Hello friends!
I recently bought a really nice and apparently very rare all-black Linhof Master Technika Classic. The outside of the camera looks flawless. The previous owner said he only used the camera approximately 10 times and then kept it in his camera collections display case. Anyway, this gentleman sold this Linhof MT Classic to me for $1500 cash and it included the original box, all the paperwork, and the certification of ownership. Not only that, he also included 4 brand new Lisco Regal film holders.
Once I received the camera, the outside of the MT Classic looked flawless. However, I noticed a few problems upon opening, which signaled that the inside of the camera definitely needs work. It's biggest problem is the front standard baseplate - the part that holds it to the rail had been cracked/sheered off completely. That said, the camera is basically unusable as the front standard doesn't ride or lock onto the tracks. The camera, while built in 2005, also needs new bellows as well as a new silver focusing knob and a new ground glass frame to replace the ones that are damaged/dented in.
That all said, I brought my "new" Linhof MT Classic to my local Linhof repair specialist. He inspected it and a day later he gave me a quote of $1635 to fix everything, including $400 just for the CLA. (See the attached first quote.)Also, since it's a rangefinder Master Technika Classic, I wanted and asked to have 3 of the lenses cammed (don't know if that's the right spelling) so that I can use the camera handheld with the rangefinder and viewfinder. The technicial suggested that the other 4 lenses have infinity stops installed. This Linhof repair specialist sent me a separate quote which totals $1350. (See attached second quote.)
All together that's over $3000!
I want to say upfront that I really like the Linhof repair specialist who has my camera and sent me these quotes. He seems like an expert in this field who definitely knows what he's doing, however, I certainly can't afford $3000 for all these repairs, cams, and rangefinder coupling.
Not to toot my own horn, but I like to think that I'm a pretty competent camera repair specialist myself. I've fixed plenty of medium format cameras and lenses before. I've even fixed all the electronics in my Pentax 67II myself! I know that the Linhof Master Technika Classic is a different beast altogether, but I wonder if it'd be possible to source these parts myself from Paula at linhofstudio.com for a cheaper price and just fix it myself. I don't know how to get lenses "cammed", but I like to think that I can at least repair and CLA the camera myself.
I'm still a student. To save a bit of money, is self-repairing this Linhof MT Classic something you guys could/would recommend? I suppose I'd need a Linhof Master Technika Classic repair manual.
Also, which lubricants and tools would you guys recommend to CLA this Linhof MT Classic?
Any help you guys can give me would be very, VERY much appreciated.
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