Lens code

[milyovsky]

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Some users code their own lenses with a marking pen. The coding tends to wear off with use. Is there a problem with substance from the marker getting into the camera or the lens as it wears off?

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[viramati]

not that I know of except you might have to clean the sensors on the camera once in a while

[250swb]

As you've posted on the M9 forum it might be worth mentioning that marker pens don't seem to work as well, or at all, with the M9.

 

The marks appear to need making more dense than a marker pen can achieve, and black paint works. But black paint no matter how careful you are is thicker than a marker pen, so it wears off faster, much faster. So its back to square one. I ended up coding my own lenses with a small grinding bit in a hand drill (colloquially a Dremel).

 

Steve

[elgenper]

.... I ended up coding my own lenses with a small grinding bit in a hand drill (colloquially a Dremel).

 

Like to hear that; it´s exactly what I plan to do with my older lenses, as soon as I eventually get my camera.....

 

I do feel just a bit queasy abut putting a Dremel to a Leica lens (I plan to cover them in plastic wrapping and masking tape except for the area I´m going to work at, and the depth of the necessary "excavation" will be quite small, but still). Now I feel better, reading that somebody actually has done it and presumably got away with it....

 

Any piece of advice/experience you care to share about the process?

[250swb]

 

Any piece of advice/experience you care to share about the process?

 

Ha ha! Yes, don't measure once, not twice, but at least three times! I took more time setting up the marks than grinding them.

 

Make sure your gauge is made accurately, I copied Bo's coder and made it in plastic card rather than cardboard. I put paint markers on to test that I was getting a reading, then used the paint mark as my grinding guide. You don't need to go down far, or make a large indent (after all it can be made bigger). Its then just a case of filling the mark with paint, I used an automobile acrylic satin black, spraying some into the cap and applying it with a fine brush. Its pretty easy really. All I think you need is some small amount of engineering common sense. I did occur to me that if anybody made a mistake grinding the wrong marks the bogus mark could simply be filled with solder and it would be possible to start all over again, but thats not a recommendation.

 

Steve

[elgenper]

THX, Steve! Your description rhymes quite well with what I planned to do (and of course I´ll get code templates and lists before even starting).

 

Are the mounts chromium plated, so there´s a risk of going through the plating into brass, or are they solid? Can´t really tell from looking, but I´ve never yet seen a "brassed" Leica mount. The cheapish Minolta gear I started out with in the 60´es got brassed mounts within a few months, however....

[thrice]

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Are the mounts chromium plated, so there´s a risk of going through the plating into brass, or are they solid?

 

Plated brass.

[Overgaard]

Pens work fine on lenses, also for the M9.

 

Problem is that the ink wear off when taken on/off the camera, but mainly the plastic buffer you put on the lens for protection when not in use.

 

Some marks don't like water so that is another risk.

 

The M9 allow both detection from marks as well as manual so you're never totally lost. But have to check regularly if the M9 sees the lens. And keep your coding kit with ink-pen handy when traveling so you can repaint them.

 

For permanent marking of lenses one wish to use with the M9 I recommend sending them for real 6-bit coding at Leica. But for testing old lens stock to see which works satisfactory on the M9 ink is a great solution.

[milyovsky]

The dremel technique sounds rather drastic. I would imagine it cannot be undone should there ever be a reason to do so.

[elgenper]

The dremel technique sounds rather drastic. I would imagine it cannot be undone should there ever be a reason to do so.

 

No, of course it can´t be undone, but if carefully done, it really shouldn´t harm the function.

 

To clarify, the lenses I contemplate to modify are all so old that Leica doesn´t offer the service to code them. So, it´s Dremel or constant "re-penning"....

[250swb]

Well what can go wrong? You have skill and common sense on your side. But you either need a new mount if it is a catastrophic cock up, or you fill the horrible holes with solder and are back to where you started.

 

If somebody is nervous of their 'investment' then there are a couple of things to consider. On Ebay (for instance) uncoded lenses are cheaper than coded lenses. So you are adding to the value by coding them. Or, if you think coding them yourself devalues them, it will only be by as much as it costs Leica to code them for you, so it evens out come sale time.

 

But the real advantage of DIY is simply that you can. You can do it yourself, you can save the money of having a lens collection coded by Leica, you do give yourself the option of buying an older lens on Ebay and knowing the coding will only take a few minutes, you are in charge, you do finally realise there is no magic involved. Its only a bit of metal, a substance mankind has worked and modified for thousands of years without needing to send it back to base each time.