dpattinson Posted July 19, 2007 Share #1 Posted July 19, 2007 Advertisement (gone after registration) Damn it's nice not to have to change lenses, and it's really sharp at f4. I can see it being a fantastic walking around lens when travelling. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted July 19, 2007 Posted July 19, 2007 Hi dpattinson, Take a look here Just picked up a MATE for my maate... I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
boilerdoc Posted July 19, 2007 Share #2 Posted July 19, 2007 It's the bees knees - as someone else put it. Word of warning from Don at DAG and me: The front of the lens body where the hood and filter attach is held on with teeny tiny set screws (<0.5mm) that can work loose. Disastrous results if that happens. The aperture freezes up for one. Happened to me 2 weeks ago in Prague. No one around with a small enough Allen wrench to tighten the screws. Eventually it came off and it was dead in the water for the rest of the trip. It's now at DAG getting re attached. I asked Don to include a correct Allen wrench for it to keep handy. Get one now and keep those screws tight!! Voice of experience speaking. Get the WATE next and you've got 50% or more of your focal lengths covered with 2 fantastic lenses. Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
carstenw Posted July 19, 2007 Share #3 Posted July 19, 2007 Does the WATE also have these set screws? I don't see anything, but I am not sure if I am looking in the right place... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpattinson Posted July 19, 2007 Author Share #4 Posted July 19, 2007 It's the bees knees - as someone else put it. Word of warning from Don at DAG and me: The front of the lens body where the hood and filter attach is held on with teeny tiny set screws (<0.5mm) that can work loose. Disastrous results if that happens. The aperture freezes up for one. Happened to me 2 weeks ago in Prague. No one around with a small enough Allen wrench to tighten the screws. Eventually it came off and it was dead in the water for the rest of the trip. It's now at DAG getting re attached. I asked Don to include a correct Allen wrench for it to keep handy. Get one now and keep those screws tight!! Voice of experience speaking. Get the WATE next and you've got 50% or more of your focal lengths covered with 2 fantastic lenses. Steve I looked at the front of my lens and I see three quite deep holes - is the screw recessed down inside them? I can understand how it might be hard to find an allen key - possibly a watchmaker supplier might have one. I was lucky enough to get a 'free' lenshood with the mine - I like the fact it can be mounted backwards to save space. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt736 Posted July 19, 2007 Share #5 Posted July 19, 2007 David, You didn't by any chance buy it from Aperture Photographic yesterday,as I have just sold one through them to help pay for my new WATE, Cheers Matthew. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpattinson Posted July 19, 2007 Author Share #6 Posted July 19, 2007 David, You didn't by any chance buy it from Aperture Photographic yesterday,as I have just sold one through them to help pay for my new WATE, Cheers Matthew. That's the one Nicely coded and well taken care of - thanks Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt736 Posted July 19, 2007 Share #7 Posted July 19, 2007 Advertisement (gone after registration) David, Glad to see that it went to a fellow Leica Forum user,it will be missed ,but I have had the WATE for over 2 months now and something had to go, Cheers Matthew. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marknorton Posted July 19, 2007 Share #8 Posted July 19, 2007 On my first generation WATE, they're slotted screws, deeply recessed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericperlberg Posted July 19, 2007 Share #9 Posted July 19, 2007 It's the bees knees - as someone else put it. Word of warning from Don at DAG and me: The front of the lens body where the hood and filter attach is held on with teeny tiny set screws (<0.5mm) that can work loose. Disastrous results if that happens. The aperture freezes up for one. Happened to me 2 weeks ago in Prague. No one around with a small enough Allen wrench to tighten the screws. Eventually it came off and it was dead in the water for the rest of the trip. It's now at DAG getting re attached. I asked Don to include a correct Allen wrench for it to keep handy. Get one now and keep those screws tight!! Voice of experience speaking. Get the WATE next and you've got 50% or more of your focal lengths covered with 2 fantastic lenses. Steve This just happened to me too on a brand new MATE (all screws fell out of the front end@!) It's a great lens though. Mine is now being worked on. I miss it. SOB. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gravastar Posted July 19, 2007 Share #10 Posted July 19, 2007 Are we talking about a second or first generation MATE? I have a first gen. version and as marknorton says the screws are deeply recessed and slotted. dpattinson says he can reverse the hood on his - so that must be a second gen. one. Do the second gen. lenses require a hexagonal Allen key as opposed to a flat screwdriver to tighten the screws? I've been very lucky in obtaining a second gen. replacement for my earlier version. Leica UK found a new unused one in their "academy" and it's now in Solms being coded - been there some time though. I'd had one on order with a dealer for many months without luck. I find the lens excellent even at F4, it's ideal for travel and makes a good companion for the WATE. So far I haven't encountered any flare problems which are occasionally reported. Bob. