Scratch on new Summilux from Leica Germany - QA?

[Guest]

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Just received a Summilux 50mm, bought through an authorised dealer here in the UK who ordered the lens direct from Germany. Was pretty crazy to see that the rear lens cap was loose in the little plastic lens bag, bits of dust on the rear element, and then when shone a light through from the back wide open was presented with a load of dust and then I noticed a straight scratch and what looks like a little chip next to it. Hard to photograph super well but it's noticeable to the eye. 

 

Obviously this isn't right, and will return but mainly I can't understand at all how this could happen. Something I can notice within a minute of looking at the lens, when not even scrutinizing, just doing some basic tests with a light to check no major issues, can somehow be missed from Leica direct? Maybe I'm expecting too much but would have thought the QA was better than this from Leica, maybe not. Anyone had any experiences like this?

Leica have apparently apologised but offered no explanation on how this could happen and pass QA.

IMG_0467.HEIC IMG_0468.HEIC

Edited March 14 by km6064

[Al Brown]

HEIC files do not go well on this forum.

 

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[69xchange]

I remember when buying my first brand new Leica MP in 2021 from an authorized dealer called “TheCameraStore” in Canada. My copy had erratic frame spacing issue. I called the dealer and explained that it was not due to user error as I had a used M-A and never experienced this before. The salesman named “Rob Bubnick ” kept insisting that Leica DOES NOT make mistakes and he was so sure about it. In the end they refused a refund or exchange even though it was purchased within a few days prior to discovering that issue. I tried calling my CC company, but also was out of luck as this was a special order and required a full upfront payment and 6months had elapse.
 

I would love to see his response now unless his head is so far stuck up in Leica’s ass, it still hasn’t came out yet. I have never shopped there again and bought all my new gear else where now with better customer service and return/exchange policy.  

 

And yes, I’m calling this sales person and the store out. Lesson learned is not to shop at stores that require full upfront payment with a 6 month wait time, otherwise they can easily screw you over and credit card company can no longer help.

Edited March 14 by 69xchange

[grahamc]

6 hours ago, 69xchange said:

 

I would love to see his response now unless his head is so far stuck up in Leica’s ass, it still hasn’t came out yet. 

Sorry to hear about it but thanks for the very amusing description.  This seems to be a common problem  🤣

[Al Brown]

22 hours ago, 69xchange said:

The salesman named “Rob Bubnick ” kept insisting that Leica DOES NOT make mistakes and he was so sure about it.

Exactly like some members of this forum who are trying to gaslight folks into the same doctrine by convicing them everything is their error.

[Km6064]

Had to delete and sign up here again as was having lots of issues with errors in viewing threads and images for some reason but i was the OP. Apologies for the HEIC’s.

Nightmare about the MP, sorry to hear. The UK customer care manager, Vijay Sebastian actually told me once, when I brought up freezing issues on my M11, that it’s not a big issue at all and he has only heard of 5 instances in the UK. When i mentioned the extensive threads about it on here and other forums he said Leica don’t consider forums to be reliable information and only use their own data because people could be just using the products wrong, or misinformed. Talk about gaslighting, doesn’t just go for the dealers!

Seems not having much luck, i since bought a new 28mm summicron with close focus and that one came with some residue on the front element (easily cleaned) but has pretty obvious and annoying focus ring play around infinity end of the scale, can literally be wobbled about. I don’t know if it’s something with the newer (re)designed lenses or not but rapidly pretty much lost faith now in Leica standards now sadly

Have asked a few dealers speculatively about QC and any issues recently without saying anything about my experiences and they all umm and ahhh their way to a half hearted ‘generally not really, they seem to have worked things out recently’ which is never all that convincing.

[28framelines]

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4 hours ago, Km6064 said:

Had to delete and sign up here again as was having lots of issues with errors in viewing threads and images for some reason but i was the OP. Apologies for the HEIC’s.

Nightmare about the MP, sorry to hear. The UK customer care manager, Vijay Sebastian actually told me once, when I brought up freezing issues on my M11, that it’s not a big issue at all and he has only heard of 5 instances in the UK. When i mentioned the extensive threads about it on here and other forums he said Leica don’t consider forums to be reliable information and only use their own data because people could be just using the products wrong, or misinformed. Talk about gaslighting, doesn’t just go for the dealers!

Seems not having much luck, i since bought a new 28mm summicron with close focus and that one came with some residue on the front element (easily cleaned) but has pretty obvious and annoying focus ring play around infinity end of the scale, can literally be wobbled about. I don’t know if it’s something with the newer (re)designed lenses or not but rapidly pretty much lost faith now in Leica standards now sadly

Have asked a few dealers speculatively about QC and any issues recently without saying anything about my experiences and they all umm and ahhh their way to a half hearted ‘generally not really, they seem to have worked things out recently’ which is never all that convincing.

Sorry to hear this. To be honest, this is part of the reason why I sold my Leica Elmarit ASPH. The build quality of the new Color Skopar in Brass is miles ahead. The aperture isn’t loose, the focus is smooth (I had this weird “bump” in hot or cold temperatures where the focus wouldn’t move smoothly on the Elmarit) and in terms of performance, is similar enough on film that I cannot tell a difference. Oh, and it’s way cheaper, so if anything does happen to it, it’s a pretty cheap replacement.

[fil-m]

I had problems with 3 newly bought lenses from Leica

1. Lux 50 Asph that I bought with one large dust particle in the middle, near the rear group. Quite obvious and disturbing. Sent it, they cleaned it immediately and returned it within a couple of weeks

2. APO Cron 35: decentered. It took me a year to figure out that something was wrong due to excessive flare under some conditions, that I managed to easily reproduce (only challenge was waiting for the shy sun to appear in a Parisian winter :). Their support was honest, identified the issue and fixed it under warranty. Without the warranty the cost would have been prohibitive, in excess of 2.5K Euro! My Cron was one of the first production samples, I guess (hope?) they figured out the issue to enhance their production quality process 

3. SEM 21: the lens hood was scratched and the paint job inconsistent with unremovable traces (!). Unbelievable. That's way better than having the lens body or the glass scratched  Still, it was a new lens, and I opened the external white card box which was sealed - just to say that no one tempered with the lens. It is still difficult to prove as Leica's support could assume that it was my fault, that I could have dropped the hood. Anyway, I was quite disappointed as their only "generic" answer was to return the lens and get a replacement which was not possible as I was quite excited to use it for my trip and had no time left for a round trip. So I had to accept the hood as is. "Damaged out of the box" goods. Sad that my Leila Wetzlar support contact went on retirement (recently), I am sure that she would have promptly sent me a new hood on the spot, no question asked 

I can accept QA issues as long as (1) they progressively fix them by improving their production processes and quality control to reduce the occurence of such problems and (2) as long as their support is reactive and finds appropriate/adapted solution which has been the case until I faced my SEM21 issue - a real disappointment (hope this event is an exception, not the new normal) 

[Auroralabs]

I'm a recent Leica user and first bought into the system a few years ago after being a long-time Canon & Fuji shooter. I had a long string of horrible Leica QA issues, all with recent and brand-new items. Lenses out of calibration (requiring trips back to Leica for front or back focusing), internal element scratches, crooked hoods, and the list goes on. For reference, I've had a few decades of buying new Canon & Fuji gear and never had one issue or return with any of them. Leica's quality control is a total joke at this point.

It's probably much better to just buy used Leica gear that you can pre-inspect than anything new from Leica.

Edited March 20 by Auroralabs