Removing ROM Contacts & Associated Circuit Board

[woorob]

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Hi,

 

I've got two APO R lenses (100 Macro and 180 2.8) that I'd like to use on my new M (240) with my 2x-APO extender. However, the extender is non-ROM, so these two lenses cannot be used as the ROM contact strip interferes.

 

I thought it would be easy to remove the ROM contacts by unscrewing the two small screws that hold the contacts to the lens, but was I wrong! There's a fairly large circuit board attached to the contact strip that extends about half-way up each lens. I lost my nerve after removing the mount from the lens and discovering this.

 

So I'm wondering what to do. Here are the options as I see them:

 

1. Send the lenses to Don Goldberg and have him remove the ROM contacts and associated circuit boards. He'd send the parts back to me so that if I ever resold the lenses to a purist, the lenses could be returned to original condition.

 

2. Remove the lens mounts again and snip off the circuit board, freeing the ROM contacts for removal.

 

3. Sell the APO extender on eBay and search for a replacement that accepts ROM contacts.

 

I don't want to waste a bunch of money on a pyrrhic quest, but as a long-time Leica aficiando, it would bother me to "butcher" one of my lenses.

 

Any thoughts? Am I being silly here, pondering whether or not to take a scissors to the circuit board?

 

Thanks!

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[masjah]

For myself, it would be an emotional thing as much as a techical matter - I simply couldn't bring myself to butcher my R ROM lenses, end of story. It sounds rather that you have sympathy for this point of view! If your ROM lenses won't mount on your non ROM Apo Extender, then I would trade the non ROM Apo Extender for a ROM version.

 

The next worse alternative to my mind is to have the ROM contacts professionally removed, but you have to consider both the cost of this, and the consequent devaluation of your lens (or alternatively the cost of getting the ROM chip put back) and surely this must be comparable with the cost of the trade.

[naturephoto1]

You do not have to butcher your ROM lenses or sell and replace you 2X Apo extender. What you have to do is to partially mount the extender onto the back of the lens and to then rotate from the rear of the Apo extender the top rotating spring loaded flange. This will allow the 2X Apo Extender to load onto the ROM lens. Once the part has been rotated to the right the adapter can lock onto the lens. You can follow the procedure above or try to adjust the flange on the rear of the extender and to load the 2X Apo Extender directly to the lens. Either way should work.

 

Rich

[mmradman]

I second post #3.

 

I have non ROM APO 1.4 Extender which I mate with ROM lens without any problems.

On R camera It works smoothly if extender is attached first followed by lens or if no compatible camera is involved by pulling either aperture leaver or spring loaded flange (don’t have kit with me at the moment) on the camera side of the extender and then attaching the lens.

[naturephoto1]

I second post #3.

 

I have non ROM APO 1.4 Extender which I mate with ROM lens without any problems.

On R camera It works smoothly if extender is attached first followed by lens or if no compatible camera is involved by pulling either aperture leaver or spring loaded flange (don’t have kit with me at the moment) on the camera side of the extender and then attaching the lens.

 

I think that you are right, it is the aperture lever, but it is spring loaded/on a spring. And by the way when using the lenses without an R body or when loading the 1.4X Apo Extender that is the way that you would load the Apo Extenders. I have to do things this way though for my mirrorless camera. When loading the the 1.4X Apo extender it is supposed to loaded into the 280mm f2.8 Apo Telyt first. At this point I do not remember if I have to go through the method that I mentioned above when loading he 1.4X Apo extender the way that I mentioned above onto my 280mm F2.8 Apo lens since it was changed from a 3 cam to a ROM lens.

 

Rich

[robsteve]

You don't need to remove the ROM as noted by the posters above, just move the aperture lever on the extender slightly when mounting the extender. The extenders were designed to be mounted on the body first then the lens added later. The body would move this lever slightly. Its surprising that Leica did not design their R to M adapter to move this lever slightly. Have you checked to see if the aperture lever moves by mounting the extender to the R to M adapter?

 

Also, for future reference, the prime lenses do not have any ribbon cable and the ROM is attached only to the mount. The early zooms were this way as well. Only the newer zooms had the ribbon cables.

[algrove]

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Yes, just move the aperture lever and you are good to go. There was a discussion about this on a thread some months back and that is how I found out about it.

[woorob]

Many thanks to all of you for the help -- it's simple to mount a non-ROM 2x extender on a ROM lens once you know how!