The M disasters - what was the worst thing that happened to your M lens?

[wlaidlaw]

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1 hour ago, farnz said:

Wow - I wasn't aware that Leica had ever made a silver 50/1 Noctilux!  It's something I would dearly have loved to own so your buddy must have paid a high price for it and his loss is all the greater.

Pete.

Pete, 

I think the chrome f1 Noctilux was sold in a set either with a chrome M6 or M7, as a special edition. I seem to have a vague memory of lusting after it at some point. I had a black F1 Noctilux which I swapped with Jono Slack for various other lenses, as I had an 0.95 on order. 

Edited November 19, 2020 by wlaidlaw

[Guest JMF]

 

Two years ago working on a film shoot in Chile, had the sunday off and decided to go on a day drive shooting the Pacific Coast scenery by the  Ruta Una.

I lost balance by the edge of a cliff  whilst taking a shot with a Ricoh GR21. I  fell heavily  into the lower rock boulders and when I stood up with a bleeding head, I saw that the SL 601 and 35 Summilux AA were still strapped accross my waist...  Passed them on to a friend and was rushed to a local clinic . Luckily  a surgeon was on duty  that sunday morning  and he stitched my head cuts whilst my friend and  focus puller / camera assistant took care of the cameras. The SL had a knock by the battery door but was still fully functioning and the 35 AA had only been covered in dust but  was fine !!!

The lens was fitted with a generic hood and uv filter and only got dirty externally.

Since then I've sent the SL to Solms to be checked. Still using the same gear and 35 M Summilux AA to this day !

Best, Jean-Marc.

Edited November 19, 2020 by JMF

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[Al Brown]

4 hours ago, farnz said:

Wow - I wasn't aware that Leica had ever made a silver 50/1 Noctilux!  It's something I would dearly have loved to own so your buddy must have paid a high price for it and his loss is all the greater.

Pete.

@farnz Pete, you are absolutely right, I checked with him, he bought a new silver 0.95 one afterwards, the former was of course black.

[adan]

Mine is easy to remember - it just happened this (Thursday) afternoon!

I call it Leica's Revenge!

I was carrying an M10 over my shoulder, with the Voigtländer 75 f/1.5 mounted, when I felt something flick my ear like a bullwhip. Followed immediately by a crash on concrete behind me.

The stock Leica M-10 strap tip loop (~4 years old) had split wide open where it loops through the O-ring. Like an elevator with a broken cable, the camera/lens went down, while the loose tip flew up over my shoulder, clipping my ear.

Damage - the lens's front ring took the brunt of the fall, and the aperture ring was jammed almost solid. With great effort I could turn it from the "accident position" of f/2.8 to f/1.5 or to f/4, but no further. A serious dent in the aperture ring - and the lens barrel inside it - had formed an artificial "detent" or "witness dent" at about f/2.8.

The camera had no new visible marks, and the RF calibration seemed OK on first glance. The strap was totalled - ripped wide open at one end.

I figure this was the Leica strap taking exception to the fact I was using a CV lens.

__________

The good news: once I got home, I was able to slide the tip of a jewelers' screw-driver into the gap between the aperture ring and the inner barrel, and with some leverage restore the clearance between them (straighten the dent - enough). The aperture ring now turns perfectly freely and correctly.

The rangefinder, once checked in more detail, seemed to be slightly front-focusing, which was re-calibrated in 5 minutes with a 2mm hex wrench. Now correct for all my fast 75s and 90s.

And I replaced the guilty strap with an M9(?) strap from the toy chest.

Back in business......

[Boojay]

I've ouched and winced my way through this thread, and feel a little less embarrassed at my own clumsiness, so sorry for all your losses😊.

So other than earlier this year when I fell in the river and lost my M10 and 50 Summilux Asph, my 90mm APO Summicron was dropped to the concrete during an ugly canal side lens change in Venice a couple of years ago.  It hit the deck with quite a bang, time slowed as I watched it roll towards the canal but happily I managed to stop it with my foot.   Damage sustained was cracked filter, dented filter ring and hood.  Hotel reception found me some pliers and I managed to remove the filter, the lens still carries the other battle scars but works fine in all other respects, will have to go to Wetzler at some point I guess.

 

[LocalHero1953]

14 hours ago, Al Brown said:

@farnz Pete, you are absolutely right, I checked with him, he bought a new silver 0.95 one afterwards, the former was of course black.

Pity - that would have helped us identify it - from all those other Noctiluxes in the Grand Canal.

[didier]

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When I started Leica Photography (early 2000s) I quickly set up a combo I used for over 10 years : 28/50/90, and took the 28/50 + M6TTL over 40 times on various ascents of 4000+ m peaks. I shot pictures with -25°C on peaks after 7 or 8h of climbing when all batteries of all electronic equipments had died and brought amazing slides home by guessing exposure and bracketing, shooting with my trusty M6. I took all my gear on various treks, including 10 days in Tanzania to climb Kilimandjaro and Mawenzi. My silver summicron 90 APO is just still like new. So is my now 20 year old silver M6 TTL...
However, at the beginning of my adventures, as a young engineer, I wanted to test my newly acquired lenses.

I remember I used a small - fragile - tripod from my Father, and my the newly acquired summicron 28 fell on the concrete. My Heart literally stopped...

Finally it wasn’t that terrible : I had to replace the Shade, and the Lens had a few dings. it is my only piece of Leica Equipment which really really shows signs of use and wear (sold since then) by me 😢

 

[tommonego@gmail.com]

I was riding a brand new bike years ago going to the beach in Provincetown, MA USA, my M3 with a 35 f2.8 Summaron with goggles was in my back pack, a spoke broke on the front wheel, I landed on my back pack. Got a quite a road rash, the goggles wrenched the lens off the camera ripping the lens mount, dinging the corner of the goggles. Had to have the lensmount replaced, but the camera and goggles were fine. 

[Peter Kilmister]

That's what happens when you ride on the incorrect side of the road!

Seriously, if you had bought a brand new bike and a spoke had broken then the supplier has a liability under common law in the UK, and probably in the US. Everything should have been checked by the supplier before handing over your new bike. Sue them for what repairs cost. There may be a law of limitations that would prevent a back-dated claim in your case, especially as it must have been years ago with an M3. The principle remains, however, and if it happened today then sue the selling company. 

Never let these inept businesses get away with supplying shoddy goods.

Edited November 20, 2020 by Peter Kilmister
Typo

[smkoush]

I was setting up the M-P with 28mm Summicron (v.1) on a tripod for night photography. I attached the camera/lens on a dovetail and I then I attached the dovetail on the ballhead saddle.

When I let go and I reached in the bag to get the cable release I heard a big thumb on the sidewalk...took me a second to figure out what it was as it was dark--- camera and lens fell from about 1.5 meters and hit the ground at about 12 mph! 

To my surprise, camera/lens landed on the plastic 28mm summicron hood, and all the impact was absorbed by the hood, which cracked on two places.

And that was it. I was certain at first I will have to send both of them in for service but there is absolutely nothing cosmetically or mechanically wrong on either the camera or the lens . Nothing, the rangefinder is fine, the camera operates just as before, and the lens feel as smooth as before with absolutely no sign of anything damaged. That hood really really worked, I'm sure the lens would have suffered more damage if the hood was metal, and/or securely attached via threads on the lens body (like the v2 summicron). 

[didier]

6 hours ago, smkoush said:

To my surprise, camera/lens landed on the plastic 28mm summicron hood, and all the impact was absorbed by the hood, which cracked on two places.

It looks as if the summicon 28 v1 huge ugly plastic hood saved a few lives !