Current Rolleiflex CLA Cost?

[mtargz]

What's with the high prices? Are they specific to Rolleiflexes, or do the "international" celeb-repairers allow themselves to charge a premium?

In my city, there's a street where pretty much all the camera-folks set up shop: From the authorized Nikon importer, through the we-stock-everything "supermarkets" and down to the rarity-dealers. The two best repairers in the country work across the street from one another; both worked together as watch-makers earlier last century, so their workmanship is top notch. I try to use both.

In any case, a Mamiya C330 was overhauled for the equivalent of 125$: The CLA included readjusting film transport, replacing the "dark-slide", cleaning a total of four (two pairs) of lenses, restoring a completely-bent filter ring and readjusting both Seiko leaf-shutters (used to hang). It now works as good as it gets - I wouldn't hesitate to give that guy a Rolleiflex.

[ChipMcD]

I think steep repair prices might be for Rolleis and in this country in particular. There are not a lot of repairers left. Sherry Kräuter for Leicas is less, I think. I hear that Hasselblad's in-house repair is quite expensive. There are probably independent shops that are cheaper for those, and for Rolleis for all I know.

[flyingpalm]

It will cost $200 here in Vancouver.

[Vics]

I've had lots of experience with Harry Fleenor, all good, and here's his info: http://www.rolleirepairs.com/
I took 2 Rolleis in to him at Thanksgiving and at that time he was 12 weeks out. He fixed one while I waited, and I expect the other sometime this month. I don't get CLAs on Rolleis because mine seem a bit repair intensive, so I just get 'em fixed as they break down.

[Harry Lime]

www.rolleirepairs.com

Harry Fleenor

Excellent work. Former Rollei employee

[Harry Lime]

Originally Posted by flyingpalm

It will cost $200 here in Vancouver.

Where in Vancouver? I may be looking for a focusing screen for a 2.8F

thx

[Harry Lime]

Originally Posted by David Murphy

Yes I can if you email me. Some of the other users above have mentioned a few. A CLA of most camera bodies should never cost more than about $180 anywhere, and that includes shutter curtains for cameras with cloth focal plane shutters. One key is to find a local repairmen you can work with directly rather than through an intermediary like a camera shop (who often takes a cut). This also saves money on shipping charges and allows one to negotiate the cost and appropriate extent of the work.

I really don't agree with this.

I went to one of the cheaper repair shops that were supposedly reputable and they butchered my 2.8F. I ended up having to take it to Fleenor and he showed me how the other guy had screwed everything up. He even found loose and missing screws inside the camera, resulting in a lightleak.

A Rolleiflex is mechanically more complex than most people give it credit for. Just getting the focus 'sled' properly aligned in all axis is not a trivial task and there are plenty of specialized tools that you need from Rollei.

The average price for a full Leica M CLA at one of the reliable shops is between $250-360 dollars these days. But these are service technicians who worked for or were trained by Leica. They have the tools to do the job right, unlike some fly by night guy, who read the repair manual and is going to pour 3-in-1 oil in your camera.

I just send my M7 to Kindermann for service and he actually asked me who had previously worked on the camera, because he had noticed some strange things in there, that he claimed no Leica trained technician would do. Two years ago I was in London and the camera got jammed . I did not have the time to send it to Leica Germany. So, I had a local guy fix it through a Leica dealer. It was relatively cheap, but I guess I got what I payed for...

So, in my experience spending the extra money to get the job done right by a repair shop with a good reputation is more than worth it and in the long run sometimes cheaper.

[David Murphy]

Originally Posted by Harry Lime

I really don't agree with this.

I went to one of the cheaper repair shops that were supposedly reputable and they butchered my 2.8F. I ended up having to take it to Fleenor and he showed me how the other guy had screwed everything up. He even found loose and missing screws inside the camera, resulting in a lightleak.

A Rolleiflex is mechanically more complex than most people give it credit for. Just getting the focus 'sled' properly aligned in all axis is not a trivial task and there are plenty of specialized tools that you need from Rollei.

The average price for a full Leica M CLA at one of the reliable shops is between $250-360 dollars these days. But these are service technicians who worked for or were trained by Leica. They have the tools to do the job right, unlike some fly by night guy, who read the repair manual and is going to pour 3-in-1 oil in your camera.

I just send my M7 to Kindermann for service and he actually asked me who had previously worked on the camera, because he had noticed some strange things in there, that he claimed no Leica trained technician would do. Two years ago I was in London and the camera got jammed . I did not have the time to send it to Leica Germany. So, I had a local guy fix it through a Leica dealer. It was relatively cheap, but I guess I got what I payed for...

