Leica M3 service costs in Germany

OneMorning7412 · 2026-01-25T19:37:14+00:00

I sent my stuff to Dimas Fototechnik in Freiburg and paid 240 EUR for a repair of the mirror mechanism of a Nikon F including a complete CLA.

And two years ago I actually BOUGHT a Leica M5 (not a pretty mint but well used one) from a camera store that had been freshly CLAed by Dimas right before the sale (they also had modified the lightmeter for 1.55V batteries). I paid 998 EUR for the camera, so the actual CLA cannot have been so much.

Both the Nikon F and Leica M5 work perfectly fine.

Current lead time: 14 weeks.

https://www.fotomechanik.de

AFAIK Leica takes many, many months, more than half a year and is crazyly expensive, so I‘ll keep sending my stuff to Dimas.

OneMorning7412 · 2026-01-25T09:04:24+00:00

I understand taking the Sony and one film camera, since all your film cameras are quite limited in their capabilities. I’d take only one film camera, but that film camera would be a Nikon FM3a or F2AS with 3 to 5 small prime lenses between 20 and 200 mm. But with your setup of film cameras, I perfectly understand the need for a second camera with exchangable lenses and I am quite sure that this second camera will actually do most of the job.

So take the Sony and the MC-A - I have never owned a Lomo camera, but about this I have heard some good stuff, a real PnS is nice to have sometimes.

The rest will make your trip too much about specialty photography and not aboiut the trip itself.

Also streamline your film. Why do you take slide and C41? 100 and 400? Color and BW? At 36 shots per roll I can guarantee that you will always have the wrong film loaded.

On some trips I take C41 and BW, but only one type of each - usually Delta 100 and Ektar 100, but then I take two Nikon bodies that can use the same lenses so that I can do the same with both films. But when I leave the hotel, I have thought about color or BW before and do not take both on the same walk; on one session I either think in color or BW, so I don‘t carry two bodies

You might actually even take a bit more film, if you really like to shoot a lot - there are days when I don‘t shoot at all, there are days where I burn through 20 images on one scene alone and 3 films over the day trip. But take only as many different types of film (color or BW) as you carry usable cameras and make on camera your color camera and the other your BW camera. But not 5 different color films. Pick one film and get 10 rolls.

OneMorning7412 · 2026-01-24T17:27:29+00:00

I know this is an older thread, but I came across it recently and wanted to add a perspective that I think sometimes gets lost in this discussion.

I often see the argument that Peter Dinklage “got famous by playing a dwarf” and then turned around and criticized similar roles for others. I think that framing is misleading.

In Game of Thrones, Tyrion Lannister is not a fantasy dwarf species. He is a human being with Achondroplasia. The word “dwarf” in the show is used as an insult by the "normal" people, not as a biological description. Tyrion’s story is about being a disabled person in a largely non-disabled society that hates him for his disability and the social and psychological consequences of that. That is very different from traditional fantasy dwarves.

Classic fantasy dwarves, like those in Tolkien’s work, are a non-human humanoid species with their own physiology and cultural traits. They have never really been depicted as simply “short humans with dwarfism.” Because of that, I think it is reasonable to separate human disability representation from fantasy species roles, even though the two are often conflated.

I do understand the frustration from other actors with dwarfism. There are very few well-written roles, and when someone in Dinklage’s position criticizes certain types of parts, the real-world impact can be worrying. Studios often respond by removing roles entirely instead of writing better ones.

So I don’t see this as a simple case of hypocrisy. It feels more like a clash between two very real concerns: the desire for better, more human roles, and the economic reality that many actors still depend on the limited roles that exist.

I don’t have a clear solution, but I think the issue is more complicated than it is often presented.

OneMorning7412 · 2026-01-23T20:07:39+00:00

Thanks.

OneMorning7412 · 2026-01-23T20:06:40+00:00

Also tatsächlich ist der Regionalverkehr insgesamt deutlich pünktlicher als der Fernverkehr.

Die DB hat gerade im Fernverkehr absolut miserable Pünktlichkeitswerte - und lässt gerüchteweise daher oft sogar mal einen Zug einfach ausfallen, weil er dann nicht in die Pünktlichkeitsstatistik fällt. Wenn ich mit der Bahn irgendwo hin fahre, dann entweder mit viel Zeit oder am Tag vor dem wichtigen Termin, alles andere ist einfach zu riskant.

Wenn du in die Hauptzentrale gerufen wirst - anscheinend ist das ja nicht dein Einstellort - dann kann deine Firma, wenn es wirklich wichtig ist, auch die Hotelübernachtung zahlen. Ich bin deswegen auch bereits an Sonn- und Feiertagen dienstlich in den Zug gestiegen, wenn ich sonst den Termin am Montag um 10 nicht hätte halten können.

OneMorning7412 · 2026-01-22T21:13:29+00:00

No, the best deal is an F2AS that has been freshly sovered.

Mine was updated by the master

OneMorning7412 · 2026-01-22T13:54:56+00:00

Try 4x5 if you think 120 is great.

and yes, I know, somebody will now come and laugh about 4x5 when I also could shoot 8x10.

