I've tried to refrain from writing on this topic as you all know I have a long history or terrible repair issues with Leica. So much so it's a large part of what I decided to abandon Leica as a supplier of my professional photographic tools.
Anyway, I'm in the process of selling off ALL my Leica gear and of course out of nowhere while shooting my S-006 and 100S on assignment the 100S just stops working. No AF response at all. I figure what the heck let me just finish this shoot with manual focus.. Nope. The ring freely spins and noting happens. Maybe once every 3-4 full turns the gear will catch and adjust the element slightly.. Anyway I had to finish the shoot with my backup kit (not Leica).. And with this my S-lens failure rate is now over 100%
How is being over 100% possible you ask? All my S-lenses have had AF failures. Some have had more then one failure. Thus over 100% failure rate. YAY!
I'm not even going to get into all the other issues I've had with M/SL/T bodies, lenses and etc.
Then today my friend went in to get his S-006 grip replaced (theses things disintegrate and fall off ever 6 months it seems). Anyway, while the service centre was replacing it, they decided to clean his sensor and "found" that it was cracked. Now the suspicious thing was that he shoots routinely stopped down. And hasn't noticed anything weird with the sensor before. Anyway, bottom line, they had to send it to Germany. Here's the kick in the teeth. He has the Platinum loaner warranty, and they refused to give him a loaner. He texted me with the news and I convinced him he needed to fight for the loaner because it was owed to him. After going back to the service centre and fighting, they agreed to give him a S2 loaner, which I wouldn't have stood for, but he is a milder man then I am.
Anyway, while he was negotiating a loaner unit. They offered to upgrade him to the S-007 for the low low fee of $15,000 SGD. Which is roughly $12,000 USD. Considering we can get brand new S-007s in HK for $13,000 USD.. They basically offered him $1,000 USD trade in value on his S-006 w/2 years left on the loaner swap warranty.. WTF kind of customer service is that?
(Just an FYI that camera was a lot of money not to long ago) None of this inspires confidence in the brand. None of this makes me or anyone else I know wanna be loyal. And most of all, it makes me sad because I really honestly believe the S-006 is the best sensor to ever hit the market, nothing tops it.. Believe me I've spent hundreds in color profiling software and hardware.. Nothing beats the S-006. But it's just so difficult to own a system when the support or quality of manufacturing isn't there. Who would have though that Leica would be worse then China built crap?
Viva Andreas Kaufmann "the man who saved Leica".