So, in my experience spending the extra money to get the job done right by a repair shop with a good reputation is more than worth it and in the long run sometimes cheaper.

Many local repairmen have both extensive factory training from camera repair schools and from most of the existing and some defunct camera companies - not exactly amateurs. I am extremely suspicious of the self-appointed repairmen out there that "specialize" in one type of collectible camera or other. This perpetuates the "only I hold the sceptre of knowledge" attitude (coupled with outrageous prices and waiting lists for work). A narrow skill set actually indicates a lack of training.

[mtargz]

Originally Posted by David Murphy

Many local repairmen have both extensive factory training from camera repairs schools and from most of the existing and some defunct camera companies - not exactly amateurs. I am extremely suspicious of the self-appointed repairmen out there that "specialize" in one type of collectible camera or other. This perpetuates the "only I hold the sceptre of knowledge" attitude (coupled with outrageous prices and waiting lists for work). A narrow skill set actually indicates a lack of training.

Exactly that. When someone specializes, it might be a good sign - if it's common work. But when a "regular" guy has walls of cameras that he repaired, and every local pro visited him, it's probably just as safe a bet - if not safer, in case the problem is out of the specializer's field of expertise.

Plus, I've never seen a repairman, in any field - from car-mechanics through leather-workers to plumbers, praise "the previous guy". I once took my watch to a repairman - brand new, directly from the manufacturer - and he complained that "whoever worked on it didn't know what to do". Part of their business - diss the old guy, show every flaw you could find, even if it's a factory flaw. Every plumber will discover some "major" problem that only he, as a trained professional, will see and fix for a certain price.

[Uwe_Nds]

Originally Posted by mtargz

...

In any case, a Mamiya C330 was overhauled for the equivalent of 125$: The CLA included
- readjusting film transport,
- replacing the "dark-slide",
- cleaning a total of four (two pairs) of lenses,
- restoring a completely-bent filter ring
- and readjusting both Seiko leaf-shutters (used to hang).
It now works as good as it gets - I wouldn't hesitate to give that guy a Rolleiflex.

Originally Posted by mtargz

...Every plumber will discover some "major" problem that only he, as a trained professional, will see and fix for a certain price.

Ok, what's the USD-equivalent man-hour rate for your plumber in your country?

How many hours would the abouve CLA probably take if done properly?

Cheers,
Uwe

[mtargz]

Originally Posted by Uwe_Nds

Ok, what's the USD-equivalent man-hour rate for your plumber in your country?

How many hours would the abouve CLA probably take if done properly?

Cheers,
Uwe

Minimum wage is around 5-6$ per hour, ye average office drone would probably earn 8-10$. Prices seem to translate well to European prices, from what I saw in my extensive European tours.

Total turnaround was 2 days, but then again, I was pretty much the only job he had on that day. He opened it up within two hours, gave me an estimate by noon, and phoned again the next evening saying I could pick it up. It may sound like a quick-and-dirty, but there wasn't much majorly wrong - he did reassemble two Seiko shutters (an aperture-blade was pretty much glued to a shutter-blade), but as an ex-watchmaker, I don't think that was much of a problem. The Mamiya is a complicated beast, but pretty straightforward and self-explanatory.

[Vics]

I have my guys. My Leica guy is Youxin Ye. My Contax guy is Henry Scherer. My Rollei guy is Harry Fleenor. The last time I took a camera to a local repairman, he looked at my Nikon F and basically told me to get lost.

[el fotografo]

This is Krimar in his shop in New Jersey. I took my Rolleicord V to him last year for a CLA and brought my M5 to take his photo.
My 'cord was in good shape so the cost was $200.
Very nice man. I spent some time talking to him about how he started repairing Rolleis.
He is Armenian and was raised in Cairo, Egypt.
He started working in a camera shop as a kid and was sent to Germany twice for training on Rolleis and Linhofs. He came to the US in the 1950's and raised his family in NJ.
His small shop is like going back in time- everything in original plastic bags with Rollei hang tags.
FYI- he told me to always travel with the camera with the bellows compressed in so the front plate cannot get knocked out of alignment.

[Jani_from_Finland]

150 euros is what my current CLA costs at my local repairmans shop for a Flex 2.8E and some 80-100 euros for a Cord K3C

[MC JC86]

Essex Camera $140.95 a couple months ago... I've had some terrible experiences with other places that charge less. OTOH, I've had multiple Rolleiflex and other TLRs done by Essex with a 0% refusal/return rate and all looking and working beautiful. Essex is one of those places that does almost EVERYTHING from digital to really esoteric Russian cameras and everything in between. I have, however, dealt with a few places with the same MO that were just butchers plain and simple, despite people extolling their virtues simply because they could fix the squeal in an A-1.

