Leica Rangemaster 1200 - Ocular coating? fault

[dkCambridgeshire]

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Just bought a new old stock Leica Rangemaster 1200 scan 'laser rangefinder' from a Leica dealer. Unfortunately the ocular i.e. the eyepiece, appears to have a 'coating fault' or 'blooming' all around the perimeter of the lens. The 'blooming' could be on the inside - or it might be on the outside. At first sight it appeared to be a grease mark but I tried cleaning it using a micro fibre lens cloth and the anomaly did not clear or clean. At this stage I do not want to attempt anything more aggressive e.g. lens cleaning fluid - it's a new optic and should not require cleaning. It's unlikely to be a balsam fault because balsam is no longer used to assemble groups of lens elements - modern glass adhesives do not fail.

 

The photo below was taken after I 'huffed' on the lens ie condensed some warm breath onto the glass to make the perimeter marks more visible. Ignore the mistiness in the centre ... that's the condensed moisture from my breath ... the centre of the lens is fine.

 

When I examined the glass under a loupe there are no visible coating faults or flaking ... which makes me wonder if the fault is inside the eyepiece lens rather than on outside.

 

My dealer was unaware of the fault until I sent him the attached photo and has agreed I can directly approach Leica about the anomaly to get a diagnosis and maybe a remedy - so will either take the rangefinder to Leica Mayfair in London or else wait until Birdfair 2013 on August 16 at Rutland Water where Leica usually offer fault diagnosis and minor repairs.

 

But before I do this I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced a similar problem - particularly with this rangefinder model - and if so did you approach Leica or your dealer about same and what was the diagnosis?

 

The rangefinder works fine but the ocular looks somewhat non-pristine around the perimeter of the lens.

 

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Any theories about the 'fault' or 'blooming' will be appreciated.

 

Best wishes

 

dunk

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