Owners of a brand-new Apo-Telyt-M 135 mm lens

[01af]

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If you purchased a new Leica Apo-Telyt-M 135 mm 1:3.4 lens these days—not used, not new-old stock but brand-new delivered from Leica factory—can you please report here if it came with or without a 6-bit lens code? Please also give the lens' serial number (first three or four digits) and the place and date of purchase, if you don't mind.

 

The new firmware 1.162 for M9 has replaced the code for this lens. It used to be 9-0; now it's 53-2. As a consequence, it now is possible to have this lens 6-bit-coded for automatic lens recognition on digital Leica M cameras; this wasn't possible with the old code. Now I wonder if (and when) Leica actually starts to deliver this lens with a 6-bit code on the bayonet flange—it should be 110101 (1 = black patch; 0 = white patch).

[juergen]

The current LEICA APOTELYT-M 135mm/f3.4 will not be available in a 6-bit coded version.

 

Read here: Leica M9 FAQ

 

Juergen

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[UliWer]

After reading about the code for the 1:3.4/135mm Apo-Telyt-M in the new firmware I asked the Leica Customer Service yesterday about the possibility to have it coded with the 6-bit code.

 

I got the answer today that there is no 6-bit code for the lens and it could not be coded afterwards.

 

Obviously this reply consists of the texts given in the manuals of the M8 and M9. As the reply proposed to address further questions to the Leica service for technical information, I will do so, and report again, when I get a reply.

[01af]

The current LEICA Apo-Telyt-M 135 mm 1:3.4 will not be available in a 6-bit coded version.

 

Read here: Leica M9 FAQ

This infomation was accurate last year but is outdated by now.

 

 

I asked the Leica Customer Service yesterday about the possibility to have it coded with the 6-bit code. I got the answer today that there is no 6-bit code for the lens ...

Uh oh.

 

This statement definitely is wrong. As usual, the people at Leica Customer Service have no idea what they are talking about. Most likely they aren't even aware that a new firmware version for the M9 came out earlier this week.

 

 

...and it could not be coded afterwards.

Most likely this statement also is wrong. Otherwise there would have been no point in changing the Apo-Telyt's code from 9-0 to 53-2.

 

 

As the reply proposed to address further questions to the Leica service for technical information, I will do so, and report again when I get a reply.

Ask them what the Apo-Telyt's lens code is. If they don't know then they obviously are not qualified to answer any further questions on this topic.

[algrove]

If you purchased a new Leica Apo-Telyt-M 135 mm 1:3.4 lens these days—not used, not new-old stock but brand-new delivered from Leica factory—can you please report here if it came with or without a 6-bit lens code? Please also give the lens' serial number (first three or four digits) and the place and date of purchase, if you don't mind.

 

The new firmware 1.162 for M9 has replaced the code for this lens. It used to be 9-0; now it's 53-2. As a consequence, it now is possible to have this lens 6-bit-coded for automatic lens recognition on digital Leica M cameras; this wasn't possible with the old code. Now I wonder if (and when) Leica actually starts to deliver this lens with a 6-bit code on the bayonet flange—it should be 110101 (1 = black patch; 0 = white patch).

 

I just received mine from B&H the 14th of June 2011. It is NOT 6-bit encoded and I cannot get my M9 to recognize the correct lens by using the encoder Kit. The S/N is 4111xxx.

 

My camera thinks it is a Summarit 35mm f2.5! And my encoder kit shows that's what code 110101 is to be for the 35mm Summarit. HELP!

[k-hawinkler]

Count in the other direction.

[01af]

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Today I saw a brand-new Apo-Telyt-M 135 mm lens in a local dealer's window. Serial number 412xxxx, no 6-bit code.

[adan]

Keep in mind Leica's lens building approach - the currently available batch of 135 Telyts may have been made last November (or August, or June 2009 for all we know - it is not a big seller like 50s and 35s), and a new batch won't be made until the current batch runs out.

 

I doubt Leica is going to pull boxed lenses ready for shipping out of the warehouse to retrofit new mounts on them just because there is now a code available. They'll just begin adding coded mounts (if that's actually the plan) with the next batch - whenever they run out of the uncoded lenses.

[masjah]

Forgive the ignorance of an exclusive film user - I'm asking merely to satisfy my curiosity. I always thought that the compensations applied in camera, when the camera had coding information available, was significant only at wider angles. So would coding a 135mm lens have any advantage in photographic practice (as distinct from recording the focal length in the EXF data)?

[stunsworth]

So would coding a 135mm lens have any advantage in photographic practice (as distinct from recording the focal length in the EXF data)?

 

I would doubt it.

[UliWer]

The only photographic advantage of a code for the 135mm-lens is an indirect one: if you set the code manually for 135mm and then use a wide-angle without changing the code, you get weird vignetting and colour drifts. Coding helps to stay on auto-detection, so this won't happen.

[UliWer]

I got an answer from Leica technical Support Service on my question whether the new firmware enables the Apo-Telyt-M 135mm to be coded.

 

I am told:

 

"das Apo-Telyt-M 1:3,4/135 ist für eine 6 bit Codierung nicht vorgesehen. Auch nach der neuen Firmware nicht. Sie müssen die Leica M 9 auf manuell stellen und das Objektiv auswählen. Dieses war vor der neuen Firmware schon vorhanden."

 

My translation:

 

The Apo-Telyt-M 1:3,4/135mm is not designated for the 6-bit code. This still holds after the new firmware. You should enter the menu for manual lens detection of the M9 and select the lens from the menu. It was in the menu before the new firmware.

