Self-coded 35mm Summicron-M Asph

[sean_reid]

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The template is off a little bit. The best way to get a workable template would be to print that template onto acetate, cut it out and then place it on an actual Leica-coded lens. Overlap the windows with the actual coding marks and then use the Sharpie on the template itself to mark some reference points for orientation. If the marking locations are off even a little bit, the coding won't work.

 

The easiest way to hand-code lenses, therefore, is to work with a Leica coded lens in front of one (any coded lens). That way, one can compare the template to the markings to the actual coded lens, etc. It's easier to catch errors that way.

 

Cheers,

 

Sean

[Hans Roggen]

I have used an Edding marker (8400 cd marker) and it works.

However i got it to work without the template. I marked the the camera bajonet aside the little red eyes. Then i screwed the lens on the camera and marked the spots on the lens. After that i removed the lens and coded the inside of the lens bajonet on the exact right spots. After having tried unsuccesfully with the template, this finally did the trick.

 

hHans

[arthury]

Hi,

 

after using a lot of the German equivalent of Sharpies (we call them "Edding", I hope it doesn´t mean anything annoying in colloquial English ;-)) ) --- and a lot of alcoholised Qtips to remove the marks from the wrong places,

 

I quit.

 

Could it be that Sharpies leave a matte colour spot and Eddings don´t?

Anybody here who has used "German" markers successfully?

My self-coding-workflow was:

- print the template (with the grey part 1 inch long)

- cut out the center and two tiny marks needed for my 2/35

- align it on the lens back

- mark the two spots through the template with an Edding

- turn on the camera

- switch "lens detection" to "on".

- take a picture

- press "play" and "info"

- see anything on the display but the lens type.... :-((((

 

What could I have done wrong?

No, I haven´t tested yet if my M8 recognises coded lenses at all (I haven´t got one yet).

I´ll go and try at a Leica dealer when I come to town the next time.

Regards Stefan

Sorry guys, I did not use the template. Here's what I did:

• Unmount any lens on the camera
  
• Find the red dots sensors on the camera
  
• Use the pen to mark dot parallel to the sensor on the outside of the mount flange (on the camera). You must be able to see the dots after your mount the lens or you have not done it correctly.
  
• Mount the lens and stick a piece of Scotch tape on the verticle edge of the lens perpendicular to the dots on the body. Then, transfer the dots from the body to the scotch tape
  
• Remove the lens and color in the code on the metal mount of the lens based on the code of the lens and using the scotch tape dots as your guides
  
• Turn on lens detection
  
• Shoot
  
• Play + Info should give you lens type

Occasionally, your coloring of the code may be off a little and it will not work. Pick an easier lens to code. By easier, I meant the code where the black dots are bunched together. The code where the "1" and "0" are alternating are a little harder.

 

The above is what I did for all of my lenses.

[jlm]

if you can make a CAD drawing: the first recess is at 220 degrees and then five degrees apart, using the lens lock detent as zero. the recesses are 1/16" wide and .100 long. the outer radius of the recess is about .025 from the adapter outside diameter

leica-codes.pdf

[bill vann]

after spending hours self coding with no joy i read this thread and exclaimed

 

Turn on the lens recognition you moron!

 

i'll try it tonight with my self coded lenses

 

thanks for the help all

 

wrote this so others will not make the same foolish mistake

 

kindly

 

bill

[carstenw]

I have just tried to mark my 35/2 Asph with a Staedtler permanent marker, and it did not work either. I am also looking for something else. Just in case the template was off, which someone hinted at once, I didn't use it, but went back to first principles, putting a piece of tape on the camera around the mount, marking the sensor locations, attaching a piece of tape on the lens, putting it on the camera, transferring the sensor locations, and marking it like that. I will now try an IDenti-pen.

 

The IDenti-pen doesn't work, and neither do Stabilo Point 88 pens, or the white-board pen I tried in a fit of desperation. The inks from these pens are all too shiny. I have tried my coded 50 Lux, and it works fine, so it is really just the 35/2 Asph which I am having trouble with, not the camera. The 35/2 Asph could hardly be easier, being WBBBBW. I did it with the original method with tape and dots, not with the template. I will try with other pens, including the Edding someone had luck with.

