APO 50 Cron SL - focus noise

[Jeff S]

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24 minutes ago, hoppyman said:

To reduce confusion, I started the linked thread regarding ZOOM RING OPERATION CLICKING NOISE NOT AUTO FOCUS NOISE  with the 24-90 on SL2. I can actually also identify a continuous very quiet HUM noise just when the camera is on and no controls are touched at all. That is detectable with my ear literally pressed against the lens barrel only. 

I also have the APO Summicron 35 and the 50. AF operation with both is very quiet and very fast for me. That additional very quiet continuous noise in the 24-90 does not exist in either lens and of course there is no ZOOM RING.

Thanks for correcting my confusing the zoom vs focus ring noise issues.  Brain freeze.

Jeff

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[philiptran]

Hi everyone! Brand new SL owner here. I just came across this thread and it looks like I'm in a similar boat. My APO-Summicron-SL 35mm arrived yesterday and after taking it out for a test run, there were two things that i noticed:

1. There are times when the lens has a very faint humming sound, very similar to white noise. Is this normal or should the lens be completely silent when mounted on the camera?

2. Just like the OP, I can definitely hear the focusing motor while using autofocus. I was under the impression that the focusing motor was supposed to be pretty silent from the DSD/Dual Synchro Drive technology in the lens. Is this sound normal for the 35 or did I receive a bad copy? I attached a youtube link to what I'm hearing.

Would appreciate any insight on this!

 

[anickpick]

Sounds normal. You won't notice when using it outside in brighter sunlight.

Edited July 16, 2020 by anickpick

[SJH]

On 7/15/2020 at 9:49 PM, philiptran said:

Hi everyone! Brand new SL owner here. I just came across this thread and it looks like I'm in a similar boat. My APO-Summicron-SL 35mm arrived yesterday and after taking it out for a test run, there were two things that i noticed:

1. There are times when the lens has a very faint humming sound, very similar to white noise. Is this normal or should the lens be completely silent when mounted on the camera?

2. Just like the OP, I can definitely hear the focusing motor while using autofocus. I was under the impression that the focusing motor was supposed to be pretty silent from the DSD/Dual Synchro Drive technology in the lens. Is this sound normal for the 35 or did I receive a bad copy? I attached a youtube link to what I'm hearing.

Would appreciate any insight on this!

 

I have the  35 and 50 SL APO lenses for my SL2  (plus the 24-90 & M lenses). If you have Pre-Focus on it appears that all SL lenses seem to make the noise your video shows, especially indoors. It's because the camera/lens are continuously making pre focus adjustments as you 'track' the lens around subjects. Switch it off and it goes away, so unless mine are also defective this appears to be standard behaviour for the SL2 and SL lenses but I'd welcome others views. It's doesn't really sound right but when you acquire focus (with Pre-Focus active) the noise stops also.

All my profiles came across fine when I updated the firmware to V2 apart from the fact that Pre-Focus was set to 'on' whereas my profiles had previously been set to 'off' which I'd done after reading Jono's review when the camera first came out. When using my SL lenses for the first time after the V2 upgrade I therefore thought something had gone badly wrong with the camera!! I've now changed all my profiles as I also found using Pre-Focus used more battery and was really unnecessary.

[SJH]

Just to add a couple of other things:

1. Spot focus appears to make more noise than say 'Field' when Pre-Focus is on.
2. Wider apertures seem to make more noise with Pre-Focus on than stopping down to say F8, not much in it and could be subjective.

[Dean Swartz]

On 8/25/2019 at 1:22 PM, MRJohn said:

I just got this lens a couple of days ago. I can't say anything subjective about the image quality yet since I am still testing, but it seems to make quite some noise when focusing. So far I only had the mid-range and tele zooms but this one here seems the loudest and it doesn't sound smooth either. Anybody else has the same observation?

