i bought a 50mm f2.8 elmar-m

[250swb]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

4 minutes ago, lct said:

May i ask for how long you've been using this lens with respect? It is so easy to touch the cam that i must ask sorry.

I think I got my Elmar M around 1997, but I'd had collapsible Summicron's and Summitar's long before then, right after I left college in 1978. Never have I damaged a camera or a lens mounting it on the camera. Now your turn.

[250swb]

4 minutes ago, wizard said:

I don't think that gap is 2mm wide. According to my own observation, a retracted barrel does come very close to the roller indeed. And if the retracted lens barrel touches the roller on mounting the lens, the roller may be pushed inwards a lot further than by touching the roller cam on the lens, and damage to the roller mechanism or at least its adjustment may occur. I am with lct here, it is safer to mount such a lens in its extracted position, but there is no risk of retracting the lens barrel once the lens has been mounted on the camera body.

Yes I guess if the rear lens barrel was touching the roller some people would need to be told to stop pushing it in. I for one don't think absolutely everybody is that stupid. 

[lct]

1 minute ago, 250swb said:

I think I got my Elmar M around 1997, but I'd had collapsible Summicron's and Summitar's long before then, right after I left college in 1978. Never have I damaged a camera or a lens mounting it on the camera. Now your turn.

Haha Elmar-M 50/2.8 in 1996, Elmar 90/4 collapsible in the seventies. You cannot win unless i surrender i fear but never mind, the case was too easy for me

[250swb]

15 minutes ago, lct said:

Haha Elmar-M 50/2.8 in 1996, Elmar 90/4 collapsible in the seventies. You cannot win unless i surrender i fear but never mind, the case was too easy for me

I used my collapsible Summicron as a professional theatre and press photographer after I got my B.A. Hons Degree in Fine Art (Photography) in 1978, sometimes I didn't even bother putting the  lens caps on while in the camera bag, sometimes I went out in the rain, sometimes I was changing lenses being jostled in a crowd. In fact those were the days that Leica made cameras for professionals instead of cameras and lenses to be worried about and as investments as the culture is around them today. Do you want to stop your pissing contest yet because I find it embarrassing?

Edited August 2 by 250swb

[lct]

5 minutes ago, 250swb said:

Do you want to stop your pissing contest yet because I find it embarrassing?

Too bad, it was becoming amusing. For those interested, here is one of the first Elmar-M 50/2.8 on the M6J. 1994. Got mine 2nd hand in 1996.

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!

 

[pedaes]

57 minutes ago, lct said:

Elmar-M 50/2.8 on the M6J. 1994.

What a lovely image to end on!

[wizard]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Am 2.8.2025 um 15:02 schrieb 250swb:

I for one don't think absolutely everybody is that stupid. 

Certainly not everybody, and none of us for sure, having dealt with collapsible lenses from our early youth onwards. Today, however, a collapsible lens is a bit of a unicorn, so I would not want to be blamed by any user who has not had the privilege of growing up with a Leica and a collapsible lens of some sort.

[250swb]

53 minutes ago, wizard said:

Certainly not everybody, and none of us for sure, having dealt with collapsible lenses from our early youth onwards. Today, however, a collapsible lens is a bit of a unicorn, so I would not want to be blamed by any user who has not had the privilege of growing up with a Leica and a collapsible lens of some sort.

Sarcasm will get you nowhere, it's nothing to do with length of experience (that was a specific reply to a pissing contest or didn't you pick up on that?), it's about people being scared of their camera, wringing hands together and worrying about all the things that could go wrong rather than the things that go right. Leica owners have lost all common sense. If you think you'd push the back of the lens hard against the roller arm don't do it, but all you need to be is as accurate as lining up any other lens to mount it, the bayonet and flanges flanges don't change position so how can the rear element? 

[wizard]

vor 31 Minuten schrieb 250swb:

but all you need to be is as accurate as lining up any other lens to mount it

I am fully with you on that one, so no need to get angry (oh, and I did in fact buy my first used Leica M3 and a collapsible Elmar 3.5/50 at the age of 13, for an unbelievably low price). However, the world seems to have changed, and I'll give an example. On another forum, I recently advised a forum member to tighten all cylinder bolts of a certain Moto Guzzi model to a specific value following the installation of a new head gasket. Guess what, the guy came back and asked whether that includes a certain nut that was way smaller than the cylinder bolts, and also serves a different purpose. I would have thought that anybody who considers himself fit to do a head gasket change on his own would clearly know the cylinder bolts (there are four of them, and that other nut could not be mistaken as a cylinder bolt by any knowledgeable person). Obviously, I was wrong.

