andrewbirdsall Posted May 28, 2012 Share #1 Â Posted May 28, 2012 Advertisement (gone after registration) This is the first lens I've used with a slide out hood, and I just wondered is it normal for it to wobble a little bit from side to side as you slide it in and out... it's only minor but after hearing reports of this lens having the best build quality, I was a little disappointed as the hood feels a bit flimsy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted May 28, 2012 Posted May 28, 2012 Hi andrewbirdsall, Take a look here Noctilux 0.95 hood question. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
wattsy Posted May 28, 2012 Share #2  Posted May 28, 2012 I've had this lens and a number of others with slide out hoods. It sounds normal to me – the hoods work fine but there is usually some play.  Incidentally, I'm not sure the Noctilux has the "best build quality". It is certainly very fine but seems in the same ballpark as most of the range. IMO the best build quality is found with the 21 and 24 Summiluxes. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrewbirdsall Posted May 28, 2012 Author Share #3 Â Posted May 28, 2012 thanks... that's very reassuring the build quality is otherwise great, but i agree it doesn't match some of their other lenses... the 35 Lux FLE was my first Leica lens and that is pretty much perfect Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marknorton Posted May 28, 2012 Share #4  Posted May 28, 2012 Well, this is definitely one to put in the claptrap bin.  Most Leica lenses over 35mm have pull out hoods and you know what? They all wobble. I suspect even the £5400 APO 50mm Summicron-M ASPH wobbles. How could they not? Two concentric cylinders separated by a clearance to allow them to move. Simple trigonometry (unless you were playing truant on the day they covered it at school) will tell you that for a diameter D and clearance each side of C, the wobble angle to each side (and to a first approximation) is:  W (wobble) = ArcCos D/(D+2*C)  With the Noctilux , the diameter of the lens barrel is 65mm. The internal diameter of the hood is 65.25mm so that D = 65mm, C = 0.125mm. The wobble to each side is therefore 5 degrees which is about right. With the smaller diameter normal 50mm Summicron, the wobble increases to a completely scandalous 8 degrees.  The notion that the Noctilux build quality is not up to that of other lenses is baloney. You can argue about not liking the pull out hoods (which in the case of the Noctilux locks pefectly well into position) and that Leica should have gone for the screw-on lens hoods found in the wides but it boils down to your design preference, not a Leica build quality issue. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wattsy Posted May 28, 2012 Share #5  Posted May 28, 2012 The wobble to each side is therefore 5 degrees  Are you referring to the degree that the hood can be tilted off axis? If so, 5 degrees sounds like too much. Don't you need to take into account the length of the outer cylinder when calculating the wobble? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marknorton Posted May 28, 2012 Share #6 Â Posted May 28, 2012 Indeed you do. In the general case, the wobble will be limited by the major axis of the ellipsoid section of the lens barrel being equal to the internal diameter of the lens hood at any point along its length. Â For simplicity (to illustrate wobble is inevitable with this design), I took the case where the hood is near-fully extended. With smaller extensions, the front edge of the lens hood would make contact with the lens barrel were it not for the felt seal around the base of the lens hood which centres the lens within it and which limits the wobble when it comes under compression. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Double Negative Posted May 28, 2012 Share #7 Â Posted May 28, 2012 Advertisement (gone after registration) Leica tolerances are tight... But not tight enough to get around "wobble" which is unavoidable to prevent binding of the hood and premature wear of the surfaces. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
thighslapper Posted May 28, 2012 Share #8 Â Posted May 28, 2012 I've held plenty of things that wobble over the years .... for both profit and pleasure... Â My Noctilux 0.95 feels fine to me..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Overgaard Posted May 28, 2012 Share #9  Posted May 28, 2012 Most Leica lenses over 35mm have pull out hoods and you know what? They all wobble. I suspect even the £5400 APO 50mm Summicron-M ASPH wobbles.  The new 50mm APO-Summicron-M in fact have a new type of lens hood that swirls out and doesn't have to be locked or unlocked. It's very clever ... but I would prefer if the modern lens hoods was a mechanism you could unscrew from the lenses and replace with a good old vented metal lens hood you can beat up and bang into things with. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
leica5 Posted May 28, 2012 Share #10 Â Posted May 28, 2012 yes lens hood on 50/0.95 is pain in the neck, it wobbles,jiggles and get stuckwhen pushing it back or pulling it out,sliding mechanism is slanted and tolerances are poor,for 11K it is a slap on the face. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted May 28, 2012 Share #11 Â Posted May 28, 2012 Mine wobbles a bit when out but when you twist and lock it it doesn't wobble at all. Not in the slightest. Â I've been meaning to ask - has anyone found the paint wear off where the lens hood slides on this or other leica lenses? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Double Negative Posted May 29, 2012 Share #12 Â Posted May 29, 2012 yes lens hood on 50/0.95 is pain in the neck, it wobbles,jiggles and get stuckwhen pushing it back or pulling it out,sliding mechanism is slanted and tolerances are poor,for 11K it is a slap on the face. Â If you hold it on either side or push the hood down using your palm (in other words, applying equal pressure) it won't bind. Â ...I've been meaning to ask - has anyone found the paint wear off where the lens hood slides on this or other leica lenses? Â It is possible, at least to scratch it - if you get grit in there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jev Posted May 30, 2012 Share #13  Posted May 30, 2012 It becomes much less wobbly with the time First I thought that it was strange design, but as I have been using it for several years it worked really well. Remember that this this a heavy lens, sometimes you bang it into something, hood provides great protection  The best part if you bought it new it comes with 4 year passport warranty, so when my hood got some scratches on it, I sent it to Leica and they replaced it at no charge, they also reccomended to send my M9 with it to calibrate it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted May 30, 2012 Share #14 Â Posted May 30, 2012 I sent it to Leica and they replaced it at no charge, they also reccomended to send my M9 with it to calibrate it. Â Really? I didn't think passport covered cosmetic damage? Isn't it only 1 year coverage? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jev Posted May 30, 2012 Share #15  Posted May 30, 2012 Really? I didn't think passport covered cosmetic damage? Isn't it only 1 year coverage?  Noctilux in US 4 year passport  I wish they would do the same for M9) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
philipus Posted June 4, 2012 Share #16 Â Posted June 4, 2012 The hood on my 90 Elmarit-M also wobbles but it still feels very solidly built compared with the flimsy hood on the 50 Summilux Asph which is made of a thinner sheet of metal. The latter does, however, have a twist-lock which I like. The hood on the (my) Asph doesn't wobble nearly as much as that of the 90. I suspect it is due to a smaller C (resulting from tighter tolerances, likely). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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