 

[Dean Swartz]

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I just took delivery (and returned) a 75mm APO Summicron SL because of a very loud squeak when rotating the focus ring. I didn't mattter which body (SL2 or SL2-S) it was on or even if it was not attached to a camera. The dealer was told by the local Leica Rep that this was "not uncommon" and that most people will never experience the issue because the lens is not often used in MF -- I found this explanation disquieting in light of the fact that MANY of us use MF even with AF lenses to "fine tune" AF in difficult settings and during video recording.  As has been written by others, this is unacceptable on a $5,000+ lens.  None of my other Leica lenses (35 APO SL, 90-280, or 24-70), nor for that matter ANY lens I have ever owned over that past 40 years!

[Boojay]

3 hours ago, Dean Swartz said:

I just took delivery (and returned) a 75mm APO Summicron SL because of a very loud squeak when rotating the focus ring. I didn't mattter which body (SL2 or SL2-S) it was on or even if it was not attached to a camera. The dealer was told by the local Leica Rep that this was "not uncommon" and that most people will never experience the issue because the lens is not often used in MF -- I found this explanation disquieting in light of the fact that MANY of us use MF even with AF lenses to "fine tune" AF in difficult settings and during video recording.  As has been written by others, this is unacceptable on a $5,000+ lens.  None of my other Leica lenses (35 APO SL, 90-280, or 24-70), nor for that matter ANY lens I have ever owned over that past 40 years!

The biggest problem is when you trade in an SL Summicron lens anywhere other than a Leica dealer (MPB in my case) and even though the body and glass are in excellent to mint condition, because of the noise in manual focus, the valuation gets reduced as it is considered a fault, and they know there is a possibility that buyers, like you, will return the lens not liking the "noise".    I traded in a 90 SL and the 50 SL, both purchased new and neither had a hard life, both were ridiculously noisy to manual focus, to the extent that I didn't ever use manual focus with either, embarrassing noises.   Having queried the noise at purchase and being told it was normal I just accepted it, but my goodness it hurt when I moved on.   No regrets about my decision, I don't miss either and lesson learned,  I will not buy another SL Summicron but happy to hear others have not had the same experience, and there is no doubt they produce beautiful images.

 

 

 

 

 

[lldd]

My copy of the 90 did the same thing.  When I called the dealer and let them hear it over the phone, they said something was definitely wrong and to return it.  It was sent to Germany, who insisted this was normal.  I'd love to get back into the SL system, but this issue alone stops me.  At the price of these lenses, they should be nearly silent, as it states in all of the marketing materials.  This has been going on since these lenses first came out.  While rare, it you end up with one, its a huge disappointment, and Leica, with their prices and standards should address the underlying issue and resolve. 

[Photoworks]

the farting noise of Summicron-SL is an issue, but my biggest complained is the stiffness of MF and how hard the motors of follow focus needs to work. I think this lenses are unusable in follow focus. I have tried hand gear, wider gear ring, Arri FF motors. I seams that all the summicron-SL have an initial resistant to get turning.

I have not switched to M lenses for video.

[hoolyproductions]

I've noticed this discussion over the last few years but have had not trouble with my silent/near silent APO SL 50mm and 75mm.

However I just got a 90mm APO SL from an eBay dealer at a good price. Perhaps too good to be true as it turns out. Upon arrival the lens hood has broken (presumably in transit). I was just digesting that when I decided to try out the manual focus to see how it feels and performs. Moving it slowly is generally fine, but with swifter movements it sounds like a sea lion! Autofocus seems ok, noticeably louder than my 50mm/75mm but not a distraction.

I'm not sure if this forum allows dropbox links, but here is a short video of the issue (also sent to the dealer, let's see how this goes 🙃) https://www.dropbox.com/s/tstxsnhzrisdpa0/IMG_4469.MOV?dl=0

 

[hoolyproductions]

Ok, so I might have spoken too soon. The lens has not been used for quite some time and may have simply seized up a little. Upon playing for a few more minutes the noise has gone altogether when making normal focussing movements and can be barely provoked with faster longer movements. I'll see how it plays after a couple of hours.

Hope you all enjoyed the sea lion anyway 😁

Also the lens hood was not in fact broken, apparently the bottom part is a collar that screws on to the rest of the hood and then lightly glued. It had disconnected but I could screw it back on quite firmly.

[Jeff S]

Gives new meaning to being sealed.

Jeff