Lens Wording is Upside Down (28mm Elmarit ASPH)

[philiptran]

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Anyone have any idea how/why the wording on my 28mm Elmarit turned upside down and if there's a way to put it back to it's normal positioning myself? I haven't done anything out of ordinary with it so I I haven't got a clue how this could've happened. The lens still works perfectly though. Photo attached for reference.

 

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Edited July 12, 2023 by philiptran

[pedaes]

Surprised it works perfectly

 As a one off, it will probably be worth $1m to a Asian collector.

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Edited July 12, 2023 by pedaes

[earleygallery]

Was it 'normal' before or is this a new lens and this is how it's arrived?

 

[jaapv]

The lens is fine; the camera has been built upside-down.

[adan]

The engraved ring on the front of the lens is just that - a separate threaded ring that is screwed into the lens barrel during assembly.

If the position has changed, it's quite possible the ring is (or was) slightly loose (not screwed in fully, then or now).

Might get a pair of cotton gloves (to avoid a fingerprint on the glass) and try rotating the engraved ring clockwise or counterclockwise with a fingertip to see if it is loose or freely rotating.

...............

Of course, this also begs the question of "What exactly is 'upside-down' on a lens ring?"

All of my Leica-brand lenses are engraved so that "down" for the letters/numbers is "towards the center of the lens." Only one random single word or part of a word is "right-side up" in any given orientation. And none of them have "Leitz" or "Leica" directly at the top, in line with the focusing and aperture index marks.

By focal length, the clock position of the engraved Leitz/Leica seen from the front, where perfectly right-side-up is "12:00 noon," is

135mm....11:45 (almost "high noon")
90mm..... 5:00
50mm.....11:00 (although to be fair, it is actually engraved LEITZ WETZLAR, and that whole phrase is almost top-dead-center (from about 10:30 to 1:30).)
35mm......9:30-ish
28mm......4:30
21mm.......7:30

But I had to go and check them just now, because never - ever - Ever - EVER in 50 years in photography have I ever worried about which way the lens engraving pointed.  

24 minutes ago, jaapv said:

The lens is fine; the camera has been built upside-down.

Very possibly - be careful the pictures don't fall out!  

(Old war story - in the 1970s, the (German) head of sales for Leica USA (Walter Heun) came to my university and gave a lecture on "Using the Leica M." At one point he recommended, for slow exposure times, turning the M body upside-down so that the back plate/door rested firmly against the forehead for extra support. "Ov courze, ziz means your negatifs will come out upside down! But ziz is not really a problem! When you make your prints in the darkroom, chust turn your enlarger around alzo 180°!")

Edited July 12, 2023 by adan

[philiptran]

1 hour ago, earleygallery said:

Was it 'normal' before or is this a new lens and this is how it's arrived?

 

Yup! I've had the lens for a few years now and the wording was in it's normal position the whole time. It was only within the last few weeks that the ring somehow turned upside down.

[pedaes]

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7 minutes ago, Al Brown said:

You can unscrew the Elmarit ring.

and OP can screw it back.

[TomB_tx]

36 minutes ago, adan said:

At one point he recommended, for slow exposure times, turning the M body upside-down so that the back plate/door rested firmly against the forehead for extra support.

Exactly why the Stereo Realist had the VF & RF eyepieces at the bottom of the camera, as the preferred film was Kodachrome with ASA 10 to 25!

[jaeger]

1 hour ago, jaapv said:

The lens is fine; the camera has been built upside-down.

I am surprise this guy has finally made some jokes...  It's a good thing though.

[earleygallery]

2 hours ago, philiptran said:

Yup! I've had the lens for a few years now and the wording was in it's normal position the whole time. It was only within the last few weeks that the ring somehow turned upside down.

As already pointed out the ring with the engraving/printing on has spun around. I have no idea if it's screwed in or stuck on but it should be a very simple fix you can do yourself.

[rramesh]

So you have the Diana Ross edition.

Edited July 13, 2023 by rramesh

[philiptran]

6 hours ago, earleygallery said:

As already pointed out the ring with the engraving/printing on has spun around. I have no idea if it's screwed in or stuck on but it should be a very simple fix you can do yourself.

for sure, i'll try it out!