 

vor 48 Minuten schrieb 250swb:

the bayonet and flanges flanges don't change position so how can the rear element? 

Correct, but  the rear end of the collapsible lens tube, in the collapsed position, does protrude significantly beyond the lens flange, and so may contact the roller way before the flange needs to be aligned. Elaborating on the above, I can see users pushing in that lens tube in a slightly misangled position of the lens and against the roller, before realizing the need to correctly align the lens, thus potentially damaging the roller mechanism. Won't happen to me and won't happen to you, but that doesn't mean it cannot happen. Trust me, I have seen much more unlikely things happen, so if people ask, why not give them an advice that's on the safe side. In my view, that has nothing to do with babying the camera.

[250swb]

@wizard, if you can hit the head of a nail with a hammer you have the hand-eye coordination to mount any lens, included a retracted one, and do many other complicated things with cameras, like cleaning sensors without trashing them. If you can’t you were either a child who never made anything for themselves or an adult who ‘gets somebody in’ to hit the nail. I doubt you are either, but don’t let age knock your confidence. There is no way to answer a person lacking confidence, other than be careful with whatever you do in life.

Edited August 4 by 250swb

[Vanillasludge]

Only a Leica forum could have a running debate on mounting while extended.  

[lct]

1 hour ago, 250swb said:

[...] if you can hit the head of a nail with a hammer you have the hand-eye coordination to mount any lens, included a retracted one, and do many other complicated things with cameras, like cleaning sensors without trashing them. If you can’t you were either a child who never made anything for themselves or an adult who ‘gets somebody in’ to hit the nail [...]

Or you are someone like me who broke a sensor when cleaning it and keep my Elmars extended since i got them. This forum would be boring if we were all the same, don't you think?

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!

 

  

[steve edmunds]

i have mounted and unmounted my 50mm f2.8 elmar with the lens retracted and got away with it but pretty sure it touched the sensor on one of them without damage..i just leave it on the camera now [M262]  to be honest because i like it.

[lct]

Excerpt of the M11 manual. All previous manuals said the same since the M8 if i remember well.

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!

[250swb]

9 hours ago, lct said:

Excerpt of the M11 manual. All previous manuals said the same since the M8 if i remember well.

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!

Yes, that has already been covered. It is only in the digital era (excepting the M8) that Leica have issued a warning about only using a lens extended, and warnings about mounting the lens retracted or keeping it extended have never existed in any other Leica's owners manuals with the obvious exception of the M5. This includes all the early cameras that were most likely to be used with collapsible M and LTM lenses the M3, M2, M4 but goes on right up to the MP. That aside we are talking about the 50mm Elmar M and this can be retracted into any digital M that has the same warning in the manual. It does not touch anything, there is a lot of clearance. so perhaps there is something else Leica think is a problem? Maybe it's an increased risk of attracting dust onto the sensor and Leica recognise it's user base are not as 'practically minded' at cleaning their own sensor as say a Nikon or Canon user? 

[250swb]

9 hours ago, steve edmunds said:

i have mounted and unmounted my 50mm f2.8 elmar with the lens retracted and got away with it but pretty sure it touched the sensor on one of them without damage..i just leave it on the camera now [M262]  to be honest because i like it.

The Elmar retracted is 6mm shorter that the distance to the sensor so it's impossible to touch the sensor mounting or dismounting.

[wizard]

vor 2 Stunden schrieb 250swb:

The Elmar retracted is 6mm shorter that the distance to the sensor

I don't want to be nitpicking here, but the distance to the sensor is less relevant. The crucial distance is the one from the retracted lens barrel to the mechanical shutter when closed. But you are correct in that the Elmar-M 50mm may safely be collapsed into all digital M Leicas, to the best of my knowledge at least.

[lct]

All theories and hypotheses are permitted, but at least one thing is certain: the Leica warranty would be void if you didn't follow their instructions, which are very clear. Not an advice this lawyer would give anyway but i won't repeat my rambling.