I drop my R8 and bend the lens mount

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Hi all: I had drop my R8 during a recent photo trip. Luckly, all electronic and glasses seems to be OK except the lens mount on both the body and lens were bent. Any suggestion where is the best place for repair. Approximatly how much would it cost. I live in Canada. Thanks in advance.

-- Chi cheung (chic@intergate.bc.ca), December 03, 2001

Answers

Chi Cheung,

First let me be the first to commiserate with you. That sounds like a terrible accident - the stuff of which nightmares are made. Considering how strong the R8 body is, it must have received quite a hard whack to have bent the lens mount. There are several lens-body linkages around the mount and every one of those is probably damaged too. I hope it can be repaired economically.

-- Ray Moth (ray_moth@yahoo.com), December 04, 2001.


Chi:

I do my Clark Kent thing during the day at a repair facility, not as a technician, but rather as support. I hope some or all the the following will help you.

One of the checkout procedures is lens flange- making sure the film rails are parallel to the lens mount. This has to be maintained for obvious reasons. I don't see alot of bodies go out of tolerance and come back in. The lensmount rests on a front plate in most instances, and an impact strong enough to bend this (not necessarily the lens mount) would cause damage to related structural or mechanical components. Your R8 however, is probably worth enough for a repair to be economical. We've got an F5 in for the same problem, and it makes sense to take care this accident of on the top-end bodies.

That Leica glass, however, deserves to have perfect bodies behind them. But truth be known, I'm not sure how much warping it would take to start affecting your photos, but I don't feel like testing. Alot depends on the lens' back focus, and this varies from optic to optic. To eliminate all doubt, buy a new body. Realistically, I would probably send the R8 to Leica. There are problably other independent shops that could do an equally good job, but don't just drop it off with the first or the cheapest guy you find.

Hope this helps, and I am saddened at your unfortunate accident.

-- Mike DeVoue (karma77@att.net), December 04, 2001.


I'll give you a worst case from my own experience, and then we'll hope things work out better in your case.

I dropped a Nikon FM2/w/motor and big heavy 135 f/2. It landed right on the motor and lens tip - 'splitting' the two and bending the camera's mount ring (but not the lens's mount) like a ski jump.

Nikon 'repaired' it but I found the focus was still off - took it back in and on second inspection they found the front silumin body casting had cracked - which basically meant rebuilding from scratch. Since they'd missed it on the first repair it was covered under the repair warranty, fortunately.

So make sure whoever repairs it digs deep enough. I don't know for sure how the R8 compares to the smaller FM2 re: internal construction - but the brochures say 'cast aluminum'. It also probably depends on which lens and how heavy it was.

I take it you don't have (or are past) the Passport Warranty period? Because that covers even drops like yours.

-- Andy Piper (apidens@denver.infi.net), December 04, 2001.


If the camera is under warranty it should go the Lisle Kelco (the current Canadian distributor of Leica). They are in Toronto and can be contacted through there website at . The best service in Canada (in many peoples opinion) is at Kindermann Canada, also in Toronto. Their site is , talk to Gerry in service.

-- Bob Todrick (bobtodrick@yahoo.com), December 04, 2001.

Don't know what happened above, the websites are www.like.ca and www.kindermann.ca

-- Bob Todrick (bobtodrick@yahoo.com), December 04, 2001.


Chi:

If your R8 is still under Passport Warranty then you don't have to worry about repair costs. Leica Canada will repair it or replace it.

-- Muhammad Chishty (applemac97@aol.com), December 05, 2001.


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