35mm Summicron ASPH Simple Question

[christakis]

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Hi,

 

Can you see the aperture blades of the 35mm Summicron when its wide open? I tried searching the forum and the internet for this and didn't come up with any useful answers. It seems that all "front-face" pics available on the internet, the lens is stopped down to look nicer.

 

Only reason I'm asking is that at f/2 the blades are clearly visible which is not a case for the 50mm Summilux at f/1.4. Just curious to be honest (and bored to drop by my dealer and ask).

 

Cheers,

Christakis

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[hoppyman]

yes

[Chuck Albertson]

a wee bit

[peter_n]

Yes, it's a feature not a bug.

[christakis]

Thanks for the simple answers gents. Appreciated :-)

 

Christakis

[Shootist]

If you look real close it isn not the aperture blades you are seeing. It is something just above the aperture blades. If while you are looking at the lens at a slight angle and stop the lens down you still see those same pieces. The blade retract beneath them.

So no I don't see the aperture blades when wide open.

[Shootist]

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Here are some pictures.

 

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[ATTACH]234554[/ATTACH]

[christakis]

Here are some pictures.

 

[ATTACH]234553[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH]234554[/ATTACH]

 

Hi, Thank you for your reply. I apologise for my late reply, I was at work when you replied and didn't have the lens with me to check. The "claws" are obviously not the aperture blades but the ones underneath them are. So the blades are actually visible even when wide open.

 

Edit:

Reason I was asking is because aperture ring moves beyond f/2 and the blades move slightly further in. I'm talking 0.5 a mm here not major stuff. Even though the ring moves beyond f/2 it doesn't stay there. As soon as I release it it flips back to f/2. I had a laugh thinking that I could hold it and get an f/1.9 but then logic kicked in and said don't be daft Followed by an evil little thought saying "What if that's the proper setting of the blades and f/2 is actually f/2.1, that's not cool".

 

To be honest, the lens performs great, I really like it and there's no chance I would send it to get fixed even if it's not prefect. Was mostly curious about it.

[Shootist]

Taking a closer look at my 35/2 ASPH pictures and physical lens, yes I can see the A blades. When I turn the ring past the f/2 stop yes the blade retract slightly and the claws also move. Claws do not move when stopping down or going to full A, f/2. Only when going past f/2.

[aymoon]

each lens is different. I know as I took my new 35 lux back to Leica as I thought there was a defect as I could see that the blades were visible.

 

Apparently, each lens is calibrated so that the amount of light getting through matches exactly with the click-stops on the aperture ring. If the blades open slightly further past the 'maximum' aperture, that means you actually have a lens that can accomodate a faster f-stop (eg. your summicron may actually be capable of being a f/1.95 etc). The difference is minimal, and is caused by minute differences in the glass/assembly etc., naturally due to them being hand made. At f/2, your lens should be completely accurate.

 

I was able to view 5 different new 35/luxes that had just been delivered from Solms, and all but one of them had the blades showing to some degree. The demonstration model in the shop did not have any blades visible. I was advised that this is a natural result of the manufacturing process, and that they were all properly calibrated. So, not to worry.

[christakis]

each lens is different. I know as I took my new 35 lux back to Leica as I thought there was a defect as I could see that the blades were visible.

 

Apparently, each lens is calibrated so that the amount of light getting through matches exactly with the click-stops on the aperture ring. If the blades open slightly further past the 'maximum' aperture, that means you actually have a lens that can accomodate a faster f-stop (eg. your summicron may actually be capable of being a f/1.95 etc). The difference is minimal, and is caused by minute differences in the glass/assembly etc., naturally due to them being hand made. At f/2, your lens should be completely accurate.

 

I was able to view 5 different new 35/luxes that had just been delivered from Solms, and all but one of them had the blades showing to some degree. The demonstration model in the shop did not have any blades visible. I was advised that this is a natural result of the manufacturing process, and that they were all properly calibrated. So, not to worry.

 

Thanks for this interesting piece of info. :-)