Praise for Steven Choi, John Maddox and ARAX

I thought I would share my quite positive experiences with the above

mentioned people. In February of 2005 I sent my IIIf to John Maddox

for a full CLA and resilvering of the half mirror. The camera came

back to me working perfectly. However, around Christmas of last year

I experienced some intermittent slow speeds, there was some

hesitation in the slow speed mechanism and the 1/5 speed would no

longer engage.

After a phone call to Mr. Maddox, the camera was returned to him on

January 25th. He did a followup service at no charge. I received the

camera back from him this afternoon. He was prompt and courteous as

usual.

 

Also in January I sent the front element of a collapsible Summicron

to Gevorg at ARAX in Kiev. It cost me $41 for a polish/recoat and

insured return express shipping. The element looks perfect. Gevorg

is communicative and prompt. The total turnaround time from Los

Angeles to Kiev was about six weeks.

 

Now then, I took the Summicron to a local repair guy in the Pasadena

area (not a Leica specialist) to have the front element removed for

shipping to ARAX and I also had him do the CLA and reassembly for

me. To my dismay I was told that too much glass had been removed and

the lens will no longer focus to infinity. Not to mention he could

not disassemble the focus mount, so the focus helical did not even

get cleaned. I was told my lens is now a "beautiful paperweight".

Was I bummed? Most definitely.

 

My suspicion was that something was not done right. Yesterday I

drove the lens across town to Steven Choi at Steve's Camera in

Culver City. He's a great guy, quiet and soft spoken. He looked at

my lens, removed the front element and told me that he thought it

had been improperly reassembled and that "He could work with it'. He

told me it would be ready in 7 to 10 days. He called me this

morning, less that 24 hours after I dropped off the lens, telling me

it was done: fully cleaned, collimated and focusing to infinity.

 

 

I know good things have been said here about all of these people,

but I have been impressed and thought some of you might appreciate

the information.

 

Best regards. Jeff

valuable info. Thanks JV.

Just yesterday I mailed the scuffed front element from my 1975 Summicron-50 to Arax for a polish and recoat. I'm glad that you've had such a good experience with them and look forward to getting my new and improved lens.

>>>>and resilvering of the half mirror.

 

there is no such thing as resilvering of the half mirror. it is too costly to do it, half mirror is dirty cheap and readily available.

 

After you re-coat your element, there is a black stuff on the edge have to be removeed before you can set the element into the barrel. the Leica's lens barrel has a tight tolerance, with the black stuff on the edge it will not set right and will not focus in infinity. I have seen very few honest repairman.

<i>the camera was returned to him on January 25th. He did a followup service at no charge. I received the camera back from him this afternoon. He was prompt</i></p>You call more than <i><b>two months</i></b> for a follow-up service prompt? If patience is a virtue St. Peter will have the red carpet rolled out for you someday.

Dan- sounds like you have had fun dealing with repairmen. I do not, however, share your cynicism. John Maddox recoats the mirror with, I believe, an aluminum oxide coating. Also, there was no "black stuff" on the edge of the element. It arrived from ARAX in pristine condition. It looks brand new.

 

And yes Terrance, patience is a virtue. I doubt John Maddox was waiting around for my camera. No doubt he has a backlog of others' cameras to work on. You must know he did not charge me and he paid for return shipping. The camera was packed so well it would have taken some rather deliberate effort to do any damage.

Jeff

It seems you did not pay attention to your element, the black stuff was used to polish and mount the element to re-coat. you have to remove it to set the element, your first repairman just push it in and the element is away from the mount that why you get 'can not focus in infinity'. Your second repairman did it right. The mirror in the IIIf is a beam spiltter 50/50, you can buy from http://scientificsonline.com/Product.asp_Q_pn_E_3043359 for $16 and cut into pieces for at lest 25 mirrors. I have seen my friend who repair screw mount use this mirror. DAG sell for $30 a piece. If you think they re-coat your mirror, how much it will cost?

However, around Christmas of last year I experienced some intermittent slow speeds, there was some hesitation in the slow speed mechanism and the 1/5 speed would no longer engage. After a phone call to Mr. Maddox, the camera was returned to him on January 25th. He did a followup service at no charge. I received the camera back from him this afternoon. He was prompt and courteous as usual.

 

this is a lousy repair

Well Dan, it seems you're just too smart for me. I should have consulted you first. I've posted some information here I thought might be beneficial to this, at times, dysfunctional forum.

 

Thank you for living up to my expecations.

Sorry Jeff

I am not a regular visit of this forum; If I saw your post I would help you, at least I have a one of my friend is a Leica repair technician. I remembered a story an old lady had a radio, she changed the battery and the radio stopped to work, so she brought it to a repair shop, the repairman found that the battery was installed in a wrong direction, so repairman charged old lady regular repair fee.

I'm sorry too Dan. If I misunderstood your tone it is because I have come to expect harsh comments on this forum. I find it odd that people feel they can voice an opinion, at times a harsh opinion about another's problem or desire to help make this forum a useful resource.

How does the lens perform now with the repaired and reinstalled front element on this 50/2 Summicron?