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Summicron DR Goggle misalignment


Iano

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I have just purchased a pair of goggles for my Summicron 50mm DR. When mounted and the lens set to close focusing range there is significant vertical misalignment of the range finder patch. 

Does anyone have any experience of such an issue? Is this something that can be repaired, or should I return the goggles to the seller while I still can?

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated! 

 

 

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Welcome to the forum. I just so happen to have my M2 with goggled 50 on the shelf behind me.

Have you got the tab on the right hand side of the stop?

(To be honest, it's so long since I used it I can't remember if the tab will go to the left with the goggles fitted)

 

Which camera are you using? My copy of this lens will not work with my M240 and didn't work with the my old MP I used to have. The cam often needs to be adjusted to work with some modern bodies.

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5 minutes ago, Bo-Sixten said:

I experienced exactly this with the goggles I bought separately to my 90mm macro elmar. I sent it back. The goggles to my 50mm DR work perfectly.  

There is nothing you will be able to do about it. Just send it back and try another one.  :))

Thank you for your reply. 

I really hope you are wrong! 

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Yes they can be adjusted, but it's a pain to find someone who genuinely can and having done this myself (9months at repairers) , I have taken about 2 photos with the close range, and now I can't engage close focus, so another bill beckons.

Send it back and keep trying or give up. 

It helps for others to recommend repairers  if you mention where you are!

 

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1 hour ago, andybarton said:

Welcome to the forum. I just so happen to have my M2 with goggled 50 on the shelf behind me.

Have you got the tab on the right hand side of the stop?

(To be honest, it's so long since I used it I can't remember if the tab will go to the left with the goggles fitted)

 

Which camera are you using? My copy of this lens will not work with my M240 and didn't work with the my old MP I used to have. The cam often needs to be adjusted to work with some modern bodies.

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Thanks for reply, Andy!. 

I'm using an M3, so that shouldn't be an issue. 

Yes, the tab is on the other side of the stop to put it in close focus range. The goggles don't actually want to mount without the lens being set that way. 

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7 minutes ago, Charles Morgan said:

Yes they can be adjusted, but it's a pain to find someone who genuinely can and having done this myself (9months at repairers) , I have taken about 2 photos with the close range, and now I can't engage close focus, so another bill beckons.

Send it back and keep trying or give up. 

It helps for others to recommend repairers  if you mention where you are!

 

Thanks Charles. Great point re repairers/location. I'm based in the UK (London). 

9 months.. For two photos. I hope both photos turned out reeeeeaally well... What a nightmare. 

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1 minute ago, Iano said:

Thanks Charles. Great point re repairers/location. I'm based in the UK (London). 

9 months.. For two photos. I hope both photos turned out reeeeeaally well... What a nightmare. 

The repair was cheaper than the purchase of my 135mm Elmarit that I think has only 2 photos to its credit too. 

I used Newton Ellis, who to be fair, were working with something they'd not experienced before - a totally unshimmed set of goggles that would never focus closely. It's probably user error on my part that the close range will no longer function on any M (2 & 3) of mine, 

Both the Elmarit and the DR have one thing in common - it's pushing the use of a rangefinder camera to a direction that is not a natural use. On its own the DR Summicron lens is a beauty of a lens, and I must use mine more than any other Leica lens for my rangefinders. The goggles look good on photos though...

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vor 5 Minuten schrieb Iano:

The goggles don't actually want to mount without the lens being set that way. 

There are in fact different versions of the DR goggles. Ideally, the goggles and the respective DR lens should not be sold separately from each other (they were originally sold together as a set). The different type of goggles have balls of different sizes, which is why you may not be able to corrrectly mount your separately aquired goggles to your lens.

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5 minutes ago, Charles Morgan said:

The repair was cheaper than the purchase of my 135mm Elmarit that I think has only 2 photos to its credit too. 

I used Newton Ellis, who to be fair, were working with something they'd not experienced before - a totally unshimmed set of goggles that would never focus closely. It's probably user error on my part that the close range will no longer function on any M (2 & 3) of mine, 

Both the Elmarit and the DR have one thing in common - it's pushing the use of a rangefinder camera to a direction that is not a natural use. On its own the DR Summicron lens is a beauty of a lens, and I must use mine more than any other Leica lens for my rangefinders. The goggles look good on photos though...

Thanks again Charles. 

I actually wrote to the chaps at Newton Ellis to query this before posting on this forum. I look forward to hearing back from them. 

I certainly love using the lens w/o the goggles too. And I agree, in a reversal of traditional RomCom movie rules, the M3 suddenly looks even prettier when sporting a pair of specs! 

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4 minutes ago, andybarton said:

I assume that the vertical alignment problem is only with this lens, and only with the goggles.

Yes it is, Andy. No problem without the goggles when the lens is in normal (non close) focus range. No issue with other lenses either. 

Wizard just mentioned something interesting (and potentially heart breaking) regarding different 'ball sizes'. I think I need to explore that rabbithole... 

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19 minutes ago, wizard said:

There are in fact different versions of the DR goggles. Ideally, the goggles and the respective DR lens should not be sold separately from each other (they were originally sold together as a set). The different type of goggles have balls of different sizes, which is why you may not be able to corrrectly mount your separately aquired goggles to your lens.

Thanks Wizard. 

Great info. Not great news though. I'll try and do a little research on 'ball sizes' now... (that's what she said. Badum tss) 

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22 minutes ago, Pyrogallol said:

I believe there has been another discussion about the goggles and different versions with different sized balls, but I cannot find it at the moment.

In the Autumn 2020 edition of the Leica Society magazine there is an article covering servicing the goggles, taking the optics apart etc.

Thank you very much! I have a friend who may have a copy of the magazine, so I will ask.

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I use DR for long and have (had) some troubles with mixing DR lenses and SDPOO nickname of "goggles".

As side note, I managed to use  DR on my new ( in 2017 then) M10,

see this old thread

we can see big ball here

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photo Chris Tribble in the thread

 

it's the choice of the right SDPOO

Edited by a.noctilux
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