[gogopix]

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the reader may be an IR or far red sensor, in which case, as well ALL know :-) it can show black as magenta!

so make sure that you use inks and experiment.

 

It could be that a BLUE (the fartherst from red) color would work better for 'black'.

[carstenw]

The following is clearly NOT the best way to do it, but it finally worked for me, and the first time (for this method). Note that this method requires a coded lens as a base to work from. It should also be doable with just the camera, but this makes it more difficult. This method also uses the screw locations of modern Leica lenses, so it is not going to work for Kobaluxes, Zeiss lenses, and so on.

 

If you have some weird lens, the best approach is probably to print out the template, cut out the inner circle, figure out some way to pin it *exactly* to the camera, mark it up by hand with the sensor locations, transfer it to the lens, line it up in *exactly* the same way (red dot?), and do the marking.

 

Anyway, here is what I did:

 

1) Cut a piece of paper out so that it fits as tight as possible to a modern, coded Leica lens, and covers not only the six markings, but also the surrounding two screws. (if you have two lenses with different screw holes, you need to find some other common features, such as the tabs on the mount itself.)

2) Tape it to the lens with the code.

3) Rub over the screw holes and the markings, so that you can see where they are.

4) Cut out the screw holes and marking holes.

5) Tape it back on the coded lens, and mark, accurately, where the centres of the screws and holes are. This is a sanity check, as you won't be able to cut the tiny holes exactly. (You could probably use the template as this piece of paper, to save some effort.)

6) Tape it to the to-be-coded lens.

7) Draw away, using the marked centres as a guide.

8) Go over the markings, reinforcing them, but being careful not to make them larger in the direction of a white mark.

 

Pens which in my experience do NOT work: Staedtler Permanent Marker (Dry Safe Lumocolor), IDenti-pen, Stabilo point 88.

Pen which in my experience works: Edding 8400 CD pen.

Pen which is meant to work: Sharpie.

 

Here are some pictures to illustrate the steps.

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[carstenw]

Apparently my 35/2 Asph is a 35mm Noctilux! Check out the EXIF in this image, taken with the successfully coded lens. Perhaps it is just the Mac's Preview which misinterprets the EXIF. Perhaps it is just me. Check out the "Max Aperture Value" of 1.

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[gravastar]

The IDenti-pen doesn't work, and neither do Stabilo Point 88 pens, or the white-board pen I tried in a fit of desperation. The inks from these pens are all too shiny. I have tried my coded 50 Lux, and it works fine, so it is really just the 35/2 Asph which I am having trouble with, not the camera. The 35/2 Asph could hardly be easier, being WBBBBW. I did it with the original method with tape and dots, not with the template. I will try with other pens, including the Edding someone had luck with.

 

Another explanation for not all pens working could be that the dye used for the black ink is transparent to infra red, many black dyes are. The coding is read by pairs of IR transmitter/receiver diodes.

 

Bob.

[MP3]

You guys are cracking me up with the Sharpie thingy ...

Sharpie is just a common brand here in the US: there's no magic here. Any pen that has all these characteristics should work:

• felt tip (fine, if possible)
  
• black ink
  
• permanent ink

Even though it is permanent, they do come off quite easily if you take a piece of cotton wool and rub it off. Don't use tissue paper or paper towel or you will leave lots of lints. And, always blow the lens clean with a Giotto rocket before mount the lens back on.

 

Hi Arthur

 

As I'm preparing to code my ZM21 as well, would you mind post up a picture of your coded ZM21 showing the coded ZM lens mount, so I can be more confident on the '11' marks within the code '0110000'.

 

I read from the above that the entire code '0110000' may overlap with ZM's bayonnet screw, so a picture of a successfully self coded lens will surely be great.

 

Cheers

Matthew

[arthury]

Matthew,

 

Sure thing ...

 

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Remember to manually flip the frame-selector towards the lens & hold on to it when you release the shutter. If you did not flip the frame-selector, it will not recognize it. Someone explained earlier on that the flange-mount of this ZM lenses is not the right one.

 

I look forward to see a more permanent solution from Zeiss. Hey Zeiss guys, are you listening?

[MP3]

Dear Arther

 

Thanks very much for the pictures, very helpful indeed. Regarding the ZM21 doesn't click the right frameline, my dealer is now asking Zeiss whether they can change mine to the ZM28 rear mount. Will surely update with you all here.

