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Leica Dual Range 50mmm Summicron

DES

By DES
in Leica Collectors & Historica

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DES

DES

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I have a very nice Dual Range 50mm Sum micron, and this is in fantastic condition except.......when I rotate the focus it makes a faint whining noise, so I guess that after 50 years it is in need of a little TLC. Is there anything I can do to correct this myself, ie. oil that I can use, or is it a case of sending it away.!?

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Michael Geschlecht

Michael Geschlecht

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Hello DES,

 

Unlike an internal combustion engine it is rarely advisable to add lubricant, assuming you have the correct one, to a precision mechanism of any type which is operating less than optimally. Often the soloution is simply to operate the mechanism repeatedly in an appropriate manner. Gently & tolerantly @ first until you have worked it thru perhaps 100 or more operations of all aspects.

 

The lubricants used for precision mechanisms in many fields have a greater life than some may think.

 

Premature service shortens the overall life of such mechanisms & does not add to their ability to perform.

 

I repair old clocks for a living. The camera business grew directly out of the watch & clock industry where it was common to work to the same tolerances as Leitz the microscope company.

 

Yesterday I looked @ a clock made about 1830 in Dunfirmline by a woman clockmaker. Just as there have been many unrecognized woman artists, silversmiths & so on going back to the beginning of everything there were also many unrecognized women clock makers in the past. I first did this clock a little over 20 years ago. Recently its family moved it to their new home. I dismantled it in its old home & reassembled it where it now stands. It needs no adjustments, service or anything beyond being wound. It may not need anything else for another 20 years or so. This is standard for a properly serviced precision instrument of this type. Quite possibly the same for your DR.

 

Best Regards,

 

Michael

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Michael Geschlecht

Michael Geschlecht

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Hello Again DES,

 

In agreement w/ what Jean Claude just said it is good to remember precision mechanisms are like people: If you are forcing them you are probably doing something wrong.

 

I would not recommend doing a DR as a first lens if someone had no experience w/ precision instruments.

 

If you are going to do this:

 

In terms of lubricants: You can never use too little while @ the same time you can easily use too much. Clock lubricants such as Moebius 8030 French Clock Oil & Moebius Mainspring Grease for French Clocks are the proper ones for camera pivots & helicals respectively. Their Instrument Oil is used when you VERY rarely clean & adjust the pivots of the galvanometer in an analog meter such as an MR.

 

Clock oils do not spread if you do not use too much. This is very important because just as too much oil causes a lot of problems spreading oil does also.

 

If you should decide to do this & have no previous background w/ caring for precision instruments talk to one of us first please.

 

Also: A DR is somewhat more complex than the Rigid Summicron Jean Claude showed in his picrures. It even has a nifty leather bellows. Do not under any circumstances do anything to this bellows & be very, very careful w/ the entire lens focussing mechanism & under no circumstances try to disassemble the optical components.

 

Always remember "gentle".

 

Best Regards,

 

Michael

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plasticman

plasticman

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You probably don't need to send it away - even the most remote places seem to have some kind of specialist that can fix a lens or adjust a rangefinder locally. I just had a Canon 1,2 LTM lens CLA'd by a local guy here in Stockholm - he disassembled and cleaned everything, and now the lens is like new for less than it costs for Leica to look at a lens and send you the invoice!

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plasticman

plasticman

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@plasticman:

Leica looking at canon lenses?

Did i miss something?

 

No, sorry I simply used the Canon as a recent example.

 

The same man CLA'd a Summilux-50 for me last year, and did an equally wonderful job on it. My first thought with that lens was to send it to Solms - until I found out about the local guy. I saved money, and he's so thorough and such a lens 'geek' (in a good, enthusiastic way) that I suspect he may have done at least as good a job as his German counterparts.

 

I simply think it's a good thing for both Leica and for Leica users that we support and nurture the local network of specialists. There may come a day when the central organization is no longer there (though that prospect seems to have receded in the last couple years - thankfully).

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Michael Geschlecht

Michael Geschlecht

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Hello Everybody,

 

I noticed something in my Post #4 above which may be in error. When I was writing about the bellows inside a DR I was actually thinking about the bellows inside a 16464 which is a focussing mount w/ 25 mm of extension for fitting a number of different lens heads to a Visoflex w/ a bayonet mount on the lens side.

 

I'm not sure what's inside a DR's focussing mount. I have never used one. If anyone wants to look inside their's & see what's there & tell us I would appreciate it.

 

BTW: Whatever is there I am pretty sure it is more complex than the Rigid lens in the pictures & my suggestion not to do a first lens focussing mount cleaning w/ it is probably still the same.

 

Sorry for any confusion.

 

Best Regards,

 

Michael

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jc_braconi

jc_braconi

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Hello Jean Claude,

 

A 16464 has a male M Bayonet in the rear & accepts a 33mm X 0.75mm male Thread in the front. Inside mine was a little leather bellows.

 

A 16464 fits the models of Visoflex which have a female M Bayonet on their lens side.

 

Best Regards,

 

Michael

Hello Michael,

more clear now.

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