A new thread about the Summicron-C 40 rubber-hood cap (not a duplicate)

[plasticman]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Haven't posted for a long time, although the number of Leica items I use continues to grow and include both digital and film cameras.

Recently I bought a nicely CLA'ed film Leica CL from a store in the Netherlands. 

It has been a reminder of the insane frustrations of owning Leica equipment, which I do in spite of the company and its way of thinking, simply because the equipment when it works is so good.

The camera came with the usual Summicron-C 40/2 and the clip-in plastic cap 11252 - but no rubber hood.

I like the hood, having owned the camera kit before but foolishly selling it, so I tracked one down on eBay (not super-easy) and paid a fortune for it. The hood is the 12518 (correctly marked as Summicron-C 40/2).

This hood in turn came without the other special cap that is needed (because making the hood so that one cap that fits both the lens and the hood would evidently not be possible for some reason). 
So I hunted-down the cap that should fit: apparently the 14191.

This was also not easy to find, but eventually I located one at a reputable store and paid another ridiculous sum for it. 
Together with all the delivery charges for these pathetic little bits of plastic and rubber, I had paid more than a whole lens tends to cost for mortals who use 'lesser' brands.

Well the holy 14191 arrived now, and does not fit either the lens or the hood.

What extortionately expensive piece of Leica plastic should I waste money on next? Any ideas? I've read the advice on all the threads about this I can find. So I'm stumped.

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[lct]

Hi Mani, the 14191 hood cap is not supposed to fit the lens but only the rubber hoods of Summicron-C 40/2  or Elmar-C 90/4 Leitz lenses. What can happen to the 14191 hood cap is that it looses one or several of its "teeth". Do you see what i mean? Otherwise i will take a snap of them if it can help.

[TomB_tx]

Doesn't seem like too many years ago I bought a used 90 Summicron C (without hood) and was able to get a new hood from Leica USA parts dept. But as fast as years go by now, it may have been quite a while...

[plasticman]

Thanks lct - it's so kind of you to help, as always.

I was rather long-winded in the post above. I'll summarize first instead (before continuing my meandering rant):

• the lens (and camera) came with the 11252. This snaps perfectly on the lens (no problems)
• I missed the rubber hood (which I'd owned when I had the camera and lens before), so I located and bought the hood (12518)
• the hood came without the snap-on cap (the 14191) which I also located and bought. 

All the elements are in perfect condition. The hood is NOS, and the caps look previously unused. All the teeth are in place, and everything looks perfect, including the embossed identification marks on the insides of the caps and on the front of the hood.

I used to own all these pieces before (although I was unaware of their reference numbers, and even their rarity), so i know roughly what to check for. 

But the baffling part is that the 14191 does not fit the front of the hood, at all. So much so, that I wonder if anyone is making fake parts - it is not even close to clipping-on.

The hood fits perfectly on the lens - so given it's an unusual thread (5,5), I doubt that's a fake. But who would fake a 14191 - and moreover make it the wrong dimensions?

My aimless rant about Leica is really about all these differently-sized caps and non-standard threads - so typical of their attitude to their customers: I went through my shelves and found about 10 or 12 loose Leica caps, all of them different sizes to fit some specific old lens or Leica hood. And all of them have been eye-wateringly expensive.

In any case, I think I'll try to find a 51mm slip-on lens-cap instead. Something like this (if only I could find it on the European Kaiser site...)

[Anbaric]

Is this cap only meant to fit when the hood is collapsed?

Does everything look like the example here?:

https://www.keh.com/shop/leica-40-f-2-ser-5-5-rubber-12518-lens-hood-with-leica-14191-hood-cap.html

There's no question of the hood having been modified, e.g. to trim off torn rubber? Does the cap seem too big or too small?

The Kaiser caps are here:

https://www.kaiser-fototechnik.de/en/produkte/artikel.php?document=/en/produkte/2_1_produktanzeige.asp&display=1&nr=6900

https://www.foto-koester.de/objektive/objektivdeckel/372854/kaiser-fototechnik-objektiv-aufsteckdeckel-fuer-51-mm-aussendurchmesser

 

 

[lct]

I have two 12518 rubber hoods and three 14191 hood caps in front of me. All fit perfectly with one another but i seem to recall a hood that i owned some decades ago and that used to behave the way you're describing. It had not the right diameter but it was not a fake apparently, just sample variation i suspect. Sounds like you are as unlucky as i was then but the only Leica solution seems to be another rubber hood i fear. 

Edited May 27, 2024 by lct

[TomB_tx]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

1 hour ago, Anbaric said:

Is this cap only meant to fit when the hood is collapsed?

My CL has the rubber hood and 14191 cap. It fits perfectly by collapsing the hood and snapping it on.

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

[lct]

2 hours ago, lct said:

[...] just sample variation i suspect [...]

Or il was a hood dedicated to the smaller Elmarit-C 40/2.8 but my copy is identical so it is just a guess on my part.

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

 

[plasticman]

Thank you everyone for the help! I think my hood is probably suffering from the "sample variation" that @lct mentions - although inconceivable to me how such a thing can happen?

Thanks @Anbaric. The images from KEH show exactly the expected behavior of these two parts. When I owned the CL and Summicron kit before, this is how I always protected the lens.

I bought two of the 51mm slip-on caps from Foto-Koester - thank you so much for finding them for sale in Europe. 

Here are the two parts - they do not clip together, at all. The teeth on the cap are exactly congruent with the internal rim of the hood - that is, they sit precisely on top of the rim, with absolutely no possibility of clicking inside it.

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

[plasticman]

And just to be completely clear, this is where the teeth of the cap coincide with the hood

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!