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A review of YYeCamera Repair (Youxin Ye) A true master!


steven_burch

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<p>Hello all, I just want to tell everyone here about my experience getting my Leica M4-2 repaired by Youxin Ye. I had a VERY bad experience with one of his competitors who botched the overhaul of my IIIf. That person kept my camera for over a year, damaged the lens mount screws, left debris in my viewfinder/rangefinder, and even though I specifically asked him to repair my dim rangefinder (which entails replacement of the beam splitter glass) he did a hack job and added a glob of black paint on the glass to "increase contrast" instead. But that's another story.</p>

<p>My M4-2 is in what I would consider good user condition. The back door was missing its vulcanite, it has a couple of small chips missing from the vulcanite as well. The top cover has some minor dings, the rewind knob was bent by the previous owner who apparently dropped the camera. The viewfinder was very foggy and downright hard to see through. The shutter was very erratic, none of the speeds seemed to be accurate. It needed a bit of help! </p>

<p>So I emailed Youxin about getting it serviced. He responded within minutes. His replies to my emails were exceedingly polite and knowledgeable, and after a few messages back and forth I was fully confident that he was the right person for the job. His quoted price was reasonable. Not the cheapest but reasonable. </p>

<p>So I mailed him the camera and the day after it was delivered Youxin emailed to tell me the camera was ready. That was a very pleasant surprise! So two days later I get my camera back in the mail. So, being the perfectionist that I am I very carefully checked every function of the camera. Mechanism super smooth. Shutter speeds are right on. Rangefinder right on. Viewfinder perfectly clean. He even hand-cut a matching piece of leatherette for the back door, and repaired the rewind knob!</p>

<p>I highly recommend Youxin Ye for any Leica repair. He is truly a Leica master and a wonderful person as well. </p>

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<p>I and two friends have used Youxin to overhaul several Leicas over the last dozen or so years. Work has been successful, prompt and reasonable. I had a re-do done while I waited at no charge, a partial CLA done for chump change because of frozen machine screws, camera worked fine after same! Frankly, I'd not send my cameras elsewhere! The trio of Al, John, and Paul can attest to my comments.p</p>

 

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Another vote for Mr. Ye. I had a Leica II Model D from 1932 with a torn shutter curtain, among other things. It came back

working flawlessly. His next project of mine was a Canon IIb that had many issues, again including shutter curtains and

inop speeds. It now works like the day it came out of the store. Ditto on everything, communication, turnaround times and

prices.

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<p>One more vote for Youxin. I've used him twice, once for camera CLA and repair, and once for an old lens CLA and repair. One thing that i really like about him is the turn-around time. Whereas other more reputable Leica repair-shops take forever to complete work one can negotiate with Youxin and get things done faster. His prices went up in the last couple of years, and I wish he didn't do that, but I guess he had to capitalize on growing popularity.</p>
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<p>Nothing but great things to say about Youxin! I have used him several times for my various Leicas.</p>

<p>This past Fall, I went to his home and spent the afternoon watching him work on my recently purchased IIIf RDST w/Leicavit and 50 Collapsible Summicron. The IIIf's self-timer needed some adjustment to trip the shutter; the Leicavit needed some light lubrication; and the Summicron was hazy and needed to be disassembled and cleaned along with the aperture blades (couldn't believe how dirty they were).</p>

<p>All in all, a great job by Youxin; the price was very reasonable, and a nice afternoon spent with an excellent repairman.</p>

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  • 7 months later...
  • 11 months later...

This post is a bit old but felt compelled to add my recient experience with YYE. Not good.

 

I sent in 2 lenses - a Summicron 35 ASPH and a 50 LHSA Summilux 1.4. I agree his prices were fair and turnaround quick. When I received the lenses back and my Summilux lens was significantly damaged. The visible damage was a bent filter ring. I contacted Youxin who said the lens was damaged when he received it which means it was damaged during shipping to him or there's some untruth going on and it was damaged either during his care or during return shipping back to me. I had spend $65 to ship the lens insured to him but since i (or YYE) didn't have a picture of the box the lens was shipped in, the claim was declined. It's also worth noting, he does not insure lenses when sending them back. So end of the day, I just received a $1600 repair estimate from Leica.

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Sorry, my keyboard dropped dead in the midst of my commentary above. It should continue to read " and he suggested that I release the shutter gently, so as to not further weaken the linkage. He searched for a replacement, but as the camera is over 60 years old couldn't find one. Anyway, it works great now and I've carefully followed his advice to ensure its extended longevity". As it is, I'm preparing to send him another oldie but goody in the next month or so, which needs to be refreshed.
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