Where can I buy spare parts?
The easiest way is to buy them direct from your local authorised Leica distributor. Recent contact addresses are:
| Location | Contact |
|---|---|
| Leica NJ USA | Parts Department |
| Leica Germany | Lothar Luehring |
| Adeal Australia | Adeal Service |
Please note, although Leica NJ & Germany have every conceivable spare part, they will only sell to people located in the USA, Canada or Germany respectively. People outside these countries have to place an "indent order" with their local authorized Leica distributor, who will then import the part from Germany for you. So much for Globalism…
BTW, in the USA and Canada the direct phone number for Leica NJ Spare Parts is: 1-800-222-0118, X225.
Canadian Residents note: In April 2003 Leica NJ took over the distributorship from Lisle-Kelco (who in turn had taken over from Kindermann). Thus if you are in Canada you can contact Leica NJ directly for spare parts.
If you are specifically looking for spare parts for older LTM's, then see this topic elsewhere in the FAQ.
USA spare parts embargo?
A panic erupted on mailing lists in July 2003 when news leaked that Leica NJ were planning to no longer supply parts to 3rd party repairers or individuals.
See this discussion at <Photo.net: #005YAe> about John Van Stelten's correspondence with Leica NJ, and how the latter no longer intended to supply Leica parts to non-Leica entities(!)
After drawing a lot of heat from angry US Leica users via email and telephone calls, the "no parts" policy was rescinded & erased from corporate memory on August 1st 2003. See <Photo.net: #005dyc> and this post at <LUG - v25/msg05308.html>.
European spare parts embargo?
In April 2006 I received the following note from Carl Bretteville, about his experiences when he tried to have his M4-P viewfinder flare-fix upgraded to the new MP type:
I was in contact with CCR Luton as well as Solms regarding having my M4-P CLAd and having the VF cleaned and upgraded while it was in the shop. As I live inn Norway using DAG or Sherry Krauter didn't appeal to me at first.
Peter at CCR has an excellent rep so I figured I'd let him do the entire job. It turns out that Solms refuses to sell him the parts for the upgrade! Peter was just as puzzled by this as I was. The price quoted from Solms was 380Eur for the upgrade and another 155Eur for a CLA.
I've so far not sent it in, but guess DAG gets it when I do. I find it puzzling that Leica US and Leica DE have different policies when it comes to selling spare parts to third party repair shops.
[…] When I initially asked Solms about the upgrade, Jakob Eberhart (Leica TS) answered me:
"Hello, for sure we are able to maintaine your camera here in our workshop. We have a current offer — CLA of all Leica R and M-cameras for 155EUR. Furthermore it is no problem to modify your M4P with a MP-style VF. Costs approx 380EUR, duration here approx 20 days without post-way. Please be kind enough and let me know the state you're living in. Most of the Leica agency with a workshop can do this either. You can send the camera to our workshop here in Germany."
Of which the interesting bit is that about "most of the Leica agency with a workshop…" So they'll sell the part to a distributor with a shop, but not a third party like CCR Luton. I wonder if this also applies to Mr. Reinhart in Hannover?
Shades of USA 2003? Gentlemen, to your telephones…
Light-seal foam replacement
Rather than getting the expensive Leica light-seal foam parts for R cameras, you may be able to do just as well by using generic third-party seal kits, and then cutting the foam to whatever size you want.
Jon Goodman - ebay trader "Interslice" - sells proper SLR camera light seal kits for $US 10. Click on the link below:
A note about possible broken links
This FAQ has over 900 external links. Over time it is inevitable some of them will break. If you are bothered by this, see this detailed topic elsewhere in the FAQ.