[juergen]

I got an answer from Leica technical Support Service on my question whether the new firmware enables the Apo-Telyt-M 135mm to be coded.

 

I am told:

 

"das Apo-Telyt-M 1:3,4/135 ist für eine 6 bit Codierung nicht vorgesehen. Auch nach der neuen Firmware nicht. Sie müssen die Leica M 9 auf manuell stellen und das Objektiv auswählen. Dieses war vor der neuen Firmware schon vorhanden."

 

My translation:

 

The Apo-Telyt-M 1:3,4/135mm is not designated for the 6-bit code.

 

Which is exactly what I wrote in my posting #2. But now we know it for sure.

 

Juergen

[doubice]

It would make sense that the 135mm Apo-Telyt cannot be 6-bit coded. All 135mm lenses (with the exception of the 2.8/135mm Elmarit-M), key in the 35mm / 135mm frame. Since the M8 and M9 do not have a 135mm frame, the Leica gurus feel that there is no need for coding.

 

The only M-mount 135mm lens that can be coded, is the above-mentioned 2.8/135mm Elmarit-M. Why? Because its mount keys in the 90mm frame, which is than magnified by the lens’ viewing unit to provide correct 135mm framing.

 

I have had my 4/135mm Tele-Elmar-M mount modified to key in the 90mm frame and had John Milich mill the 6-bit indentations. Than, I coded it as a 135mm Elmarit (code 001001 ). Presto - EXIF data show that a 135mm lens was used. Another way of fooling the system would be not to modify the mount and to push in the frame selector lever to the 90mm setting on such a coded lens. The end result would be the same.

 

The coding for 135mm lenses is actually not necessary, I only did it out of interest, to see if I could fool the system into providing correct information, even though it was designed not to do so in this case…..

 

Knowledge of this site should be compulsory for all Leica M8 and M9 users :

 

Leica M Lens Codes

 

Best,

 

Jan

[k-hawinkler]

It would make sense that the 135mm Apo-Telyt cannot be 6-bit coded. All 135mm lenses (with the exception of the 2.8/135mm Elmarit-M), key in the 35mm / 135mm frame. Since the M8 and M9 do not have a 135mm frame, the Leica gurus feel that there is no need for coding.

 

The only M-mount 135mm lens that can be coded, is the above-mentioned 2.8/135mm Elmarit-M. Why? Because its mount keys in the 90mm frame, which is than magnified by the lens’ viewing unit to provide correct 135mm framing.

 

I have had my 4/135mm Tele-Elmar-M mount modified to key in the 90mm frame and had John Milich mill the 6-bit indentations. Than, I coded it as a 135mm Elmarit (code 001001 ). Presto - EXIF data show that a 135mm lens was used. Another way of fooling the system would be not to modify the mount and to push in the frame selector lever to the 90mm setting on such a coded lens. The end result would be the same.

 

The coding for 135mm lenses is actually not necessary, I only did it out of interest, to see if I could fool the system into providing correct information, even though it was designed not to do so in this case…..

 

Knowledge of this site should be compulsory for all Leica M8 and M9 users :

 

Leica M Lens Codes

 

Best,

 

Jan

 

 

How do you explain Bright-line view and range finder / 133 in the M9 Instructions_en.pdf?

 

K-H.

[Robert_M]

Correction to the above post:

 

The M9 DOES have the 135mm frame (at the 35/135 frame position). When I use the 135/4 tele-elmar on my M9 I just select manually select the lens in the menu. The exif info records the lens code (shared with the current 90/4 lens) but frame "0". And, the exif focal length is correctly recorded as 135mm. Unfortunately, some programs, like Lightroom" do not correctly identify the lens since they do not seem to look at the frame code "0". Other programs, like M9Info, DO correctly identify the lens.

 

I think it is bad form that Lightroom is the packaged software with the M9 but it can not get the lens code right when independent free software can do it correctly. I would think that someone at Leica would urge Adobe to fix that.

 

RM

[ho_co]

And if the lens isn't going to get the 6-bit coding, why was the code changed in the first place?

 

Thanks, Uli, for the information. Unfortunately, it seems to leave us in exactly the same place.

Edited June 24, 2011 by ho_co

[jaapv]

It would make sense that the 135mm Apo-Telyt cannot be 6-bit coded. All 135mm lenses (with the exception of the 2.8/135mm Elmarit-M), key in the 35mm / 135mm frame. Since the M8 and M9 do not have a 135mm frame, the Leica gurus feel that there is no need for coding.

Umm... My M9 has a 135 mm frame....

[menos I M6]

Actually the 135mm frame lines of the M9 where one of the points, which sold me on this camera in the end. Guessing the composition and checking the LCD somehow worked, but didn't satisfy.

 

I don't get Leica's attitude towards the 135 APO-Telyt. This makes no sense.

 

Given recent history, they might plan, to discontinue the APO-Telyt and make a more compact, lighter 135/5.6 APO with screw on aluminum hood and sell it as an improvement over the APO, as images are more often in focus with the general public, than with the 135/3.4, leading to less M9 cameras being shipped back to Solms for RF adjustment (this is a real issue as it seems - my M9 also came with off RF).

 

I didn't try coding the APO yet, as I would have to have the mount milled. Anybody with already milled mount and sharpies can confirm this info from Leica? Coding does not work right from the lens mount on the 135 APO-Telyt?

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[juergen]

And if the lens isn't going to get the 6-bit coding, why was the code changed in the first place?

(

 

Don't know, but maybe there are future plans for a new 135mm lens?

 

Juergen