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SL 24-90 Stuck at 24


Tullahoma

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I've had this happen with two zoom lenses in the past: High-frequency vibration from the plane vibrated loose a securing screw in the zoom mechanism causing it to jam in position. The only cure is to send the lens in for service. It can happen to any piece of equipment...

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Thanks, ramarren and danielt.  From your experience, it sounds  as if service is required.  I sent her an email with this information.

 

She was hoping there might be a way to free it up, but that does not appear likely.

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Thanks, ramarren and danielt.  From your experience, it sounds  as if service is required.  I sent her an email with this information.

 

She was hoping there might be a way to free it up, but that does not appear likely.

 

 

I'd advise against that. If a bit has come free, trying to free it up without taking it apart can cause much more expensive damage. I speak from experience... 

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This happened to a lady on the same boat in Myanmar as us, on her Nikon 17-55, stuck at 55. I would guess that a it has a screw loose and I would suspect the same with the 24-90. I would have hoped Leica might have discovered Loctite but from my experience with the 28 ASPH Summicron, maybe not. In that the Nikon was a cheap kit lens, maybe not unexpected but more of a problem on a £3,000+ lens. 

 

Wilson

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Thanks for the link, Helged.  Though the first screws he encountered had Locktite, it did not appear the inner ones were treated.  There are plenty of parts which could jam up the works if a small part gets loose.

 

- Jim

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This happened to a lady on the same boat in Myanmar as us, on her Nikon 17-55, stuck at 55. I would guess that a it has a screw loose and I would suspect the same with the 24-90. I would have hoped Leica might have discovered Loctite but from my experience with the 28 ASPH Summicron, maybe not. In that the Nikon was a cheap kit lens, maybe not unexpected but more of a problem on a £3,000+ lens. 

 

 

As I said, this kind of thing can happen with any piece of equipment, price is irrelevant. There are limits to what Loctite can do. Leica has constructed the SL24-90 lens very well and very carefully, but the high-frequency vibration of a jet engine can undo almost anything. It doesn't happen frequently, but it happens. One of the times it happened to me was with my Nikon F and what, at the time, was a very expensive, pro-quality Zoom-Nikkor, pre-AI lens —all mechanical, beautifully made, etc. A bolt securing one of the Delrin zoom-cam rollers came undone, despite being loctited etc. 

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Problems seem to arise on Leica lenses far more frequently that they should. My experience over the last 10 years on new Leica lenses and lens service has been pretty dire and going back many years when Leica UK did more extensive work in house, beyond appalling. My last experience with an SL - a Leicaflex SL and Leica UK in the early 1980's (new old stock) was so awful that it put me off Leicas for many years.

 

 I had hoped that the SL might herald a new QC regime but looking at various threads, it would seem that various electronic and mechanical gremlins are starting to pop up on the SL body. Given Leica's slap-dash checking regime, where the final inspector signs off on lenses, that are very obviously way out of adjustment, I would not be at all surprised if it turns out that either a screw was not properly tightened or the loctite was omitted. Leica need to employ someone from Lexus or Porsche, where their whole systems, from design, through construction methodology and practices to final checking, is centred round a zero fault regime.

 

I had a look at the electrical connectors on the wiring loom when my wife had a Lexus. They were a work of art in design, with integral "O" ring seals to keep out damp and dirt. They all were handed to prevent incorrect assembly and had latches locking them shut positively, so they did not depend on friction to keep them shut. Given the price of Leica cameras and lenses, that is the sort of attention to detail we are entitled to. 

 

Wilson

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Hmm. I have certainly not had anything like the problems you report, Wilson, with my Leica gear. I've been using Leica gear (bought both new and used) since 1969 and can count on the fingers of one hand the number of services that have been required. 

 

"looking at various threads, it would seem that various electronic and mechanical gremlins are starting to pop up on the SL body."

 

Really? What threads were those? What issues? 

There are certainly issues with current firmware (v1.2) but I haven't heard anything about electronic or mechanical gremlins. I've read four or five reports of SL defects, that's it. 

 

Let's not make someone's stuck zoom into another long and senseless rant, ok? 

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Hmm. I have certainly not had anything like the problems you report, Wilson, with my Leica gear. I've been using Leica gear (bought both new and used) since 1969 and can count on the fingers of one hand the number of services that have been required. 

 

"looking at various threads, it would seem that various electronic and mechanical gremlins are starting to pop up on the SL body."

 

Really? What threads were those? What issues? 

There are certainly issues with current firmware (v1.2) but I haven't heard anything about electronic or mechanical gremlins. I've read four or five reports of SL defects, that's it. 

 

Let's not make someone's stuck zoom into another long and senseless rant, ok? 

 

There are a few threads on the LUF reporting niggly problems with the SL plus a couple where the camera has had to go back, its batteries have given problems, with failure to charge or swelling and also a couple of problems with lens coupling reported on the Leica Pages. I have had to do a factory reset twice to cure problems (non customising buttons and a total lock up) plus a couple of crashes cured by a battery removal, when using burst mode and the write light just stays on and on and on (over 10 minutes). 

