ceejaybee wrote:
has anyone ever been to the Leica store in London?
I recently moved here from NYC, and am interested in taking a visit.
can let everyone know how it is!
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1bwana1 wrote:
The Leica Store Mayfair is one of the premier stores in the collection. Large, well inventoried, excellent staff with service tech on site, gallery, academy, and frequent events.
For sure make the effort to visit.
I’m sorry to say that my experience of the London store is rather more mixed. They did a nice repair on my wife’s old pair of Leica binoculars. But when I called them about a year ago to enquire about having three older Leica lenses 6-bit coded, I rapidly concluded that it would be better to have the work done elsewhere. I may call into the store again at some point, but won’t be rushing to do so.
Andrew CD wrote:
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I’m sorry to say that my experience of the London store is rather more mixed. They did a nice repair on my wife’s old pair of Leica binoculars. But when I called them about a year ago to enquire about having three older Leica lenses 6-bit coded, I rapidly concluded that it would be better to have the work done elsewhere. I may call into the store again at some point, but won’t be rushing to do so.
I have no experience using them for serious repairs. But great experience with the free cleanings, and other services normally associated with Leica retail stores. The fact that more complicated services are available is just a bonus even if not optimal.
Why not just do the 6 bit encoding yourself? It is easy, risk free, takes about 1 minute per lens, and the equipment to do it will cost very little for a basically unlimited number of lenses.
1bwana1 wrote:
I have no experience using them for serious repairs. But great experience with the free cleanings, and other services normally associated with Leica retail stores. The fact that more complicated services are available is just a bonus even if not optimal.
Why not just do the 6 bit encoding yourself? It is easy, risk free, takes about 1 minute per lens, and the equipment to do it will cost very little for a basically unlimited number of lenses.
That’s exactly what I did in the end (thanks to a 3D-printed template for getting the ‘bits’ in the right positions).
I’d much prefer to be unreservedly positive about the store in London but, actually, I also had a rather negative experience when I called to enquire about a used lens that they had for sale. (By contrast, I have found Red Dot, on the edge of the City, a pleasure to deal with, on several occasions.) It’s good to hear that your experience was more favourable, though.
1bwana1 wrote:
Why not just do the 6 bit encoding yourself? It is easy, risk free, takes about 1 minute per lens, and the equipment to do it will cost very little for a basically unlimited number of lenses.
I wouldn't call it risk-free. Lots of issues with the black paint when doing it yourself - it seems to easily scratch off over time, and its debris then lands on the sensor. Better just doing the white squares only - the white paint seems to stick better. I shined away of doing it myself so far on my lenses.
retrofocus wrote:
I wouldn't call it risk-free. Lots of issues with the black paint when doing it yourself - it seems to easily scratch off over time, and its debris then lands on the sensor. Better just doing the white squares only - the white paint seems to stick better. I shined away of doing it myself so far on my lenses.
I don't suggest using paint. As you have pointed out it tends to go on too thick which does have the potential for issues. I use a special pen for putting on the black squares. Microscopically thin application, and works well. Does just painting the white squares work. I only apply the black squares and depend on the reflectivity of the silver metal to reflect the light like whit paint does. It works perfectly that way. How does only painting white work? The silver remains reflective...
Using my method I have a number of lenses 6 bit encoded and have used them for years without issues. Voigtlander lenses seem better for this than leica because of the recess in the mount plate, but the leica lense work well too.
1bwana1 wrote:
The Leica Store Mayfair is one of the premier stores in the collection. Large, well inventoried, excellent staff with service tech on site, gallery, academy, and frequent events.
For sure make the effort to visit.
that's amazing to hear! I definitely will be going soon
1bwana1 wrote:
I don't suggest using paint. As you have pointed out it tends to go on too thick which does have the potential for issues. I use a special pen for putting on the black squares. Microscopically thin application, and works well. Does just painting the white squares work. I only apply the black squares and depend on the reflectivity of the silver metal to reflect the light like whit paint does. It works perfectly that way. How does only painting white work? The silver remains reflective...
Using my method I have a number of lenses 6 bit encoded and have used them for years without issues. Voigtlander lenses seem better for this than leica because of the recess in the mount plate, but the leica lense work well too. ...Show more →
Good points - I have personally no experience with home-made coding since I also disabled the lens recognition feature on my digital M cameras. I remember to have watched a few months ago a YouTube video which mentioned that one paint scratches quicker off than the other, and it was recommended only to use one paint and not the other - I might have mixed up black and white above as you indicated.
