New lens day: 50mm Summilux v2 11114

[bdolzani]

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Just jumped into my first Summilux lens of any focal length. I tend to be a fast/candid f8 street + rural/urban landscape shooter but I had to satisfy my craving (portraits will ensue..).

KEH BGN listing, which has always been great, however this lens's aperture ring is a bit loose, and the aperture dot doesn't line up with the f stops - I was surprised to see that the front element completely unscrews. Is this normal for this lens? (my 50 cron does not unscrew easily by hand as far as I know). It's hard to tell but maybe the tiny screw is missing. So if I cranked the element down tightly it *may* line up with the f stops, but I'm afraid to crank it down that hard. The glass looks great and my first photos around the house are stunning, to me. I'll be loving the 1.4 for certain subjects. I suspect even at f8 the photos will look as vintage as I'd like them too (I shoot both film and digital).

I was confused by the KEH listing, I actually thought it would be a v1. But this serial is 207..... and has half stop clicks. Looks to be 1964.

I'm going on 2 overseas trips - next week and then late May. Wondering if I should get it out to YYE for inspection or just use it carefully as-is for now?

Appreciate any thoughts.

thanks

Brian 

Edited April 19, 2024 by bdolzani

[darylgo]

Mechanical is secondary to imaging for me.  How are the images?  If they're good then likely the mechanical can be corrected.  I had a lens that was misaligned, DAG fixed it mechanically but the images remained poor.  In cases like these I would write to DAG and get his thoughts.  Good luck, summilux lenses are very special.  

[bdolzani]

1 minute ago, darylgo said:

Mechanical is secondary to imaging for me.  How are the images?  If they're good then likely the mechanical can be corrected.  I had a lens that was misaligned, DAG fixed it mechanically but the images remained poor.  In cases like these I would write to DAG and get his thoughts.  Good luck, summilux lenses are very special.  

Thank you and I agree - however I didn't want to jump into using it and make any mechanical issues worse. The images as far as I can tell so far are excellent using the m246. 

I'm very adaptable and can workaround most issues but I'm thinking eventually (either now or after my trips) I'll send it for an evaluation. I do that with all my newly acquired vintage lenses. 

[wizard]

vor 12 Minuten schrieb bdolzani:

I was surprised to see that the front element completely unscrews. Is this normal for this lens?

No, this is certainly NOT normal. Don't hesitate to screw it down tightly (with hand force, of course) until the aperture dot aligns with the f-stop indications. That's how it should be and that's what any repairperson would do, too.

[bdolzani]

Another few minutes of Googling and I found this (yes it does separate easily):

https://justinlow.com/articles/repair-leica-summilux-5014

[bdolzani]

3 minutes ago, wizard said:

No, this is certainly NOT normal. Don't hesitate to screw it down tightly (with hand force, of course) until the aperture dot aligns with the f-stop indications. That's how it should be and that's what any repairperson would do, too.

Oh! Ok thank you. I just posted that article in which it appears to unscrew easily. 

I'm trying with a little more force and yes I can see being able to crank it down so it aligns. Thank you - I was just hesitant.

Edited April 19, 2024 by bdolzani

[wizard]

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vor 1 Minute schrieb bdolzani:

I just posted that article in which it appears to unscrew easily. 

Well, "unscrew easily" is a relative term. The front element is not meant to be unscrewed in normal use, but only for repair and cleaning purposes. It follows that Leica certainly did not want a normal user to unscrew the front element more or less by accident. That is why I said do screw it down tightly to prevent it from becoming loose inadvertently.

[wda]

1 hour ago, bdolzani said:

Just jumped into my first Summilux lens of any focal length. I tend to be a fast/candid f8 street + rural/urban landscape shooter but I had to satisfy my craving (portraits will ensue..).

KEH BGN listing, which has always been great, however this lens's aperture ring is a bit loose, and the aperture dot doesn't line up with the f stops - I was surprised to see that the front element completely unscrews. Is this normal for this lens? (my 50 cron does not unscrew easily by hand as far as I know). It's hard to tell but maybe the tiny screw is missing. So if I cranked the element down tightly it *may* line up with the f stops, but I'm afraid to crank it down that hard. The glass looks great and my first photos around the house are stunning, to me. I'll be loving the 1.4 for certain subjects. I suspect even at f8 the photos will look as vintage as I'd like them too (I shoot both film and digital).

I was confused by the KEH listing, I actually thought it would be a v1. But this serial is 207..... and has half stop clicks. Looks to be 1964.

I'm going on 2 overseas trips - next week and then late May. Wondering if I should get it out to YYE for inspection or just use it carefully as-is for now?

