Elmarit 28/2.8 V3 -- Dust? Fungus? Something else entirely?

[nanamour]

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Howdy! First time poster here after recently jumping ship from the Contax G system (RIP G1; may the electronic gremlins haunt you no more in the afterlife) to an M6.

I just took delivery of my second-ever Leica lens, a V3 Elmarit 28mm/2.8 described in its online listing as "Optically: 9/10 clean and without scratches, haze, fungus, oil, separation or too much dust" for a reasonable price. While the lens looks great for its age cosmetically, mounting it on my M6 last night I noticed a couple of faint smudges around the edges of the rear element. On second look with a phone flashlight, aside from a fair amount of dust, there appear to be several translucent splotches around the edges of the rear element (and a few scratches/"cleaning marks" not disclosed in the listing). I've tried to capture them as best as I can with a phone camera in the pics below. 

The marks look fungusy to me, even if they don't seem to have the classic branching hyphae pattern I've seen on other afflicted lenses; however, curious to hear the opinions of the knowledgable folks on here re: whether this looks like fungus, dust, or smudges of some other matter, and whether this is something I should expect to significantly impact resolution/contrast/flare propensity/etc. 

 

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[jaapv]

SEND IT BACK. Whatever it is, this is called misrepresentation.  The lens is worthless. Separation, scratches, maybe even some fungus.

[pippy]

Agree with Jaap; send it back right away. The description in the listing is both ridiculous and disgraceful. Whatever assortment of issues the lens has you certainly don't want to have to deal with them.

Philip.

Edited April 28, 2024 by pippy

[gaheris]

5 minutes ago, pippy said:

Agree with Jaap; send it back right away. The description in the listing is both ridiculous and disgraceful. Whatever assortment of issues the lens has you certainly don't want to have to deal with them.

Philip.

I hope you find a better copy soon though. I love this lens. Great Mandler workhorse with sweet depiction. Something about the green just feels different. 

[spydrxx]

Strongly agree with others....send it back. Seller totally misrepresented the lens.

[nanamour]

Cheers for the insights everyone; the lens is going back post-haste. 

On 4/28/2024 at 12:10 PM, gaheris said:

I hope you find a better copy soon though. I love this lens. Great Mandler workhorse with sweet depiction. Something about the green just feels different. 

Me too. I've been looking for a 28 to compliment the Summicron 40C I'm using (and loving) now, and hoped this would better compliment that lens than the uber-contrast and razor sharpness of the Elmarit 28 ASPH. Oh well, the hunt continues! 

[AndreasG]

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28mm is my favourite focal length and I like the contrast and sharpness of the 28 Elmarit ASPH version. The V3 Elmarit, under discussion here, is also a wonderful lens, which I got already around 1990 but I rarely use, because it is bulky compared with the ASPH. I admit, it draws a little softer and warmer.