sherry krauter repairs

[morocco]

too often i find myself complaining about so many things. but,

today, i must praise sherry krauter.

 

nearly 3 weeks ago my m6ttl's shutter jammed. through this website

i learned of many repair specialists, and on a friday night i called

and emailed many of them. i figured i could leave messages, and

that maybe some businesses were open on saturday and could respond

before monday. sherry ANSWERED THE PHONE that friday night and gave

me her diagnosis. over 4 days i talked to her 3 more times and she

didn't seem annoyed.

 

i sent her the camera after telling her how desperately i needed it

back soon (i suppose everyone does this).

 

after she received my camera i heard nothing. of course i assumed

it was sitting on a shelf, ready to be worked on after christmas.

then i called her after she'd had it for two weeks... and had to

leave a message on her machine. how horrifying. she'd always

answered the phone the previous 4 calls. then an email from

her: "i'll let you know more by the end of the week." oh, no.

 

2 days later she emailed that it was done and i could have it next

day aired. i didn't see the email until 2:30pm friday, but did

reply that, if possible, i still would like next day delivery. i

received no email response.

 

today i received my camera before noon.

 

this afternoon was the one saturday afternoon where neither my wife

nor i were working before christmas. this afternoon was the only

day really possible for us to do our holiday photoshoot with our 2

young daughters. the camera was received before they awoke from

their naps.

 

i was pleased with the 19 day turnaround time, but truly impressed

with her obviously going out of her way late friday afternoon to

have this camera in my hands the next day.

 

i assume the workmanship is very good (that IS her reputation).

i'll let you know otherwise.

 

but sherry's availability, turnaround time, and her extra effort

related to shipping have given me great customer satisfaction.

 

for anyone who hasn't needed a leica repair yet, i thought you

should know. i recommend her strongly.

 

thanks, sherry.

[mark_messerly]

I'd like to add my praise for some fantastic work on two old Leica Threadmount lenses, both ca 1951... they came back butter smooth and are now a joy to use.

[__hank_boneroneo1]

Damn it Jay, quit foolin around.

[a m]

I also had great results! She fixed a Leica IIIC that had an obvious focus problem. I think that during a previous overhaul (by Leica NJ in the 1970's), some shims were removed from the lens flange. Sherry sorted it out, and now the thing works correctly.

[feli]

She's great. Over the years Sherry has CLA'ed three M-cameras for me and brought one

back from the dead (cracked body shell). Turn around time has always been about 4-6

weeks.

 

 

Feli

[capocheny]

Bill,

 

Good to hear that Sherry's work was competent and that you were happy with her

service.

 

There's four technicians that folks on this site consistently rave about and, from the

reviews, they're ALL competent: Gerry Smith@Kindermann (Canada), DAG, Sherry

Krauter, and John(?) at Focal Point.

 

When my M6 viewfinder lines went down on me I sent it in to Don Golderg. I emailed

him and received an almost instantaneous reply. In addition to repairing this initial

problem, I also had him do the viewfinder alterations to reduce the flare problem and

replace a couple of other parts (rewind crank, ASA dial, etc.

 

The camera was sent down to Don on Monday, received on Tuesday, and I had it back

in my mitts by Saturday morning. I sure can't complain about the service I received

from Don... that's for sure!

 

Cheers

[morocco]

hank,

 

really, im not jay. in fact, researching anything on this site usually offers insight from jay. it is his biting evaluation of sherry that made me nervous to use her at first. it is also a small part of why i wanted to mention my positive experience.

 

bill.

[j_sevigny]

Last year, I wrote to Sherry asking her for a part. She wrote back saying that she'd sent it to

me along with an invoice. I paid nothing up front. I got the part -- it was perfect -- in two

days. It was perfect, and I sent her a check. I have no experience getting repairs from her, but

so far I like the way she does business.

[ben z]

I've had dealings with DAG and Sherry and Leica in Northvale. They all did good work I can't complain about at all. Personality-wise I like dealing with DAG the best but that's an individual thing.

[dennis_couvillion]

Sherry is the best Leica service person that I have dealt with... and a helluva nice gal too.

[johnmarkpainter]

I too am a big fan of Sherry.

 

jmp

[erik_gould1]

I've been very pleased with the work Sherry has done for me: fast, reasonable and

done right. Can't ask for anything more.

[paul_antonino]

shes up all night working on the things she works out of her house and she knows her stuff ,if anyone here is turned off by her demeanor then your probably wrapped too tight to begin with ,she knows the cameras inside out,bought my first SL from her i like her no bull attitude sort of like the guys i grew up with ..........paul

[john_elder1]

Sherry is great! She did a Leica CL which was a gift for my 13 year old son and gave him a free strap and lens cap. The camera is grreat. She also did an M4 and a lens for me. I will continue to send her all my Leica repairs. Really consider her for lens cla's. She did a 40 Cron C and its absolutely beautiful;the only thing wrong with it, is that it is on my son's CL.

