Since some people here seem to know almost everything on Leica, I'll give this a try. A friend of mine's into photography for some years now and recently he's been having this idea of becoming a Leica repair person. He has started collecting some informations since though Leica France has been of very little help, and would like to have some further opinions from the specialists present here. First, what are the qualifications required ? Is there an academic way of becoming a Leica repair person ? How do you get factory trained ? Do many people learn the trade ? How do you get started and much more..... Informations and advices will be highly appreciated and thank you all.

-- Hem Gurung (hgurung@libertysurf.fr), September 16, 2001

Answers

Some 35 years ago I spoke with someone who said he had been through a training program at the Leica factory. He said that what he had to do was to build up a complete Leica M from parts. He said that when he finished, they engraved his name on it and gave it to him. I didn't get to see the camera, though. He was military--Air Force-- and said the Air Force sent him to the Leica training.

I have no idea if what he said was reality or fantasy. But if true, I wonder if they still offer this training at the factory level. Leica does have a website with a meesage feature, and one might ask.

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), September 17, 2001.

Yes, I too like Leica, but I don't work there. I have visited them there in Solms and Wetzlar. Phone them at +49 (0) 6442-208-0 and ask for your countryman Francis Pilet.

-- Michael Kastner (kastner@zedat.fu-berlin.de), September 17, 2001.

If he wants to become a "professional" Leica repair person, he will need to work for one of the distributors to get factory training. There are a number of copies of old repair manuals floating around though not for the later cameras. I dabble with adjustments but any serious work goes to an specialist. They would do major repairs regularly and be very familiar and comfortable with the proceedures and quirks of the M camera. A normal camera repair person would not do enough to keep their quality up. If you do not use it, you lose it or never get it in the first place.

Cheers,

-- John Collier (jbcollier@powersurfr.com), September 19, 2001.

Bob, your info about how Leica repair persons in the old days got certified is most likely true. The late Manfred Krauter (Repair person Sherry Krauter's husband and teacher) used to do repairs at a camera store I worked at 20 years ago. He told us similar stories about the process one USED TO have to go through to become Leica certified technicion. I say "used to", as I highly doubt that is the way the training goes today, as the whole apprentiship method of learning is about dead in our current fast paced society. He also mentioned about having to put together a camera from parts, and said that was easy compared to the other test he had to pass. Leitz himself would tamper with the internals of a camera so something wouldn't operate correctly, and then you would have to find out what was wrong with it and fix it, I believe within a certain time limit. He also told me at first, they would only let him do repairs on binoculars, and then after a while, they would graduate the newbies to the lenses and cameras. Good question by the way, I never thought about how one would become a Leica repair person today. let us know if you find out anything interesting.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), September 19, 2001.