Does anyone know of a repair person or firm that will overhaul a Minolta CLE body? The shutter has been acting up (and is jammed right now), the seals are getting sticky, and it needs a general tuneup and TLC. I'm located in U.S.A.

Many thanks,

-- N

-- Nicholas Hartmann (polyglot@execpc.com), January 03, 2002

Answers

Parts are extremely limited for the CLE, so lets hope you don't need any. Try this place:

http://www.precision-camera.com/repair/minolta.htm

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), January 03, 2002.

Nicholas, I would give Sherry a call , she really likes the M5 and CL , Sherry is wonderful to deal with and does great work. Golden Touch Sherry Krauter 118 Purgatory Rd., Campbell Hall, NY, 10916 krauter@warwick.net 845.496.8834 Fax 845.496.3656

Chuck

-- Charles C. Stirk Jr. (ccstirkjr@yahoo.com), January 03, 2002.

(Chuck: Note that this was a CLE, though, not a CL. different camera!)

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), January 03, 2002.

Essex Camera has a very good reputation for repairing all manner of otherwise "unrepairable" cameras.

Essex Camera Service 100 Amor Avenue Carlstadt, New Jersey 07072 Phone: (201)-933-7272 Fax: (201)-933-7647 email: info@essexcamera.com web:

Godfrey

-- Godfrey (ramarren@bayarea.net), January 04, 2002.

Grr, that's annoying... Essex Camera Service
100 Amor Avenue
Carlstadt, New Jersey 07072
Phone: (201)-933-7272
Fax: (201)-933-7647
email: info@essexcamera.com
web: http:// www.essexcamera.com/


-- Godfrey (ramarren@bayarea.net), January 04, 2002.

I'd call Minolta first. My CLE was recently serviced, including a recalibration of the exposure meter, by the local (Hong Kong) Minolta Repair Service. It was done within a week at a very reasonable price.

-- Hoyin Lee (leehoyin@hutchcity.com), January 04, 2002.

I was told Minolta USA does not work on the CLE anymore. Anyone checked this out? I know they have basically zero parts for it.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), January 04, 2002.

I had my CLE fixed (the TTL flash wasn't working) by Stepen Gandy at http://www.cameraquest.com/. He is helpful, knowledgeable, and the turn-around was prompt. (I believe he has some one else actually do the repairs.)

If you look through his web pages, you'll find detailed information about all Leicas, including the CL and CLE cameras. There is also information there as to how to contact him.

-- Robert L Jones (mail@visionsurgery.net), January 04, 2002.

I also had my CLE serviced through Stephen Gandy. The exposure meter and TTL flash were not working and the circuit was replaced which is quite impressive considering that the parts are rare. The turn around time on this repair was quite long compared to other repairs he had done for me, but apparently he gave it to one technician first who did not get to it in a timely manner, so he he gave it to another who fixed it promptly. The camera works fine now.

-- Steve Rosenblum (stevierose@yahoo.com), January 05, 2002.

Steve and Robert: Mind letting us know how much these repairs cost and how long it took?

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), January 06, 2002.

As I recall, the repairs were done 2 years ago and required about 3 to 4 weeks, costing around $100.

-- Robert Jones (mail@visionsurgery.net), January 06, 2002.

Thanks to everyone who provided answers. After about a week of gathering information, here is the upshot:

Sherry Krauter will not handle CLEs because there are "no parts available."

Essex Camera says they can deal with the problem for $150.

Nippon Camera in New York will no longer work on CLEs because they can't get parts.

Stephen Gandy would charge about $200 to address the problems, but can't guarantee success.

Precision Camera in Austin hasn't responded to e-mails and isn't answering the phone.

Minolta USA won't handle CLEs any more because... they can't get parts.

The CLE body in question belonged to my late father, so it has some sentimental value. On the other hand, he was a professional photographer and was entirely unsentimental about cameras: when they broke or became too old to support, he moved on to something else. I think that's what I will do as well: even if this particular body can be put into working order right now, sooner or later it will turn out to be unrepairable. So it will probably stay on the shelf as a memento and

-- Nicholas Hartmann (polyglot@execpc.com), January 10, 2002.