Focal Point for M4 overhaul?

[jason_b.]

Do the guys at Focal Point do good CLA work? How about re-camming Leica RF lenses?

Any reviews, both positive and negative would be great.

[nasmformyzombie]

Well, this is not a body job or a cam job, but about one year ago, I had the front element on a Rigid Summicron redone by Focal Point. Buffed out the scratches and re-coated the lens. John and his guys did an incredible job! If you want your gear done right AND delievered on time as promised I can recommmend Focal Point without hesitation or reservation.

[feli]

John has done several lenses for me and always came off as incredibly professional. I can't

imagine him taking a job he couldn't properly execute. He's got a very good reputation.

 

Feli

[andrew1]

I don't know about Focal Point, Jason, but I do know about DAG, and, well,

why go anywhere else?

[jason_b.]

Well, DAG did great work for me too, but he forgot to do a couple of things I asked him to

do. No big deal, just a delay, and I'd like to know what else is out there. He also seemed a

little shy of doing any cam work for me, not knowing which way to adjust it etc. My M3 he

did is perfect though.

[frank_meeker]

I've had a top plate on an SL replaced as well as ome other stuff

done by John at Focal Point. His work was excellent and his

prices reasonable. A gentleman and a fine repair man. I

recommend him highly. BTW, the last time I was there, he

indicated that he will no longer work on M5's as their ceramic

circuit board is no longer available. Take the batts out when you

store it and don't drop it on it's top cover.

 

Regards,

 

Frank M.

[Rob F.]

John did a great job recementing and cleaning a DRS for me. The work he did in overhauling my M2 was good except that the finder frames were disappearing on the right side when I got it back from him. A second round trip to Colorado was needed to put the finder right. Work by DAG, Sherry, et. al. have at times been marked by boo-boos. Sherry CLA'd my M3. A year later, I thought to try out the selftimer and found it didn't work. I even recall reading a boo-boo report about DAG in a recent thread.

 

So here's my point. I think Focal Point is competent, but John doesn't walk on water, any more than the others do. No reason to shy away, just for that.

[ben z]

Sherry Krauter and Don Goldberg are both factory-trained Leica repairmen who worked for Leica and have extensive stocks of old parts including probably the meter parts for M5. I'd say which one to choose depends on what you need done. Only John re-coats lenses. Don re-glues separated rangefinder prisms, Sherry doesn't and I don't know about John.

[capocheny]

Jason,

 

I've also just had some work done by Don Goldberg... first class all the way! He

promised to have the camera (M6) repaired and returned to me within a certain time

frame and it was.

 

I've also heard that John @ Focalpoint is a very good technician but I've not had any

work done by him though.

 

Cheers

[jim_reed]

I used John van Stelten at Focal Point to do a CLA on an M3 a couple of years ago and he did a superb job. He'll be pretty candid with you on what he can/cannot (or will not) do. I can heartily recommend him. My one hesitation is that I thought I saw something a while back saying that John was taking a year or so off to go out of the country. Is he back in Colorado now?

[claude_batmanghelidj]

CRR in the UK are the people you want to have your camera repaired by. Peter is a wizard and I can recommend him without hesitation. I think he will put most of the others to shame.