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Focus problem on Summicron-R 50mm lens - related to built-in lens hood?


mkvrnn

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I have a 50mm Summicron-R lens, 3cam version which has had very little use and still looks like new.

BUT the focus ring turns smoothly from the minimum distance of 0.5m until it reaches around 1.5m then won't go much further. I sold the lens recently without realising that it had a problem, and the buyer has returned it. He had sent it to a lens specialist who told him that "We noticed that the front hood has become dislodged which is preventing the focus from having full travel".

I'm guessing that by "front hood" they mean a built-in lens hood? I didn't realise that the lens has a built-in hood but I can now see that there is a narrow ring almost at the front of the lens. With the lens focussed at 0.5m this ring turns freely and can be move fore and aft by around 3mm. But when the focus start to jam at around  1.5m, the ring also starts to jam. So presumably this is the cause of the problem.

Has anybody experienced this problem and how can it be fixed?  Can anybody recommend s special here in the UK?

Many thanks for reading.

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20 hours ago, earleygallery said:

If the lens focussed fine before you sold it I would wonder if the buyer has dropped it.......

I can't be certain about that so I have to give the buyer the benefit of the doubt.  I had thought that the lens was perfect when I sold it but I can't remember whether I checked everything. It came to me some years ago with a Leica R4 outfit (camera, various lenses and much more) all of which was in original boxes and looked to be in mint condition, so perhaps I didn't check it as thoroughly as I should have done.

I think that the focus movement is being restricted by the telescopic lens hood. I can only pull the hood forwards by a few mm so I suspect that something has become dislodged. Can anybody give me any advice on dismantling it or suggest a suitable repair technician in the UK?

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I'.ve just attached 3 images. One is a diagram I found of a 50mm Summicron-R

The other two are photos of my lens set to the minimum focus distance of around 0.5m.  The top one shows the lens hood fully retracted, and the bottom one shows it pulled forwards as far as it can move, which is only a few mm.  Clearly it should move well beyond the front of the lens.  Does anybody have any idea what could have happened?  The diagram shows the front lip of the lens hood in a position in front of the lens, but on my lens the lip of the hood is behind the front of the lens. 

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  • 2 months later...

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I also think that if the hood really is the problem, it may not be a hard thing to fix.  It may even just be a loose screw that now sticks out just far enough to cause a problem.  These are really nice lenses as far as R lenses go and is almost the same as the Summicron M 50 version IV (V is the chrome version I think).  In any event, this is a great lens if you can get repaired.

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  • 3 weeks later...

usually almost all 50mm Summicron and summilux and 28 /macros have a problem with the focusring

the focusring get loosen and then it turn empty and you cant focus on infinity

the newer versions has a small rubber ring under the ring so its lil better 

its not a big problem to fix and justage the focus

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