[hientp]

sent my 3.5f to Krimar on Monday and got back on Wed, haven't check it yet but seem it is very smooth, $150 for cla is reasonable. no complaint about

[Steve M.]

Paul Ebel. He's as good or better than anyone else, and he charged me $170 plus shipping about a year ago. Excellent repairman, and great communication. He won't leave you wondering when your camera will be completed, and when it comes back it will be very smooth.

[ray*j*gun]

Originally Posted by MC JC86

Essex Camera $140.95 a couple months ago... I've had some terrible experiences with other places that charge less. OTOH, I've had multiple Rolleiflex and other TLRs done by Essex with a 0% refusal/return rate and all looking and working beautiful. Essex is one of those places that does almost EVERYTHING from digital to really esoteric Russian cameras and everything in between. I have, however, dealt with a few places with the same MO that were just butchers plain and simple, despite people extolling their virtues simply because they could fix the squeal in an A-1.

Agree with James..... Essex has worked on 5 of my cameras over the years and very different formats.....all done well, quickly and reasonably.

[Matus]

I recall paying around 125 Euro for shutter CLA (film transport did not need it) by Jurgen Kuschnik in Germany last year. Total CLA would have been around 200 euro or so. The 125 euro included fixing a loose tripod mount some 1 or 2 small details (shutter release I guess). Jurgen also provided me measured shutter times before and after the CLA.

[thompsonks]

IMO the main issue is whether or not you might need parts. Mark Hansen (who does good work) has few parts and Harry Fleenor mentioned he wanted a particular model for parts. Rolleis-for-parts sell for impressive prices on xBay.

Krikor has had plenty of parts available for everything I've needed. So I send cameras to Mark if they just need a bit of cleaning & adjustment, and to Krikor if I suspect they need parts.

Krikor once put a mint crank on an F for me for free, because he did a lot of other work on it & didn't think the old one looked good enough for the rest of the camera.

Kirk

[Vics]

Originally Posted by Matus

I recall paying around 125 Euro for shutter CLA (film transport did not need it) by Jurgen Kuschnik in Germany last year. Total CLA would have been around 200 euro or so. The 125 euro included fixing a loose tripod mount some 1 or 2 small details (shutter release I guess). Jurgen also provided me measured shutter times before and after the CLA.

Harry Fleenor is quoting $134 for shutter overhaul on a 2.8F on his site so, about the same or a bit less.

[Acidic_Lemon]

Harry Fleenor told me he will assess my 3.5F when I shipped it out to him. Does anyone know if he give estimated quotations or he will based on current condition when received? Is Krikor faster than Fleenor in terms of a CLA overhaul and service charges-wise?

I sent out my overly modified automat to Mark Hansen. His quote is as follows:

For a Shutter CLA you are looking at 90-120 dollars, with the the above. Film transport is 120 dollars, New mirror is 20.

[JeffL]

Maybe wait till your automat is back from Mark Hansen . If you like the job he did, sent the 3.5F. Just a thought. I have had Fleenor service my 3.5F and he did a great job. If you're in a hurry try Paul Ebel. I have not used him but have read nothing but good reports. I got a Maxwell screen for the 3.5F and put it in myself - what a difference!

[Frontman]

Some people say that "you get what you pay for", and this often applies to camera repairs. I am an amatuer repairer myself, and I come across a lot of cameras which have been Mickey-moused by someone in the past. That said, the Rolleiflex is not that complicated of a camera, in fact, it is actually quite simple in comparison to many newer and less expensive cameras. I had no difficulty cleaning and adjusting the shutter and film transport in a couple of my Rolleis, and synchronizing the lenses was a much less complicated job than I expected it to be. I found cleaning the shutter mechanism in a Canonet QL17 to be far more challenging, but it costs far less to get a CLA for a Canonet than for a Rolleiflex.

[Robert Lai]

I paid $600 to Harry Fleenor for overhaul of a 3.5F. That included installation of a Maxwell screen, which cost $200. It took over 4 months to get the camera back.

11 months later, I sent it to Clarence Gass of Mission KS, who had to install a new main shutter spring, and re-overhaul the camera. Cost was $200.
Clarence took 1 month, mainly because it was around Christmas, and he had to wait for the spring to come from Germany. I just got the camera back. It is silky smooth, and the shutter and self timer works reliably now.

I would recommend Clarence the first time around.