Loose Aperture ring on pre-asph 35mm Summicron M V4

[Garvanza]

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I got this lens recently from off ebay from Japan.  It's in beautiful condition optically, but had the well known front element thing where the lens hood didn't fit exactly square, and the F-stop ring felt a little sloppy, although the click stops were firm enough.

 

Basically I decided to keep the lens rather than return it, managed to get the seller to pay a portion of my CLA fee at the local repair shop.

 

I just got the lens back from the CLA and they did a great job making the front element square again and the click stops are a little tighter, but still nowhere near as smooth and firm as my Voigtlander. The Leica still seems to have a tiny wobble if you twist it and makes a sound like I can only describe as "whisper shuffle" when moving it.  In comparison my VC 35mm 2.5 sounds like a swiss watch.

 

From researching other threads it sounds like there is a plastic piece inside these lenses that can be replaced.  https://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=134277

 

The technician said that they did not replace the plastic piece but just adjusted it.  My question is should I insist they change that piece? I feel like I've read conflicting accounts with people's sense of how firm and 'clicky' the aperture ring can get on this model lens. , Not having another v4 to compare it to, I don't know if this is just how those lenses were built and I should just live with it.  Can anyone share their experience with the aperture ring after getting a CLE?  Thank you

[bocaburger]

I know the internals on that lens and I don't know of any plastic piece that can be "adjusted".  My rule of thumb in dealing with repairing Leica lenses is, if I can't do it myself I send it to someone who specializes in Leica.  I think Leica itself still repairs that lens in fact.   That said, the aperture ring on the V4 tends to be normally a little wiggly and the detents are kind of light.  Some of my CV lenses are firmer. 

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[Stein K S]

Exactly like my aperture ring as well. Different from most other of my Leica lenses... somewhat wiggly as being said... and the feel is more... lets say ¨grindy¨... It was in for CLA at Leica once and returned unchanged concerning the feel of this ring.

[Garvanza]

Thanks to both of you, Yes 'grindy' is how I'd describe my copy as well. 

 

bocaburger – are you familiar with replacing the part mentioned in these two attached posts?

trying to gauge whether it's worth the headache/delay in insisting on it being done, lens is fine to use but was a huge investment for me and I want to be able to resell it for what I paid if I ever need to. 

 

From Stein's post I'm hearing maybe not....I'm dealing with Steve Choi in Culver City and while he's not an official Leica factory tech I get the sense that he has a fair amount of experience with these lenses.

 

 

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Edited April 27, 2018 by Garvanza