 

So how do see the characteristics of this Biogon in terms of image quality as compared to leitz's latest Elmarit asph? Seems to me that it is rather high contrast in nature.

 

I happened to pop into the threads you posted with pictures taken with this lens. They are well captured.

 

Cheers

Matthew

[arthury]

Matthew,

 

When I first bought the 21mm ZM, the M8 was not released yet and I was using it with my M6TTL. It was already producing incredible super-wide images. I was most impressed by its resolution and that characteristic continued with the M8.

 

Enjoy it with your M8.

[finkaudio]

Hi all,

 

after I could never get any coding done with the Sharpie method, we made a drawing today, using the PDF jlm posted yesterday and imported it into Coral Craw.

 

I printed out the code I and glued it into the recess I have made into my old type Leitz adapter. Bingo - it worked! I tried for ages with all sorts of pens.

 

 

The recess is 0.6mm deep, but next time I better do only 0.3mm - enough for a paper.

 

I also wanted to try one of the newer adapters and printed out another code for my 21mm CV and just fitted it between the adapter and the lens, so the markings are visible like shown. Again, worked ! Just mark the right window on the adapter, make sure the code "paper" sits at the right place when you screw the lens to the adapter and that's it.

I tried several codes and it was working every time. No need to mark the adapter itself.

My next experiment will be a recess into those new adapters as well with a small code card to glue in

 

 

The Corel file can be downloaded here (its version 10)

Leica M8 Code Paper Corel file

 

Changing the code is very simple. Mark one of the dots in Corel and change the colour to black or white - done.

 

Good luck!

 

Best regards

 

Karl-Heinz Fink

[wlaidlaw]

I finally got my 21 Biogon to code as something "90mm" - very useful. I hope some enterprising camera repairman will start to offer a third party coding service for non-Leica lenses. Considering the time I have wasted over the last few days and the number of different pens I have bought, I am sure it would have been better to pay someone. BTW the incorrect coding but at least a lens acutally recognised was again with a "Sharpie". They are sold under the Papermate label in the UK.

Wilson

[arthury]

I finally got my 21 Biogon to code as something "90mm" - very useful. I hope some enterprising camera repairman will start to offer a third party coding service for non-Leica lenses. Considering the time I have wasted over the last few days and the number of different pens I have bought, I am sure it would have been better to pay someone. BTW the incorrect coding but at least a lens acutally recognised was again with a "Sharpie". They are sold under the Papermate label in the UK.

Wilson

 

I have tried to code the 21mm ZM a few times before I got it and the main reason was due to the fact that I did not flip the frame selector before I release the shutter.

 

Also, this code has two '1' next to each other and so you can literally block the 2 together.

 

Anyone else living in Sussex that can help up Wilson?

[wlaidlaw]

I have tried to code the 21mm ZM a few times before I got it and the main reason was due to the fact that I did not flip the frame selector before I release the shutter.

 

Also, this code has two '1' next to each other and so you can literally block the 2 together.

 

Anyone else living in Sussex that can help up Wilson?

 

Any help VERY gratefully received. I had followed instructions about flipping the viewfinder frame lever to 28/90 otherwise I did not even get the 90mm indication. I have tried to copy your picture as closely as I could but got no lens indication at all. I then tried putting the stripe slightly more clockwise when I got the 90mm (maybe reading 000100 for a Tele-Elmarit 90). I am trying to source some 28mm Biogon bayonets from an old trade contact.

 

Wilson

[de dirk]

i am giving up on the coding because it only keeps on for two or three lens changes. i have been using a staedtler permanent marker and i fear that some of the ink particles, witch are even visible on the camera bajonet, may find their way to the sensor.

also two of the lenses that i bought new back in the 80ies, have developed minor problems: with the summicron 35 the outer tubus with the diafragmring moves back and forth about 1cm; the focussing of the 50mm became very stiff closeby. so to solm with them...

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[robsteve]

I also noticed after the coding, images magenta cast is a lot more under controlled in the AWB mode. The black seems pretty black to me.

 

 

Arthur:

 

In your image, I don't think you have any items with black dye rather it is probably black piment, such as carbon black. It is the dye that gives the IR probelm. You will also see this in ladies that dye their hair black to get rid of the grey