Lens ID mystery

[john_nyc]

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Ok.. this is really strange.

 

I just noticed that my M8 is somehow identifying my Tele-Elmar 90 as a 90mm f2.8 lens. I noticed it in Adobe Bridge's EXIF display, but it's also in the info screen on-camera.

 

I never hand coded this lens, so it can't be that it's pickup up old markings. When I mount my pre-asph 50 lux, it has no idea what lens is mounted (as is expected).

 

I just tried swapping between a coded 28 cron, a non-coded 50 lux, and the non-coded 90 a couple of times and each time, it identifies the 28 and 90 and has no idea about the 50.

 

Again, the 90 is NOT coded in any way.

 

Am I missing something or did I spend too much time in the sun this afternoon?

 

John

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[carstenw]

Others have reported the same. Is there a screw in just the right place?

[john_nyc]

Ah, brilliant. That must be it. I see from your coding chart that the 90/2.8 code is a single bit. I can see how one screw in particular is in the vicinity of the coding sensor.

 

It's too bad that this serendipitous screw placement couldn't have happened on a lens in which coding actually matters!

 

John

[lars_bergquist]

Say which lens are you referring to? There exist two Tele-Elmarit lenses but Leitz/Leica have to my knowledge never produced a 90mm lens called a 'Tele-Elmar'. The only Tele-Elmar ever was the 135mm one.

 

Maybe you mean the Macro-Elmar-M? Then the suggested cause of the reading error (a strategically pleced screw head) may well be the cause. If this annoys you then you may well try curing it with a dab of white paint on the screw. This should result in just a non-committal dash in the EXIF file. The error has no earthly influence on the functioning of the lens.

 

If you are referring to a really old 90mm lens (say before the middle 1960's) Leica cannot code these because these lenses use an older style bayonet, which cannot be just exchanged for a newly-made coded one, which is Leica procedure. Here the only available hand coding means sending the bayonet to John Milich for milling. You may want a good camera mechanic – not a born-again locksmith – to remove and then re-attach the bayonet. I doubt however that the problem occurs; it does not with my 1959 90mm Elmarit.

 

The old man from the Age of the Screw Mount

[Guest ww@lt]

it's the same with my Tele-Elmarit....

...and my Elmarit 21mm (pre-ASPH), also being dedected as "90mm",

 

Customer Service told me, that's because they share the same bayonet ring....

 

.....they told me to turn lens dedection OFF or have the 21 coded

(so I did it with the Sharpie-method)

[Guest ww@lt]

by the way:

I made myself a positioning device for coding the lenses.

it is laser cut out of stainless steel.

 

if anybody is interested of getting one, please mail me your email address and I tell you the details!

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[HetDraakje]

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Very nicely done, I'm interested. PB send

 

Boen

[marknorton]

I think you'll find that painting the white pits is not necessary, providing the metal remains reflective. You can, for example, make an uncoded lens look like a WATE with just one black dot.

 

Nice solution though, especially for those "professional photgraphers" (me just being a rank amateur) who don't want to be without their lenses while they are being coded, and the template ring would be easy to take along on a trip to touch up the coding if needed.

 

With solutions like this and John Milich's bayonet ring coding, who wants a lens selection menu when you can have all the convenience of lens coding? Even those collectors who lie awake at night fretting about the value of their precious lenses collapsing after coding will be able to use this and sleep easy again.

 

Nice job, even though I don't have any uncoded/uncodeable lenses, I'm interested in buying one. Who knows, I might buy a Zeiss lens someday.

[rbaron]

I just received my positioning device and it is very nice indeed! I look forward to trying it tonight when I get home.

 

I already have an Industrial Sharpie, which is supposed to be more permanent on metal mounts than the regular Sharpie pen.

 

I wonder, though, if I should try the marking with a regular Sharpie first to confirm it works, before using the Industrial Sharpie?

 

I don't think there would be a down side to this, although I did read somewhere a caution about applying too much ink or paint when home coding so as not to create something that could flake off and wind up inside the M8.

 

--Bob

[highlander]

by the way:

I made myself a positioning device for coding the lenses.

it is laser cut out of stainless steel.

 

if anybody is interested of getting one, please mail me your email address and I tell you the details!

 

Hi Walt,

I have sent money via Paypal for a device, normal email will not let me contact you, all details are on the Paypal site. Regards ... Jim.

[highlander]

Device has arrived ... the fun begins.

Coded my 35 cron no problems but will have to clean the metal surfaces on the Leitz adapters a bit more before I get into the other lenses.

Is there a code for the 75 lux?

Regards ... Jim.