pill when you buy your dream Leica,
the one you have dreamed about for years,
only to find out later its not fixable for lack of parts.

Let us share and compare Leica repairs here so that we can all become INFORMED CONSUMERS!

No one in the US that I know of works on Leica R bodies anymore, parts being only part of the issue.

The M5 and CL suffer for lack of parts, primarily meter parts including sensors and finders,
although determined expert techs can install MP finders into the M5.
Still, an M5 with a dead meter is a better camera to many than a meterless M2/M3/M4/M4-2/M4-P.
But watch out for M5 separated prisms. A few years back I returned four M5's -- all with separated prisms the sellers did not bother to mention.

SFAIK Leica M8 and M8.2 sensors and LCD screens are unavailable.

SFAIK Leica M9 sensors are still available at a not low price from Leica, but not LCD screens.

SFAIK Leica M6 TTL bodies suffer from lack of parts which makes the earlier M6 more repairable.

SFAIK Leica M7 bodies are starting to suffer from lack of parts.

Happily MP finders are easily installed into the M1/M2/M3/M4/M4-2/M4-P/M6 cameras - for a price.

I have heard many horror stories of original Leica S and its lenses having serious reliability problems.

Parts and Repairs are problematic outside of Japan for M cameras whose manufacturers went out of business.
Read that as the Minolta CLE and Konica Hexar RF.
 
Youxin Ye did work on my two IIIf's, Summitar, Summicron, and Leicavit and I would use him again.

My M2 and Summaron 35/2.8 were purchased after being fully CLA'd by *Kindermann (Canada) in 2010 so I should be good to go for awhile. (*Not sure if they are still servicing Leica)

My M6 purchased new years ago (1985) sees light usage and is still operating fine.
 
Here's my understanding for some of this stuff (which may or may not be accurate).

Paepke purchased all the spare parts for Leica R3-R7 (whatever was available). They do repairs and are located in Dusseldorf.

Strangely, Boris of Photo Alps purchased spare parts for R8-R9, and he does not do any repairs. Not sure why he purchased the parts, but ha, ha, R8-R9 owners are out of luck.

Sherry Krauter purchased the spare parts for M5 and Leicaflex from Leica USA. Not sure where I got that information, whether I dreamed it up, she told me, or read somewhere, but she's been able to fix/cla multiple Leicaflex (all three models) and M5 for me in the past. She did once repair a 60mm Elmarit for me where she had to manufacture a part.

Fortunately, a lot of the old mechanical meterless cameras can be repaired by adjustment and will not need new parts.

If I'm wrong with any of this stuff, I'm sure someone will jump in.
 
I'm a firm believer that anything mechanical or electro-mechanical, without an integrated circuit board, can be fixed. Maybe not economically, but they can be fixed. Gears can be cut and ground by hand, prisms and lens elements can be resilvered and/or cemented. All this took place before our world of disposable durable goods. I mentioned in an interview a few days ago, that if durable goods were made as they were pre-1960, the whole economy would fail because no one would need to buy anything new. Planned and engineered obsolescence is so pervasive that we don't know how to exist without it. People don't need new cars, they need to have cars that are built better and will last longer, that's why I'm driving a 1972 Mercedes Benz diesel. Like my Leica M4, Smith-Corona Silent typewriter, and Bell and Howell 70DL, it will be running long after I stop running.
Phil Forrest
 
raydm6 said:
Youxin Ye did work on my two IIIf's, Summitar, Summicron, and Leicavit and I would use him again.

My M2 and Summaron 35/2.8 were purchased after being fully CLA'd by *Kindermann (Canada) in 2010 so I should be good to go for awhile. (*Not sure if they are still servicing Leica)

My M6 purchased new years ago (1985) sees light usage and is still operating fine.
Click to expand...


Gerry at Kindermann is retired now. I don't think there's anyone in Canada I would send an M to anymore.
 
wafflecakee said:
Gerry at Kindermann is retired now. I don't think there's anyone in Canada I would send an M to anymore.
Click to expand...

Horst Wenzel in Vancouver remains on my list for Leica. Although for cameras requiring parts (CL meters, Leicavit attachment to older M) Don Goldberg is the man!
 