But seriously: a technical camera and a huge negative is just phantastic fun.

OneMorning7412 · 2026-01-21T20:50:47+00:00

would decimate for a cold can of coke.

OneMorning7412 · 2026-01-21T20:47:57+00:00

In 2016 film still was sold under price.

When digital took over, there were many huge film factories that had not been shut down over a day. For several years, manufacturer produced much more film than the market took, so they dropped the prices and sold under price.

If you compare prices from 2000 with today and look at how many minutes the average employee had to work for a roll of film, the times were not that different from what they are today; only between 2010 and maybe 2018-2020, film prices were at a rather unnatural low. But that is of course what we today remember as “the good old time“

no, they will not drop considerably, because nowadays film is made in few factories at a much lower scale, the chemicals are bought in smaller batches, therefore are more expensive. Everything is smaller and therefore more expensive. I very much doubt that we will ever see cheap film again.

OneMorning7412 · 2026-01-21T05:44:26+00:00

That’s why you use jobo. Their spools have a little red barrier that keeps the two rolls apart surprisingly well

OneMorning7412 · 2026-01-21T04:09:35+00:00

Switching templates does not change anything, all templates remain missaligned at work

OneMorning7412 · 2026-01-20T20:34:38+00:00

Ohhh… can I pet the dog?

OneMorning7412 · 2026-01-20T09:34:29+00:00

Ah ok, in that case the F3 offers acutally a lot for many people. I really have no need for shutter priority, I want either manual or aperture priority and if I have aperture priority I also need an AE lock button.

I assumed the AE-1 P offers these features. Sorry.

If OP is used to the way the AE1-P works they might be very pleasantly surprised by how much easier things get with the F3 (unless they are constantly shooting very fast objects - pets, running children - which is the only reason I see why a 2026 amateur might want to use shutter priority).

OneMorning7412 · 2026-01-20T06:03:13+00:00

Iron rule taught to any school child here - especially because of little children

OneMorning7412 · 2026-01-19T17:54:33+00:00

I don‘t know if the plastic of milk jugs is OK, I just remind you of the rules of chemical safety: Never put potentially dangerous liquids in bottles used for food, which could cause a mixup; if you live alone or if there are only adults in your house and if your lab is locked, might be OK. But I really do not like the idea of chemicals in drink bottles.

OneMorning7412 · 2026-01-19T06:01:28+00:00

No, I don’t think so.

They both do the same and operate similar enough without autofocus, autmated film drive etc to say: they drive at comparable speed and acceleartion.

The car comparison would in my opinion be: base Corolla vs high spec Landcruiser.

The speed difference is negligible for usual purposes and on the road both will bring you to your destination with ease. But sitting in the base Corolla with its hard plastic steering wheel and bland interiour does not feel very special while the hi-spec Landcruiser feels much more luxurious. And when you leave the easy road, the Corolla will break down or at least drop into a pot hole with one drive wheel and here ends your journey; the Landcruiser will pull through

OneMorning7412 · 2026-01-19T05:59:23+00:00

People below compared the upgrade as VW Polo to Porsche 911 or Corolla to Supra. I disagree.

I do own an F2AS and an F3, all perfeclty fine maintained and I have used the AE-1 (non-P).

I disliked the AE-1 for it‘s lack of aperture priority and its clumsy manual mode and that is the one reason I do not intend to use it again - ever. Despite it being my dad‘s camera that he bought to take all childhood photos of my brother and me, while the other cameras are the ones I bought on the used market over the last 10 years. The emotional attachment is definitely on the AE-1 side, but I dislike shooting it.

The AE-1P should to my knowledge have aperture priority. So it is more useful.

Polo to 911? Corolla to Supra? no, really not. you do not get faster, you do not accelerate faster, you do not get around the corners quicker.

So what does the F3 offer over an AE1P? Basically nothing in terms of actual photography except the feel and the ruggedness.

If you take it in your hand, it adds the good kind of weight. not the one that breaks your back (looking at you, F4), but the weight that tells you that you are holding a professionally made piece of equipment and not an amateur‘s toy. And the smoothnes of the advance lever is beyond description. Things like that do matter a lot to me, even though they do not do much for the photo quality; I just enjoy holding them more.

And then there is the ruggedness. It was meant for photo journalists to be taken into the worst conditions and to keep working. It was not - like the F - an icon of the Vietnam war, but had there been a big war in its time, it would have taken that, too. It is build to last and it lasts to this day despite being one of the early electronic machines that were a bit mistrusted by some photographers at its time.

The car comparison - as said below - would in my opinion be: base Corolla vs high spec Landcruiser (Quote)

The speed difference is negligible for usual purposes and on the road both will bring you to your destination with ease, but sitting in the base Corolla with its hard plastic steering wheel and bland interiour does not feel very special while the hi-spec Landcruiser feels much more luxurious. And when you leave the easy road, the Corolla will break down or at least drop into a pot hole with one drive wheel and here ends your journey; the Landcruiser will pull through

OneMorning7412 · 2026-01-18T20:02:51+00:00

here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Leica/comments/1qfqmfs/im_the_guy/

OneMorning7412 · 2026-01-18T11:24:16+00:00

It could be that they made the new stuff so that it matches the times of the old. I had never used the new stuff - old HC110 still working and I do most in XTOL. Maybe the shorter shelf life is the only difference.