Appreciate any thoughts.

thanks

Brian 

Have you had a conversation with the vendor?

[bdolzani]

51 minutes ago, wizard said:

Well, "unscrew easily" is a relative term. The front element is not meant to be unscrewed in normal use, but only for repair and cleaning purposes. It follows that Leica certainly did not want a normal user to unscrew the front element more or less by accident. That is why I said do screw it down tightly to prevent it from becoming loose inadvertently.

Understood. To be clear I should have said 'it does unscrew and is meant to', as opposed to 'no that should not happen'. I'm clear now thank you. 

[bdolzani]

4 minutes ago, wda said:

Have you had a conversation with the vendor?

No I wanted to check with the forum first. Perhaps a call would admit a slight fault on their part however I'm sure BGN allows for some variation in 'quality'. It's certainly a working lens. 

[bdolzani]

Screwing it in tightly absolutely solved the issue. I appreciate the help everyone! @wizard  Just wanted to check first. 

Aperture ring is still loose and I'll have that checked at some point. 

Edited April 19, 2024 by bdolzani

[pippy]

3 hours ago, bdolzani said:

...I was confused by the KEH listing, I actually thought it would be a v1. But this serial is 207.....Looks to be 1964...

Just to clear up any confusion here.

The 11 114 designation was used on 50mm Summilux lenses for some 33 years from the introduction of the v1 in 1959 up until the v3 came out in 1992.

All three of these versions had their optics as 7 elements in 5 groups but the optical design changed between the v1 the v2 which was released in 1961. Physically the bodies of the v1 and v2 versions look very alike whereas with the introduction of the v3 - which shared its optical design with the v2 - there was a comprehensive facelift.

Here's a bit about them if you are interested;

https://www.kenrockwell.com/leica/50mm-f14.htm

Philip.

Edited April 19, 2024 by pippy

[bdolzani]

Thanks pippy, I've studied that page a lot. Now I'm not sure why I thought it might be a v1, probably because KEH doesn't photograph the actual thing you're buying, and the serial # of their photo was a v1. I did know it was an E43 and 11114.

[pippy]

9 minutes ago, bdolzani said:

... I'm not sure why I thought it might be a v1, probably because KEH doesn't photograph the actual thing you're buying, and the serial # of their photo was a v1...

Well; that would certainly explain your confusion! Have fun with your new lens!

Philip.

[UliWer]

vor 33 Minuten schrieb pippy:

The 11 114 designation was used on 50mm Summilux lenses for some 33 years from the introduction of the v1 in 1959 up until the v3 came out in 1992.

The 50mm Summilux was introduced before Leitz changed their system from five letter words to order numbers, which happened during 1960. So the first batches of the Summilux were  SOOME then 11114 F and the 2nd version started with serial number 1.844.001

[wda]

14 hours ago, bdolzani said:

No I wanted to check with the forum first. Perhaps a call would admit a slight fault on their part however I'm sure BGN allows for some variation in 'quality'. It's certainly a working lens. 

Pardon me, but isn't BGN a Bulgarian currency? Please enlighten me. Thanks.

[spydrxx]

BGN="bargain" grade

[bdolzani]

15 hours ago, wda said:

Pardon me, but isn't BGN a Bulgarian currency? Please enlighten me. Thanks.

Yes, 'bargain' / BGN is the language of KEH.com. I speak it fluently... @wda

[bdolzani]

I wasn't expecting my B+W 43mm ND filter to work (not sure of its pitch but I assumed it's not .5) but it fits quite well, with a careful screw-on. 

Edited April 21, 2024 by bdolzani

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[adan]

1 hour ago, bdolzani said:

I wasn't expecting my B+W 43mm ND filter to work (not sure of its pitch but I assumed it's not .5) but it fits quite well, with a careful screw-on. 

That may explain how the front came to be loose - a previous owner may have force-fit a 43mm filter (or step-up ring) of the wrong pitch, and torqued loose the front trying to remove it after it jammed.

I'm pretty sure B+W ("Biermann+Weber," also a German brand now owned by Schneider-Kreuznach) makes their filters to the same specs as Leica M.

Anyway, congratulations. The only thing that's prevented me using a v.2 50 Summilux all these years is that I really like having the 0.7m close-focus limit in a 50mm, for close portraits.

But having also tried the v.3 with the closer limit, I understand why Leica waited quite a while to try changing that.

Closer than 1m, the pre-ASPH Summilux II/III optics rapidly get quite dreamy and glowy at f/1.4 (although that may appeal to many)

Even the ASPH needs a floating element to keep the light rays under control in the 1m-0.7m range.

Edited April 21, 2024 by adan