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericperlberg Posted July 19, 2007 Share #11 Posted July 19, 2007 Mines a second generation coded lens and I don't know what kind of head the screws have because none of the 3 were there. The lens went from having clear detentes on the aperture ring to having no grip, puff! That's when I noticed (well the nice man at Caplans noticed) that the screws were missing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stunsworth Posted July 19, 2007 Share #12 Posted July 19, 2007 The lens went from having clear detentes on the aperture ring to having no grip, puff! That's happened on mine at least 3 times. The front ring appears to work loose - possible due to fitting and removing the lens hood - and then the clicks go. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pekem Posted July 19, 2007 Share #13 Posted July 19, 2007 I have just checked my MATE, second version, and I can see that the screws are deeply recessed. However, I can't see any screws, in the same position, on my WATE. In fact I can't see any screws on the WATE at all. Are there any? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevelap Posted July 19, 2007 Share #14 Posted July 19, 2007 Just checked my MATE, all (slotted) screws there and recessed, although I'll keep an eye on them from now on! It's a late second generation lens, serviced and coded by Leica, purchased (top dollar, they're becoming difficult to find now!) used from a UK dealer. Only had it for a couple of weeks, but I suspect that it's going to turn out to be a great lens, especially for the 'travelling light' photographer. I'm now trying to decide what to add to it at the top end, either a 75 f/2 or 90 f/2.8. Anyone have any experience with either of those lenses? No problems so far with my M8 by the way. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanJW Posted July 19, 2007 Share #15 Posted July 19, 2007 The MATE and the WATE are a nice travel kit. I've combined them with a 12mm CV and a 75mm CV, neither of which weighs very much. Sometimes I will also carry a faster 35 (all I have is the 'cron ASPH but I have "Lux lust"). Its all still very manageable and very flexible and allows for far fewer lens changes. Enjoy the MATE. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonoslack Posted July 19, 2007 Share #16 Posted July 19, 2007 I'm now trying to decide what to add to it at the top end, either a 75 f/2 or 90 f/2.8. Anyone have any experience with either of those lenses?No problems so far with my M8 by the way. HI Steve Like you, I have MATE and WATE - but I also have the 75 'cron and the 90 f2.8. They are both sharp and lovely, but the 75mm gives greater magnification and is just that bit more sparkly AND it has a better bokeh (IMHO of course). So, if I were you, I'd go for the 75 'cron. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wattsy Posted July 19, 2007 Share #17 Posted July 19, 2007 I suspect that it's going to turn out to be a great lens, especially for the 'travelling light' photographer. I bought the Tri-Elmar [sorry, I can't bring myself to refer to it as the MATE] for similar reasons a few years ago but came to realise that the travelling light advantage is a bit of a fallacy. For one thing, the Tri-Elmar isn't the lightest of M lenses (nor did I find that it very ergonomically suited the M body - though that's another story). More significant is the F4 maximum aperture. Being so slow, I found myself having to also carry at least one fast lens to use when the light was low. This quickly put paid to the travelling light notion. In the end, I decided I may as well switch back to using a couple of small fast primes and I eventually sold the Tri-Elmar. The single great attraction of the Tri-Elmar is that you can switch between focal lengths in an instance. This advantage shouldn't be underestimated but ultimately it wasn't enough to convince me to keep mine. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpattinson Posted July 19, 2007 Author Share #18 Posted July 19, 2007 Ah - I think I was looking at the wrong part of the lens. On my MATE, there are three deep (over 1mm) holes on the very front part of the barrel, in the groove where the hood clips attach. These may have a screw inside - but I can't see them - and I can't see how they would affect the aperture ring if they were loose. There are also three quite obvious flat screws in the aperture ring itself, slightly recessed into the textured grip. I see that one of those is 'less recessed' than the others Is this the set of screws that have caused problems for others? I'm tempted to screw them in and put some of that adhesive on them to lock them in - forgot what it's called. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpattinson Posted July 19, 2007 Author Share #19 Posted July 19, 2007 <snip>..The single great attraction of the Tri-Elmar is that you can switch between focal lengths in an instance. This advantage shouldn't be underestimated but ultimately it wasn't enough to convince me to keep mine. That's primarily why I bought it - I love the 35/50 fov, and on the M8 I now get this with a bonus 67 thrown in, and on my M7 I get it with a bonus 28. I tend to walk around a lot during the day when I travel, and I tend not to change lenses very often (too much fuss - moment gone). I don't believe f4 will be much of a liability for me in most cases, since I'm pretty happy to carry a couple of primes as well in any case - but the fast lens change when there is good light is very nice. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
4X5B&W Posted July 19, 2007 Share #20 Posted July 19, 2007 The normal answer to any loosening screws (anything from a F1 racer to a motor bike) is "Loctite". That's all anyone needs to solve this problem. Just bought a used Ver.2 MATE, and will be keeping a close watch on the need to break out the solution Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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