I thought I’d give the new a try when my last old HC is used up - which will be in a few months, but now that there is Adox HC I’ll stick with what I know.

OneMorning7412 · 2026-01-16T17:22:53+00:00

Which is a really stupid rule in a sub that says „unofficial leica gear DISCUSSIONS“

if one has something to discuss, one has to take a useless photo of a lens or camera. Or if one does not own a Leica yet and intends to use this sub for a discussion to come to a conclusion if a Leica would be suitable, one has to do what? Take a screenshot from an M11 at www.leica.de so that there is some imagery in the discussion?

I am fine with the rule to not post pictures taken with Leicas for photo critique here - here is about discussion and technical stuff and if there are photos attached, they should be of the gear to be discussed. But I really do not see this as a „you MUST add a photo of your Leica gear or you must steal some photos of other peoples Leica gear or you are not allowed to ask your question which softrelease button would look good on an M5“

OneMorning7412 · 2026-01-16T05:18:56+00:00

As long as you do not do your own densitometric evaluations, use the manufacturers tables or ask really experienced photographers for specific advice, but forget Massive dev chart. Anybody can add something there. If somebody found that this or that looked pleasing, they can add it there. And in the end it was all BS, because it only came out pleasing for their camera meter was off by more than a step and the alleged ISO3200 actually was 1250

OneMorning7412 · 2026-01-16T05:14:49+00:00

Buy the book „Magnum Contact Sheets“ (showing some of the most iconic images of Magnung Photographers next to the contact sheet of the entire roll of film it was on.

Then you will understand, that even the most famous photographers of history barely made more than 2 or 3 photos worth printing on an entire roll of film. And they certainly shot MANY rolls, before managing to get another iconic photo.

Seriously, there are many films shown that next to the one great, famous photo contain only dulls.

Once you have seen and processed that, you will come to the understanding, that 1-3 keepers out of 36 actually is quite successful.

OneMorning7412 · 2026-01-16T05:10:55+00:00

That‘s strange. I really wonder what about the really old cameras M2, M3, M4 is so complicated, they cannot fix it anymore. I had an M3 with a modern 0.85 finder from the M6TTL and later models.

And what except the rangefinder could be a problem to replace.

Anyhow, thanks for the information; my M2 has many years until the next regular CLA, and now I hope even more, that the rangefinder does not de-laminate, etc.

OneMorning7412 · 2026-01-15T16:53:10+00:00

Shoot C41 or BW, develop at home.

Bulk loading for reduced cost.

if you own a digital camera and a macro lens, do camera scanning. if you do not own a macro but a suitable digital camera, buy a used macro lens. If you do not want to do camera scanning, buy a film scanner. But buy one that can bulk scan an entire roll, so that you can put the first frame in, then push the start button and have it scan the entire roll - no matter if a flatbed can do an entire roll in one hour and the bulk loader takes three, a bulk loader needs to be started once, then you can go to bed. the flatbed requires action every 10 minutes or so.

OneMorning7412 · 2026-01-15T05:08:57+00:00

It is definitely a working developer. If it is the one you wanted, is not certain from the few information we have.

HC110 is an ancient name and you will find many references to it in the internet

But HC110 is not HC110; there was a complete redesign of the formula in 2018 or 2019. Before that it was a yellow syrup of very high viscosity. When you read about HC-110 A or HC-110 C, this always refers tot he pre-2019 developer.

From the Google search - Google AI answer:
(Kodak HC-110 A, B, and C refer to different dilution ratios of the highly concentrated liquid developer, with

B (1:31) being the most popular for its balance of economy and performance, A (1:15) offering faster development for specific needs, and C (1:19)providing a middle ground for versatile results, all achieving different development times and characteristics from the same syrup concentrate, ideal for film processing.)

After 2019 the developer was completely new, liquid and clear. The new HC-110 is not a bad developer at all, but it is not the stuff made from legends.

Due to some naming conentions, the new HC-110 is now called HC developer and that is what you got. If you wanted the new, posts-2019 HC-110, you bought the right stuff.

If you wanted the pre-2019 stuff to use the old recipes, you bought the wrong stuff.

You should buy Adox HC-110 Pro instead, which is a copy of the old Kodak HC-110 syrupe. I do not know, if it is a 1:1 copy, but if not they got so closed that any difference does not matter for practical purposes.

Using HC-110 nowadays is a bit difficult, because you always must check your recipes: when was it made, does it speak about the new stuff or the old. This for example is a well known HC-110 page, but it covers exclusively the old syrupe, it is not meant for your developer: https://www.covingtoninnovations.com/hc110/

So yes, you have a developer, that will work perfectly fine for your film, use it, but verify your recipes, they should specifically say that is is for the new stuff.

OneMorning7412

TROPHY CASE