[rolfe_tessem]

I can only echo the compliments that others have offered above.

 

Sherry has overhauled a number of cameras for me and all have come back with the

actions working like butter.

 

But the most recent project was a real challenge: I wanted to transform an MDa plus an M3

finder into a working camera. This took close to a year to acquire all the parts -- in the

end we needed an M4 shell and an M4 top plate in addition to the parts I supplied.

 

The final result is great -- I have what amounts to an M4 with an M3 finder with the

original MDa innards.

 

Needless to say, the action feels like butter. Despite the fact that I have several other M

cameras, this one is my favorite, and in case it isn't clear, I recommend Sherry

wholeheartedly.

[ben z]

"paul antonino , dec 05, 2004; 07:05 p.m.

...if anyone here is turned off by her demeanor then your probably wrapped too tight to begin with...i like her no bull attitude sort of like the guys i grew up with"

 

Her "demeanor" just makes me chuckle, she reminds me of The Fonz. What turned me off was that without me asking she ran me down a list of reasons why the M6 was crap. If I'd called seeking her advice on which M to buy I would've appreciated her "no bull" attitude. However, since I already owned the M6 all she did was insult my choice. It's like if I went to a vet and he said "Geez, what an ugly dog you've got, should be put down...but hey, I'm going to do you a favor and treat him anyway". BTW I like me just the way I'm wrapped, thanks.

[rolfe_tessem]

Ben,

 

She will tell you that and then when you send her your M6 she will overhaul it so that it

comes back working better and smoother than the day it left the factory. You will be

amazed :-).

[ben z]

DAG did that too, but without calling my camera crap. I owned an M4P that Sherry overhauled (bought it from a store that uses her), and it ran good. If DAG were too busy or went out of business or something I'd give the job to Sherry.

[charlie_meyer]

"It's like if I went to a vet and he said "Geez, what an ugly dog you've got, should be put down...but hey, I'm going to do you a favor and treat him anyway"."

 

You couldn't be more wrong! Apart from expert advice, service, and repairs, which have been spot on, Sherry adopted a rescue dog and supports rescue. Were I to use a veterinarian analogy, Sherry is like the best vets I see (and in rescue I see lots of them): "If this were my dog/lens/camera, this is what I would do..."and then put her decades of experience and superlative standards to do it right. Just like the vet who, while spaying a dog of mine years ago, found a potentially fatal hidden injury to her spleen, fixed it, and didn't take me to the cleaners.

 

When I need the services of a professional, I'd want someone like Sherry to give me the straight facts, not whisper sweet nothings in my ear. I'm rolling my M3 kit through her this year. Highest recommendation.

[stevenwu]

I have to chime in and add another vote for Sherry.

 

About a week ago I did the unthinkable and accidentally dropped my Noctilux mounted on my M8. I put it down on a clothing shelf to try on a jacket and when I pulled my arm away my arm caught the strap and sent it sailing from about 4 feet unto wood flooring. I picked up the camera expecting the worse but hoping for something not so bad. The M8 looked pretty untouched except for a light scratch on the baseplate, but apparently the combination had fallen face first on the lens because the IR filter was really bent out of shape on one side. I've always been a, I don't use filters snob, but thank goodness for the M8's IR sensitivity!

 

The Noctilux looked fine but as I turned the focusing ring it stopped about 2 cm short of infinity. Was this the worse case scenario that I had been hoping wouldn't happen? Did I just destroy a 5K lens? This happened on a Saturday so I had to wait until Monday before I could call DAG or Sherry.

 

Then I noticed that Sherry is in NY and she was only an hour and a half away. I called her and I was hoping you would say it wasn't so bad but of course I knew it was impossible for her to tell just how bad it was without seeing the lens. We arranged to meet up that Saturday which was the earliest available day that I had to drive up to Campbell NY. Things ran late Saturday and I wasn't able to leave the house until 8 PM and it was pouring rain outside. Sherry said it wasn't a problem to still come since apparently she works on Leica gear until 4-5 AM in the morning. She says that's the best time to work so that she doesn't have interruptions from phone calls and deliveries. The only thing she was concerned about was the weather. I decided to go anyway since I couldn't wait any longer to find out if my beloved Noctilux was severely damaged. The rain was torrential. I can't remember the last time I had to use the wipers at the fastest setting.

 

Thankfully, I made it in pretty good time despite the weather. I was greeted by her friendly dog Sadie and her two cats. We chatted for a little bit and then I showed her the Noctliux and she took it to her workshop. I waited in her living room. She was gone for maybe 30 minutes and when she returned she handed me the lens and said, "Try it now." I turned the focusing ring and much to my delight it was once again able to travel the full focusing range. In fact, the focusing ring felt even better, smoother than it had felt before. Her fee was very fair, but had she said something 5 times as much I still would have happily paid. The drive home was much easier since the rain had died down to almost nothing and certainly my mind was more at ease knowing that the Noctilux was once again working perfectly.