SL APO lens repair cost

[charles tay]

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I am considering buying a second hand SL APO lens, for example 35mm, but it does not come with a warranty.

Has anyone sent in an APO SL lens for repair because of a motor problem?

A new lens costs 7300-6600 SGD compared to a secondhand APO lens that costs 4000-4500 SGD

Having owned multiple Leica M lenses, I have never had any issues, so I am totally new to the SL system and lenses. 

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[LeicaR10]

Charles Tay,   I see you have not received any replies to your question.   I own a SL 35 and yet never had a SL lens fail so I can not answer your question.  But personally, I would not buy any lens without at least a return policy in writing and most certainly a warranty period...again in writing.  If you cannot inspect and try the lens in person you are risking potential issues too.  There are plenty of used SL 35 Apo Summicrons available through dealers that have written return policies and warranties.  If you are a lucky person and won the lottery a few times, then you might consider buying the lens...if you didn't win the lottery those couple times...then I suggest you hold on to your money and wait for the right deal and warranty conditions to come along.   r/ Mark 

Edited March 29, 2024 by LeicaR10

[davflys]

I haven’t personally sent in an APO SL lens for repair, but from what I’ve gathered, motor issues aren’t commonly reported. The SL lenses are generally reliable and well-built, much like the M lenses you’re familiar with. It's better to wait for some good deal with warrenty. 

[tom0511]

its the S lenses which have/had motor problems, I am not aware of motor problems with the SL lenses.

[TheGodParticle/Hari]

I have the SL 24-90, 50/1.4 and 90-280 since launch, zero problems so far. 

[mikepower]

hi , 

I had problem with my SL 35mm. I send it to Wetzlar and it cost me 300 CHF aprox. They had to adjust the motor of the lens , It was missing on the point and it was making faire amount of noise. 

the only problem was to get it back it took 3 months. 

great day for every body 

[Dr. G]

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2 hours ago, mikepower said:

hi , 

I had problem with my SL 35mm. I send it to Wetzlar and it cost me 300 CHF aprox. They had to adjust the motor of the lens , It was missing on the point and it was making faire amount of noise. 

the only problem was to get it back it took 3 months. 

great day for every body 

By "missing on the point" do you mean that it wasn't getting critical focus at the focus point?  My 50 APO does this and it also makes a lot of noise (much more than  my other APO SL lenses) when doing the firmware updates.

[mikepower]

Ii did not focus on spot , I used it manually with the focus peaking instead because in automatic it was a pain , sometimes the photo was in focus and sometimes not. 

 

[Dr. G]

7 hours ago, mikepower said:

Ii did not focus on spot , I used it manually with the focus peaking instead because in automatic it was a pain , sometimes the photo was in focus and sometimes not. 

 

I definitely need to send my 50 APO in to be checked, then.  I was testing out my SL3 when it arrived by taking photos of my cat with the 50 APO and the 50 Summilux-SL. At 1.4 on the 50 Lux his eyes were consistently sharper than with the 50 APO SL at f2 using AF.  Unless I have the world's best copy of the 50 Lux, this shouldn't be the case.  

[LeicaS2]

I had a two month turnaround on repairing a 90mm APO I watched drop out of a sling bag that fell four feet onto a hard floor. The filter shattered but the lens seemed OK except I couldn’t remove the shattered filter from lens, as the filter dented too. The repair cost was $400.

[Ghiry6591]

Il 25/03/2024 alle 16:20, charles tay ha detto:

Sto pensando di acquistare un obiettivo SL APO di seconda mano, ad esempio 35mm, ma non viene fornito con una garanzia.

Qualcuno ha inviato un obiettivo APO SL per la riparazione a causa di un problema motorio?

Un nuovo obiettivo costa 7300-6600 SGD rispetto a un obiettivo APO di seconda mano che costa 4000-4500 SGD

Avendo posseduto più obiettivi Leica M, non ho mai avuto problemi, quindi sono totalmente nuovo al sistema SL e agli obiettivi.

