Grease/Oil marks on my M-mount

[Arka]

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Hi there,

 

Is it common to see oil or grease residue on the camera mount? My only NIB lens is a 21mm Ultron, and everything else is minty Leica stuff (35 Lus FLE, 50 Lux ASPH, 90 Cron pre-APO). I don't see any obvious grease or oil coming from the lenses themselves, but periodically I notice random black or brown residue on the mount itself.

 

I see a little bit of this on my Nikon D800 as well, but it seems there's more on my Leica M. Anyone else seeing this on their M? Should I be worried?

 

Arka C.

[Dannybuoy]

I should imagine they coat certain surfaces with silicone grease or similar to prevent sticking. My mount is sometimes a bit scuzzy. A little wipe is needed now and again. I'm sure it nothing to worry about.

[Guest borge]

The mounts are greased from the factory...

It even says so in the manual.

You don't want friction between two metals over time... Try running your car or motorcycle without oil and you'll see why.

Don't wipe it off. It's supposed to be there!

[250swb]

As there are no on-going maintenance procedures for the lens mount it is hard to imagine that Leica grease the mounts at all, it would be wiped off the first time anybody cleaned their lens and body. But the current body flange is dull plated, so I'd suspect this is an anti-galling surface which as it gradually wears will give off a residue that looks like grease.

 

Steve

[Erik Gunst Lund]

There should be no grease on the mount.

 

The materials of the lens and body mounts are selected to interact without any lubrication.

 

The choice of materials for the focusing helicoils are similar but with added lubrication for dampening/feel of the focusing.

 

As far as I understand Leicas warning is for excess lubricant at the rear threads of the focusing helicoil if they are exposed near the mount, that is on the 'short' FL lenses.