My rant on service: Coding

[Shootist]

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Ok back in the 5 month of this year I sent off a 90mm TE to have it coded using one of my free coding vouchers (Actually I sent 2 90mm TE's in at the same time).

Sometime in early August I got a letter from Leica NJ that the lens needed to go back to Germany, that was funny because I had already gotten one of the lenses back with the coding done.

I said OK send it back. At the end of August or the beginning of September I got another letter with an estimate for the work that was to be done. What!! I sent it in to be CODED.

It was a older version of the 90TE and probably had never been CLA'ed so I said OK do the work (the price was more then the lens was worth but I'm a sucker so it was OK).

I got the lens back yesterday and guess what. IT WASN'T CODED, but of course my CC was charged.

I couldn't believe it. I called Sara at NJ and she was supposed to get back to me yesterday, which of course didn't happen.

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[larry]

Ed,

 

I'd say that you're entitled to a rant. In fact, you're being pretty nice about it! Best of luck straightening this out.

 

Larry

[Shootist]

Well "I" Called Sara again today and when I got her voice mail I left a very stern message. Stating this was unbelievable and that I wanted a UPS call tick for Leica NJ to pick up the lens, Do the coding and send it back to me.

 

Sara called me back within the half hour saying it's on the way.

[adan]

Ed, when you say "an older version of the 90TE", do you mean the "fat" version from the 60's?

 

That lens is not on Leica's list of lenses that can be coded - only the "thin" version from the 70's-80's is.

 

Leica's M-mounts on lenses changed at some point to thin chrome rings with 6 screw heads visible on the back face of the mounting surface, and only lenses with that kind of mount can accept "modern" mounts with the coding dimples.

 

Leica has a pdf here that lists the lenses that can be retrofitted: Leica Camera AG - M lenses with 6-bit coding

 

(But if that's the case, Leica should have noticed that the lens was not codable and told you so before spending your time and money - at least you should be able to get a refund on a CLA that really was not what you originally wanted).

 

If your lens was in fact a thin TE, then it ought to end up with coding.

 

If your lens is the fat version, it cannot be coded by Leica. BUT you might contact John Milich on this forum, who I believe can "cut" the dimples in some mounts (e.g. the Zeiss ZM lenses) and might be able to handle the fat TE as well. You'll have to paint in the correct black/white sequence in the dimples John provides (if he can) but those sequences are available online - and you can use the sequence for the "thin" TE without a problem, I'm sure.

 

Just for the record, the coding has no effect on image quality with a 90 - there is no cyan fringing to be removed when using the IR filters because of the narrow field of view. The only benefit would be recording the focal length in the EXIF data.

[Shootist]

No it's not the fat version. Just a early version of the slim. Serial # starts with 26 where as the newer of the 2 I have the serial starts with 3x.

Yeah I understand that for lenses greater then the 50 coding is not needed. Except when you, kind of (coding was supposed to be done with the voucher received for buying a new Leica lens), pay for it and it is supposed to be done.

One of the reasons I want all my Leica lenses coded is so 2-4-6-8-? weeks/months/years from now when I view a image I can tell which FL lens was used to take it.