dpitt Posted November 1, 2009 Share #1 Posted November 1, 2009 Advertisement (gone after registration) Since a week or so, I am the happy owner of two of these great camera's. The first one 3011xx has a near mint body, sensor has never been replaced. Unfortunately the aperture ring is worn so that the apertures are unreadable. The second (26xxx) shows some wear on the body, but has a lens in mint condition. The lens must have been refurbished last year when the sensor was replaced. Do you think it would be possible to replace the lenses on these camera's? That would give me a mint D2! Disassembling the camera up to a certain point seems possible without special tools. What happens when you try to switch lenses without switching the sensor? Do you need factory tools to re-adjust to the new sensor? Second option would be to switch lenses with the sensors attached. That would probably compromise the warranty when the sensor of my first one fails, so it is my second choice. Any advice? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted November 1, 2009 Posted November 1, 2009 Hi dpitt, Take a look here Swopping the lenses between two D2's. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
farnz Posted November 1, 2009 Share #2 Posted November 1, 2009 Congratultions on your new family members! Iirc, one of the forum members, Audidudi, performed open-heart surgery on one of his D2s to allow it to shoot infrared so you might like to try to attract his atention with a private message. Pete. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
koray Posted November 1, 2009 Share #3 Posted November 1, 2009 Hi, In theory what you suggest is doable, with few issues, though: Aperture and focus rings are basically variable resistors (moved by a groove under the rings). I am not sure if each lens block is calibrated for each main PCB. It is a pity that there is no service manual in circulation for these cameras. You just have to try and see. If it works, it works; otherwise values may shift. Again, I remember reading a Panasonic FZ-10 (same era camera sharing same Venus processor) service manual, where there were several adjustment routines for CCD hot-pixel mapping and exposure/colour calibration. I assume Leica service centres are replacing the sensors with doing proper calibration like these, so swapping lenses with sensors may cause shifts in colour and exposure, or introduce a lot of hot-pixel noise (happened to me when I did such a DIY sensor replacement with a Canon EOS 30D). So here is your solution to all your problems: switch the lens bodies (with attached sensors) matched with their original main PCBs. There is a slight chance of colour shift in your LCD and EVF images (and you can swap these, too), but I don't think it will be too bad. Then you won't be risking any vital adjustments, but only replacing the camera casings. Have a look at my disassembly instructions for LC1 below (sorry there are no annotations yet, but may still help), these cameras are virtually same: Panasonic LC1 & Leica Digilux 2 disassembly guide Repair notes Good luck, Koray. Since a week or so, I am the happy owner of two of these great camera's.The first one 3011xx has a near mint body, sensor has never been replaced. Unfortunately the aperture ring is worn so that the apertures are unreadable. The second (26xxx) shows some wear on the body, but has a lens in mint condition. The lens must have been refurbished last year when the sensor was replaced. Do you think it would be possible to replace the lenses on these camera's? That would give me a mint D2! Disassembling the camera up to a certain point seems possible without special tools. What happens when you try to switch lenses without switching the sensor? Do you need factory tools to re-adjust to the new sensor? Second option would be to switch lenses with the sensors attached. That would probably compromise the warranty when the sensor of my first one fails, so it is my second choice. Any advice? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
audidudi Posted November 2, 2009 Share #4 Posted November 2, 2009 It is a pity that there is no service manual in circulation for these cameras. True, there is no service manual available for the D2, but there is a manual available for the LC1 in .pdf format and IIRC, I bought my copy of it on eBay. So here is your solution to all your problems: switch the lens bodies (with attached sensors) matched with their original main PCBs. There is a slight chance of colour shift in your LCD and EVF images (and you can swap these, too), but I don't think it will be too bad. Then you won't be risking any vital adjustments, but only replacing the camera casings. I agree that this is the best approach and it's actually not much more work than just swapping lenses, because you'll have to remove pretty much all of the internal parts in order to access the six screws that hold the lens in place. Good luck! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
salsa Posted November 2, 2009 Share #5 Posted November 2, 2009 You might have a look at a post by Mark Norton in the old "Leica Forum". Anatomy of a Digilux 2. http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/discus_e/messages/3/203687.html?1142791133 http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/discus_e/messages/3/203462.html?1143062890 Enjoy it, Salsa Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andybarton Posted November 2, 2009 Share #6 Posted November 2, 2009 Mark said, in that old thread, that he wouldn't be doing the same with his "DM" Ho ho! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpitt Posted November 2, 2009 Author Share #7 Posted November 2, 2009 Advertisement (gone after registration) So here is your solution to all your problems: switch the lens bodies (with attached sensors) matched with their original main PCBs. There is a slight chance of colour shift in your LCD and EVF images (and you can swap these, too), but I don't think it will be too bad. Then you won't be risking any vital adjustments, but only replacing the camera casings. Koray. That is it! Thank you all for the great input. You really know this camera inside out. All I have to do now is decide for myself if i really want to risk voiding my warranty on the one that has no replaced sensor (yet). Or if I want to wait a while keeping both camera's in case the sensor fails. The possibility of exchanging the lens is certainly an other good reason to keep the second D2. Info about that risk of having a sensor failure on snr 3011xxx is a bit contradictory. It seems like some have failed already, but most did not fail (yet?). The day I am brave enough to disassemble, and possibly damage, both of my D2's, I will let you know. Dirk Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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