Has anyone had this problem with 28/2.8?

[scott kirkpatrick]

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To my horror, I discovered a small area of abrasions on the back surface of the rear element of my 28/2.8 Elmarit-asph. It causes a little more flare than should be there, and it is imaged into the picture at f/11 and above. I think the cause was an old hard plastic back cap (made by Leitz) which had a raised bump in the center inside where the mold ended. For the old collapsible lenses, this posed no danger as there was no glass inside the camera enclosure, but I think that the new Elmarit-ASPH sticks fairly far inside the camera, and the rear surface of the lens is at most 1 mm recessed from the end of the brass tube that it is carried in. Finally, the rear element of this lens is the aspherical one, which is molded rather than ground, so it may be softer than the others. Anyway, my lens is on its way to Leica USA in NJ to see if the Passport Warranty does what it is supposed to.

 

And I am now using a 24/2.8 which is also a wonderful lens.

 

scott

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[gravastar]

I've alwas been very wary of using the older Leitz plastic caps on newer lenses designed since their introduction. The early caps with the 3 lugs on the back for unscrewing the LTM adapters have a depth from the front to the inside rear of 11.8mm compared to 14.0mm of the later 14269 caps. Some third party caps I have are even deeper at 15.5mm. The old caps are too shallow to fit on the 21 and 24mm elmarits and as you've noticed have a pip in the center from the injection moulding.

 

Bob.

[scott kirkpatrick]

I guess you can add the new 28 Elmarit to the list of slightly deeper lenses. I've restricted that old cap to use on old collapsibles, and may throw it away altogether.

 

scott