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Focus Tele Elmar 135/4


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I recently bought a second-hand Tele Elmar with some 20 years of life on the shell.

Altough I was very pleased with the clean lenses and good condition, the focussing

was all wrong. My other lenses focus like they should but this one was way off.

Being a problem solver (for the worse and the better) I figgured out that the lens needed

to get some adjustment and instead of sending it to a professional servide point, I adjusted

it myself.

 

Here a short overview of my DIY session. (don't try this at home..:D )

 

-part 1

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Part -2

 

after several file sessions (don't forget to remove all the dust) and focusing on a test chart,Nikon D70 Focus Chart

I finnished up with a nice focusing Tele Elmar.

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2Bébèrt,

 

You must really like adventure. I have taken apart this type of mount before and swore I would never do it again. I also found my Tele-Elmar back focused badly as well. It would not even focus to infinity on the M8. Like you I found the pad needed to be lengthened a bit. I found it wanted to be increased by the thickness of common Scotch tape or writing paper. I'm thinking maybe a very thin coating of liguid steel may work just fine and be a harder surface than solder. You did a great job that I'm too chicken to try. I currently have Scotch tape on mine.

 

Len

 

 

Len

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Indeed, I like a bit of adventure .

On the other hand, the idee of adding some tape played also wtih me but I feared it could get loose and that would not be a good catch for my shutter.

Len, if you have good way to fix the steel, and to adjust it to the right lenght afterwards, let me know.

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Very interesting... I have the same problem with a Summicron 90, and thought the best way would be to adjust the coupling cam (I prefer not to operate on the body cam with the Allen key... fear too much that other lenses should be impacted). I don't know if I'll dare to operate with solderer, but the fact that someone hase made it with success is someway encouraging.... :o... and appreciate also that someone has operated with layer(s) of scothch tape... me too have thought it could be a "no risk" way...:)

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Luigi,

 

Interesting methodology of adjusting the focus cam but I am not sure it is necessary. I think you will find that the cam carrier (the square black bit below the triangular cam) can be undone with the 4 screws and the cam moved in and out relative to the carrier, for focus adjustment. Looking at the screws on yours, I wonder if someone has had a go at this before, which is why your 135/4 T-E was out of adjustment.

 

Wilson

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Luigi,

 

Interesting methodology of adjusting the focus cam but I am not sure it is necessary. I think you will find that the cam carrier (the square black bit below the triangular cam) can be undone with the 4 screws and the cam moved in and out relative to the carrier, for focus adjustment. Looking at the screws on yours, I wonder if someone has had a go at this before, which is why your 135/4 T-E was out of adjustment.

 

Wilson

 

Is it really like this ? I noticed the screws, and thought they could be used for fine adjusting, but till now I didn't dare to... but, thinking of it... I have an old (postwar) Hektor 135, no more used, that probably uses the same kind of assembly for cam operation... I 'll verify...could try with it to "experiment"; thanks, you gave me a good idea, I'll let you know...

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Well done for fixing it. It must be sample variation or the result of use, mine focuses spot on.

- Carl

 

Yes - mine too and it is without a doubt the smoothest focusing of all my Leica lenses. I wish my nearly new chrome 50 Lux focused half as nicely.

 

Luigi's bravery has encouraged me though, to take off my 135 bayonet sometime in the near future, to send it to John Milich to get a special milling job done. He is going to extend the locking slot so it provides a proper limit stop when I over-rotate the lens to get the 90 frame lines. Secondly he is going to mill coding pits so that they line up when the lens is over-rotated. The codes do not activate for 135, unless the frame lines are in the 90/28 position, which I believe is correct for a 135, when it has spectacles.

 

At the moment I have my 135 T-E hand coded as a 135 Elmarit but you have to push and hold the frame lever over, both to get the better 90/28 viewing frame and to activate the coding. I have not managed to hand code accurately enough in the over-rotated position to get that to work. I know coding is not required for a lens as long as the 135 but it is nice to have the focal length stored on the EXIF.

 

Wilson

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It is possible to overrotate without lengthening the slot, Wilson, just activate the release button and rotate the last bit against the stop. Coding is not really important on these lenses imo, but I agree, it is more elegant technically.

Edit: I see now what you mean, handcoding should work shifted. But who am I to speak. I only manage to get handcoding to work in less than 50% of my attempts...:(

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It is possible to overrotate without lengthening the slot, Wilson, just activate the release button and rotate the last bit against the stop. Coding is not really important on these lenses imo, but I agree, it is more elegant technically.

Edit: I see now what you mean, handcoding should work shifted. But who am I to speak. I only manage to get handcoding to work in less than 50% of my attempts...:(

 

Jaap,

 

That is what I have been doing but I am concerned that the lens is sitting against the end of travel on the frame change mechanism and that I may be straining it. If I have a new positive stop, either a new lock tab slot or an extension of the existing one, that would relieve any strain on the frame change mechanism. It was John Milich's idea rather than mine but I agree with him. It would also give a more precise register to the coding slots in their different position. I know how accurate they have to be as I have hand done them in the over rotated position. Sometimes I will get a lens detection but more frequently not.

 

Wilson

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It is not sitting against the end of travel of the frame change (which is quite robust btw - see how stiff the spring of the old Tri-Elmar is) - it is sitting against the end of the travel that is in the banjonet, as a positive stop. But I do see what you mean with the exactitude of the coding when there is no positive click.

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Wilson,

I to noticed the 4 screws at the back that hold the carrier but the carrier itself seems to be made out of one piece of solid copper.

Besides I didn't had the right screwdriver to loosen them.

The solder and the copper give a real solid feel and with the little force that is applied to it

when pushing the rangfinder arm (lens converting wheel) it should last a lifetime.

This is one very sharp lens! (100% crop):rolleyes:

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Wilson,

I to noticed the 4 screws at the back that hold the carrier but the carrier itself seems to be made out of one piece of solid copper.

Besides I didn't had the right screwdriver to loosen them.

The solder and the copper give a real solid feel and with the little force that is applied to it

when pushing the rangfinder arm (lens converting wheel) it should last a lifetime.

This is one very sharp lens! (100% crop):rolleyes:

 

2Bebert,

 

I was looking at those screws and the carrier using my LED illuminated magnifier sensor viewer (what a great tool - rarely used for looking at my M8 sensor but been used for all sorts of other purposes). I cannot see what other purpose they could have except to lock the tongue of the focus cam in its adjusted position. As you say what a great lens it is. I use it for macros where I need a really large image of small object. DOF can be a bit of a problem and you really need to focus bracket. Hope this one does not give people nightmares.

 

Wilson

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Perhaps it is just to hold the tongue and if needed to replace it.:confused:

 

How do you use it as a Macro lens, with a Visoflex, bellow , extension ring ..?

 

2Bebert

 

Macro - much simpler - the T-E focuses quite close, so just use it normally and crop the image = same effect as macro. I was going to buy a Visoflex as the front of the T-E unscrews to go into a focusing adapter on the Viso. However Viso prices seem to have rocketed in the last few months.

 

Wilson

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