I'm sure you could find an excellent used one in Leica Stores. In the Leica Store I can find used material that appears perfectly new; you just need to have a little patience. You could save so much money.

[lightsourcekauai]

On 4/11/2024 at 11:53 AM, Dr. G said:

definitely need to send my 50 APO in to be checked, then.  I was testing out my SL3 when it arrived by taking photos of my cat with the 50 APO and the 50 Summilux-SL. At 1.4 on the 50 Lux his eyes were consistently sharper than with the 50 APO SL at f2 using AF

I think I have a similar issue with my 21APO. At f2.0 some images are soft when using Auto Focus. It is something that I don’t see when photographing but when I come home and review the images on the computer I notice an overall softness. I will do controlled tests this weekend to try to confirm. Curious if your issue has been resolved?

[oculaii]

38 minutes ago, lightsourcekauai said:

I think I have a similar issue with my 21APO. At f2.0 some images are soft when using Auto Focus. It is something that I don’t see when photographing but when I come home and review the images on the computer I notice an overall softness. I will do controlled tests this weekend to try to confirm. Curious if your issue has been resolved?

Diglloyd seems to have the same issue :

https://diglloyd.com/blog/2024/20240414_2100-LeicaSL3-UnstableLensFocus.html

[lightsourcekauai]

Just want to post an update on the issue of softness at f/2.0 with the 21 APO SL lens. I conducted tests today with the 21 APO attached to SL2, tripod and with electronic shutter in both Auto Focus and Manual Focus. It is indeed soft, near to the point of being blurry in any file focused at infinity. All f/2.0 images are unusable. It does get better at f/2.8 and again at f5.6, but still not anywhere near good enough for this lens. I purchased the lens new from a Leica Store on 3/20/24 and have only been using it since my used SL2 arrived from another Leica Store on 4/11/24. So something is definitely wrong with the lens. I will send it to Leica USA in New Jersey on Monday and will update with how the inspection/repair goes when completed. Thank you to the forum members who provided advice to me regarding this issue.

Here is crop of one of the test shots at f/2.0. The Reserved Parking sign is the point of focus.

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[lightsourcekauai]

And for reference here is the same subject at f/5.6. Again, tested in identical situation with tripod as above. 

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[oculaii]

On 4/11/2024 at 11:53 PM, Dr. G said:

I definitely need to send my 50 APO in to be checked, then.  I was testing out my SL3 when it arrived by taking photos of my cat with the 50 APO and the 50 Summilux-SL. At 1.4 on the 50 Lux his eyes were consistently sharper than with the 50 APO SL at f2 using AF.  Unless I have the world's best copy of the 50 Lux, this shouldn't be the case.  

Do you have the "Pinpoint" focus feature on your SL3 ? Every Lumix cameras like the S5 and S5II can use this AF mode.
I had a similar issue with my Sigma 35mm DG DN F2 at first (before FW update), only Pinpoint focus was accurate. I know it is not the best solution because this AF mode is very slow but it was the only way for me to get accurate focus when using fast aperture.

[lightsourcekauai]

Update on my 21 APO SL-- After testing it I sent it to New Jersey who also tested it. And just as I suspected/feared, the lens is defective. The New Jersey repair facility determined that it needs to go back to the factory in Germany. This is pretty bad for a brand new lens. Defective out of the box. I am working with Leica Store San Francisco to see if we can find a solution. 

[nhfoley]

Have you had any updates on this topic from Leica and your attempt at repairing the lens? I recently bought a secondhand 28mm APO SL and I suspect it's having a similar issue - it misses focus frequently at F2 and the bokeh transition areas are bizarrely harsh/hazy in a way that looks a good deal like your photo. 

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[mikepower]

i sent back my 35mm to Germany , now I have a noise like a screw got loose hope fully the guarantee of the 1st repair will take care of the cost .