CameraQuest said:
..
But watch out for M5 separated prisms. A few years back I returned four M5's -- all with separated prisms the sellers did not bother to mention....
Click to expand...

I did not know about the prism separation issue when I bought my M5. It had the telltale raindrop/tear pattern on the rf patch but it still worked so I thought that's how things are with old cameras.
It separated completely one day (no impacts etc) to a completely black unusable patch.
Shirley Krauter fixed it, and DAG so also.

But this is a heads up to anyone looking at M5s. Superb cameras but you need to know what to look for.

digression - Zeiss Germany still fixes the Zeiss Ikon ZM. Not sure if that has been mentioned. But it has to go to Germany.
 
To be fair, we could also start a thread as to what can be fixed.

Nikon USA only services the F6, no other film cameras. No parts are available for F4, F3 etc etc
Everything that is available is from donor bodies, so those may fail at anytime too.

Pretty much the same for any other camera brand.

In that sense it really is amazing that Leica is still producing parts for the M series. I guess that is because their entire essence is the M.
 
Prism separation can happen on any M camera (My old M3 had it), it's not just M5's.

Stephen - thanks.
 
I recently asked DAG about M6. Hope this may be helpful.


----- Original Message -----
To: "Don Goldberg"
Sent: Tuesday, April 7, 2020 8:28:40 AM
Subject: M6 question

Hi Don,

General question about the M6: are these cameras still repairable if they have electronic problems? Does Leica still make replacement parts for the meter circuit/motherboard, or can you repair those parts if they fail?

Thanks!
———————
On Apr 7, 2020, at 10:20 AM, [email protected] wrote:

Robert

all meter parts for the M6 are available (not cheap). We still repair M6 cameras.

regards,
Don
———————
Just to confirm, this also includes the M6 TTL correct?

Thanks!

———————

Robert

its very unusual for the Leica M6-TTL main circuit board to go bad, however if it does Leica, USA is the only place that has the needed software to adjust the M6-TTL board.
The classic M6 camera does not need software to adjust it. There can be other things wrong with the M6-TTL meter system that can be repaired without replacing the main board or needing software.

regards,

Don
DAG
 
Phil_F_NM said:
I'm a firm believer that anything mechanical or electro-mechanical, without an integrated circuit board, can be fixed. Maybe not economically, but they can be fixed...
Click to expand...

Hi Phil - you wrote exactly what i was thinking.

I was saddened to discover here that we R8 and M6 TTL owners can't simply send our camera to Leica for repair. It's not just Leica, either.

As I'm sure you know, Mercedes still provides all parts for all Mercedes cars. Maybe expensive, but it's available.

In the last five years or so, I've been deliberately buying all manual mechanical cameras that have either no electronics at all or just electronics for a meter reading.
 
Huss said:
To be fair, we could also start a thread as to what can be fixed.

Nikon USA only services the F6, no other film cameras. No parts are available for F4, F3 etc etc
Everything that is available is from donor bodies, so those may fail at anytime too.

Pretty much the same for any other camera brand.

In that sense it really is amazing that Leica is still producing parts for the M series. I guess that is because their entire essence is the M.
Click to expand...

There are a whole lot of F3 parts cameras around. I have 3 working bodies and one, like new, parts camera - with a small problem. The 3 will likely out live me.
 
Pál_K said:
As I'm sure you know, Mercedes still provides all parts for all Mercedes cars. Maybe expensive, but it's available.
Click to expand...

Having restored at least one Mercedes and part restored several others I can safely say that they don't have all parts available, not by a long way. Fortunately there are numerous suppliers of certain things but still large gaps remain.
 
Back to cameras. Now I'm using the LLL8 on my M5 a lot, it's clear the framelines are getting pretty indistinct and need replacing or restoration. Who is able to do this worldwide?
 
CharlesDAMorgan said:
Back to cameras. Now I'm using the LLL8 on my M5 a lot, it's clear the framelines are getting pretty indistinct and need replacing or restoration. Who is able to do this worldwide?
Click to expand...

Since the framelines are projected, wouldn't a CLA take care of this?

Phil Forrest
 
The framelines that are projected oxidise and get fainter and need replacement I believe. Huss had a similar issue which required an MP frameline kit to be fitted as there are no original M5 ones available.
 
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