Summilux 50mm v2 E43 permanent coding

[Harpomatic]

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Hello everyone, I’m asking the question here because I can’t find anything researching online:

Leica doesn’t offer lens coding service for the Summilux 50mm v2.

i believe it’s due to the mounting method for that flange, which has no screws in the back and probably the barrel needs to be taken apart to do it.

i am coding the lens with a Sharpie and it works, but the coding marks wear off with time. 

Does anybody know of a way to permanently code the lens? Dremel not an option! 😬

 

Thanks a lot!

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[adan]

Seems like I've heard that some reputable 3rd-party service shops (e.g. Don Goldberg) can professionally machine coding pits into those early flanges. i haven't done it myself - someone else here may know more.

If that's still too close to "Dremel," I don't know of another fix as such. Any paint/dye on that flat surface will wear off eventually.

(An off-the-wall idea might be an acidic paint, that will "bite" into the chromed-metal mount just enough to form shallow protective pits and tint them black, in one step. )

I don't know which camera you're using, but the M10 will auto-identify one (1) uncoded lens because it can auto-detect if a lens is coded, and thus swap from lens code to "menu list" on the fly. If you can leave your manual lens selection permanently as 50 Summilux, and that's your only uncoded lens, it will work "as though" the lens was coded, while still reading any coded lenses correctly. A dream come true for my single uncoded/uncodable 135 TE.

Your analysis is correct. The older 'thick, no-screw" lens mounts have never been supported by the 6-bit system by Leica themselves - same for 135 Tele-Elmars and the 35 Summilux non-ASPH, which were otherwise made well into the "grandfathered era" of post-1980 lenses.

Edited May 17, 2019 by adan

[Harpomatic]

Adan, you’re a wealth of useful information as usual. Thank you for the exhaustive reply. Unfortunately I’m based in UK, so Dan Goldberg is a hard option for me.

 I too have a 1966 TE 135mm, I do love it but I would love for it to be automatically recognised by the camera...but I shoot an M 240: I’m not sure I have the same option!

[adan]

11 hours ago, Harpomatic said:

 I too have a 1966 TE 135mm, I do love it but I would love for it to be automatically recognised by the camera...but I shoot an M 240: I’m not sure I have the same option!

It's not an M 240 feature - unless Leica chooses to offer a new firmware upgrade at some point to add that "logic."

In the case of the M10, what happens is that the camera is running along in Auto lens detect, happily reading factory-coded lenses. If an uncoded lens is detected, the M10 switches to whatever is currently set in the manual lens list menu, saving you the trouble. If you have set that menu to "135 Tele-Elmar," then that is what the camera will use - but it will use that same setting for any uncoded lens - mount your 50 or your 135 or an uncoded 24mm - and the camera will call them all "135."

Unless/until you manually change the menu setting to, say, "50mm Summilux" - at which point all your uncoded lenses will register as "50 Summilux." But at least they don't register as "unknown."

That's why I said you get one freebie - if you have more than one uncoded lens, you still have to manually change the manual lens menu selection whenever you swap between those lenses, if you want each uncoded lens correctly identified. E.G. I have uncoded 75 Summilux and 135 TE lenses. Either both will register as "135" or both will register as "75" when mounted, depending on what's in the menu at the moment.

In the case of my two teles, it's not that big a deal - no corner color drifts that need correct coding to fix, and I don't need EXIF to tell a 75 shot from a 135 shot by eye. Even using Auto ISO, I just set the shutter-speed parameter to always be "4X the shutter speed," (another M10 feature) and that gives me a "safe" shutter speed for either lens.

But if you're mixing and matching uncoded wides with normals and teles, you basically have to revert to M9/M240 operation and go to the menu with every lens swap, to avoid weird corner color vignetting.

There's a little quirk in the M10 in order for that new logic to work, however - the M10 is much less tolerant of imperfect 6-bit markings. "Sharpie" doesn't work as reliably as it used to. I had a Sharpie-coded 90 Summicron that worked fine with my M9, but the M10 kept detecting it alternately as a "35 Summilux ASPH" or a "90 Summicron" or a "90 Macro." Eventually, I will get my 75 Summilux factory-coded, and then my 135 will get the "auto-logic" all to itself.

[Harpomatic]

That would hardly help me then: I can send my 28 Elmarit IV to get coded in Wetzlar, but not the other two lenses. 

To be honest even with all the non leica lenses I had I never coded them, I want the exif to be correct: I use the Lightroom plugins Lenstagger to get the exif right, I have the lens profiles already loaded, and Flat field correction if I need the color shading corrected (had to with Biogon F2 and Distagon 21 F2.8).

I never correct anything else for the lens, unless it is blatantly ruining the picture - but really, 99% of the time the picture was ruined by the idiot behind the lens, the equipment was not to blame! 😬

I think I will keep refreshing the Sharpie markings for my lenses for now. I really don’t feel any need to upgrade lenses or camera at all, they’re way “better” than I am. And honestly, I really like their rendering! 

Thanks again Adan for the time you take to respond and help!