 

Until such time as Leica pull their socks up and stop sending lenses out of the factory gate with faults that I and others detect within seconds and cameras with untested firmware, a rant is far from senseless - it is wholly justified. Do you think Nikon or Canon would release a flagship professional camera, where the flash connection did not work and they did not even know about the problem, as they had never tested it. I think the SL is probably better built than other recent cameras but there is still a long way to go before Leica reach build standards and quality control commensurate with their pricing. 

 

Wilson

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Neither Nikon nor Canon et al have delivered their top line products without any faults either, Wilson. Look at the hundreds of complaints about Nikon, Canon, Sony, etc, on DPR in their respective forums. 

 

Yes, there have been some cameras shipped with defects. I feel it's an inevitable part of mass production (and even a Leica SL is still a mass produced camera despite its price). I don't take it personally or feel inclined to point fingers at Leica as something special. As long as Leica takes care of the problem (and I haven't heard any cases where they haven't), I see no reason to go on and on about it. That's what I mean by "senseless rant" ... and if you prefer to do that, why not do it where it is the status quo, like on DPR, and keep one forum relatively free of the noise? 

 

But okay, I'm done with this thread. Sayonara.

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Hand assembled versus robots. 

 

There is always going to be a small % of assembly issues ....... but that is different from inherent unreliability due to design faults. 

 

A significant % of M bodies and lenses appeared from Solms poorly adjusted and had to be returned ...... things seem to have improved on the camera front since the move to Wetzlar and new test gear...... and here have been no major issues with the Leica T and Q, or the T lenses so far over and above the usual initial firmware niggles. 

 

The 28-90 looks fiendishly complicated from the disassembly photos and with low numbers of test lenses in use before release I would be surprised if the odd assembly issues didn't service and need rectification ....... remember the lugs falling off the M240 ? 

 

All part of the charm of the high stakes gambling that is required to buy into Leica as a way of life ......  :rolleyes:

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There are a few threads on the LUF reporting niggly problems with the SL plus a couple where the camera has had to go back, its batteries have given problems, with failure to charge or swelling and also a couple of problems with lens coupling reported on the Leica Pages. I have had to do a factory reset twice to cure problems (non customising buttons and a total lock up) plus a couple of crashes cured by a battery removal, when using burst mode and the write light just stays on and on and on (over 10 minutes). 

 

Until such time as Leica pull their socks up and stop sending lenses out of the factory gate with faults that I and others detect within seconds and cameras with untested firmware, a rant is far from senseless - it is wholly justified. Do you think Nikon or Canon would release a flagship professional camera, where the flash connection did not work and they did not even know about the problem, as they had never tested it. I think the SL is probably better built than other recent cameras but there is still a long way to go before Leica reach build standards and quality control commensurate with their pricing. 

 

Wilson

Sorry, that is an exaggerated rant. And if you think Porsche or Lexus is immune from an occasional issue, you are deluding yourself. I see almost zero complaints and the ones that are posted are minimal. This is a internet forum, this is exactly where people will complain. Often its user error, sometimes its not. Slapped together? Come on. Battery issue? So Leica makes the batteries and batteries are immune from issues? It can happen to any battery by any maker. Take a deep breath, relax.

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Well excuse me for being picky and irritated with Leica. As a professional, albeit semi-retired, I find myself more than a little irked that four months after spending close to £9,000 on Leica's new "professional" camera system and lens, when I do the wedding I am booked for on in a couple of weeks time, I can't use the SL system. This is because 1) nobody at Leica tested to see if the flash coupling worked as set out in their manual prior to release of the camera and 2) in the four months since, have not bothered sufficiently, to the extent of issuing a firmware update to correct this. Sure there are clunky work arounds but not when you are taking hundreds of images in a short period at varying distances and in changing lighting. 

 

As I have posted elsewhere, a firmware update agreed by Leica on the M240 over two years ago to make the GPS work again on the MF grip, still has not been done - apparently it got "forgotten". Three out of my five most recent Leica M lenses, have had to go straight back to the factory to be reassembled, as they were unusable in their delivered state. My M240 came back from the lug repair, completely unusable as it constantly took videos, every time it was switched on and so on and so on. I accept that in hand made items like Leica lenses and cameras, errors will occur but nobody appears to have a handle on quality control and checking of obvious gross mistakes. 

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Neither Nikon nor Canon et al have delivered their top line products without any faults either, Wilson. Look at the hundreds of complaints about Nikon, Canon, Sony, etc, on DPR in their respective forums. 

 

Professional Canon cameras and lenses have a very high MTBF.

Considering that Canon sells orders of magnitudes more cameras than Leica, it is normal to see hundreds of complaints, especially about low-cost non-pro stuff.

 

My opinion is that Leica is rushing to catch-up with technologies they have shunned for too many years.

And doing so, they are neglecting the core product, the only thing that made Leica what it is now: the M system.

This SL nonsense will backfire soon, and meanwhile, all I hear about the future of the M system gives me the shivers.

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This is just one final note to report the outcome in the case of my friend's SL 24-90.  She finally heard from the SL specialist at Leica.  He suggested she try to gently wiggle the front element of the lens.  That worked!  Now it is moving smoothly from 24-90.

 

Jim N.

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