Broken Lenses...where to find?

[KFo]

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I've been heading down a very anti technical perfection path in imaging for quite some time now.  I've been thinking about using messed up lenses (Sally Mann,etc) however I've not had much luck locally finding LTM/M mount lenses in the appropriately messed up condition.  Unfortunately Leica lenses seem pretty durable....;)

Any suggestions for broadening my search beyond local (I live in Barcelona)? It seems people just leave their messed up optics in the attic.  What say the net wisdom?

Thanks!!

[250swb]

Get any one of the many lens adapters for the M mount and choose from other manufacturers, Nikon to M mount for example. The lens will have to be very messed up to be 'bad', far more than you may think. This is an £8 50mm f/1.4 Nikkor from eBay, the front element is nearly as bad, deep gouges and the coating is gone, the result is some flare, but perfectly usable stopped down,

 

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[Ecar]

Yes, eBay. The only place where they will often (but not always...) be priced according to their condition.

Flea markets may be another source, but I often found that sellers have high price expectations when a lens has some kind of branding that they deem valuable, irrespective of condition (I have seen lenses that were effectively unusable and unrecoverable being offered at unreasonable prices just because "It's a Leica (or Nikon, or Canon, or whatever)".

[jaeger]

4 hours ago, KFo said:

appropriately messed up condition

I thought nobody likes me, here I am, we can be friends.

[jaeger]

4 hours ago, 250swb said:

Get any one of the many lens adapters for the M mount and choose from other manufacturers, Nikon to M mount for example. The lens will have to be very messed up to be 'bad', far more than you may think. This is an £8 50mm f/1.4 Nikkor from eBay, the front element is nearly as bad, deep gouges and the coating is gone, the result is some flare, but perfectly usable stopped down,

 

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I did a dozen of cleaning myself, but I have never gone this extreme.  For this condition in the picture, will coating come after cleaning? 

[UliWer]

4 hours ago, KFo said:

LTM/M mount lenses in the appropriately messed up condition.  Unfortunately Leica lenses seem pretty durable....;)

 

You might look for a Summar - 1:2/5cm in LTM

The Summars had soft glass and many items have a problem with the glue between two lenses degenerated. The photo below was taken with my first Summar (in the meantime I have two others which "work").:

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[250swb]

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21 minutes ago, jaeger said:

I did a dozen of cleaning myself, but I have never gone this extreme.  For this condition in the picture, will coating come after cleaning? 

The lens is as I got it, it had been in a Press photographers camera bag all it's life and the damage is from rubbing against other lenses without any lens caps on.

[jaeger]

3 minutes ago, 250swb said:

The lens is as I got it, it had been in a Press photographers camera bag all it's life and the damage is from rubbing against other lenses without any lens caps on.

Oh my dog, that's a true story of work-horses.  May OP find its siblings at thrift stores.

[tommonego@gmail.com]

One of the ways to get a messed up lens with out messing up a lens is to mess up a filter for the lens. Sometimes an old, cheap filter may degrade the image enough, but spreading vaseline or other stuff will help. As for Leica lenses, I had a DR Summicron with a pitted rear element and it still was a great lens. Sold it to a friend since I don't use 50s much. He still has it, we marvel at the amount of damage the lens has and how it can still make great images. 

[a.noctilux]

ask Roger Cicala

he would have some to choose from

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[KFo]

7 hours ago, 250swb said:

Get any one of the many lens adapters for the M mount and choose from other manufacturers, Nikon to M mount for example. The lens will have to be very messed up to be 'bad', far more than you may think. This is an £8 50mm f/1.4 Nikkor from eBay, the front element is nearly as bad, deep gouges and the coating is gone, the result is some flare, but perfectly usable stopped down,

 

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Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

I'm looking for perfectly unusable lenses     I think scratches are really an insufficient defect.  Element separation sounds exciting....flare doesn't excite at all.  I've already got expensive perfect lenses that flare.

Edited February 3, 2022 by KFo

[KFo]

50 minutes ago, tommonego@gmail.com said:

One of the ways to get a messed up lens with out messing up a lens is to mess up a filter for the lens. Sometimes an old, cheap filter may degrade the image enough, but spreading vaseline or other stuff will help. As for Leica lenses, I had a DR Summicron with a pitted rear element and it still was a great lens. Sold it to a friend since I don't use 50s much. He still has it, we marvel at the amount of damage the lens has and how it can still make great images. 

Messing up some filters is a nice idea.  I'd forget all about filters since I went digital.  

I'm gonna head to the local foto monger and see if he's got some cheap filters I can mess with (that fit my lenses more or less).

[tommonego@gmail.com]

My M8 got me back into thinking about filters, IR blocking for color, IR for infrared. Try to find some old Tiffen or Spiratone ones. 

[250swb]

1 hour ago, KFo said:

I'm looking for perfectly unusable lenses     I think scratches are really an insufficient defect.  Element separation sounds exciting....flare doesn't excite at all.  I've already got expensive perfect lenses that flare.

Well I don't think you'll find anything to the level of damage you want that won't disappoint you by still being too good. It's better to just start with a plastic lens Holga camera or many of the other Lomo lenses and start with a bad lens rather than a quality lens that has 'become bad'.

Edited February 3, 2022 by 250swb

[pippy]

1 hour ago, KFo said:

...I'm looking for perfectly unusable lenses...

Have you considered all the possibilities offered by photographing through the bottom of an empty beer glass?

I've just had a look at that very scenario and, as lenses go, it really would be perfectly unusable. Just a thought!............

Philip.

Edited February 3, 2022 by pippy

[pgk]

Try phoning around lens repairers as they may well have some which are deemed uneconomic to repair.

[KFo]

1 hour ago, 250swb said:

Well I don't think you'll find anything to the level of damage you want that won't disappoint you by still being too good. It's better to just start with a plastic lens Holga camera or many of the other Lomo lenses and start with a bad lens rather than a quality lens that has 'become bad'.

You know, I have played with Lomo and Holga.  They are crappy in ways that don't interest me.  For example light leaks, or in the case of Lomo failing to fire when the shutter release is pressed.

I know this is a weird requirement: I wan bad optics and perfect camera mechanics.  A Leica with a messed up lens...

[jaapv]

3 hours ago, KFo said:

I'm looking for perfectly unusable lenses     I think scratches are really an insufficient defect.  Element separation sounds exciting....flare doesn't excite at all.  I've already got expensive perfect lenses that flare.

Just get lenses from eBay described as "minty" 

[a.noctilux]

I do have many crappy Leitz/Leica lenses, I won't sell them they are so unique, but neither one is as crappy as SLR lenses that  I bought for a couple of euros.

So try to go to SLR lenses with adapter to M, you would have many choices.

I think of first price zooms for example sold with cameras.

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[LocalHero1953]

Call any of the online dealers who sell adequate or good lenses. Not the big companies with a shop front like Meister or Red Dot Cameras, but smaller traders with just an online presence. Some (most?) of them have a business model of buying up batches of mixed lenses at auction or in house clearances. They pick the better ones to sell online with pictures showing how good their condition is, but they also get a lot of dross that they would not try to sell. They might be delighted if you offered to take their worst lenses.