Maintenance of old lenses by Solms

[octo]

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After having a collapsible Summicron 2/50 returned from Solms without any repair to the front element that was slightly scratched from poor cleaning technique, I e-mailed Attila von Gyimes who had been more than helpful regarding a problem 3 years ago. He has retired and is replaced by Ms S. Becker who informed me that those lenses can no longer be repaired due to the lack of spare parts (quote/unquote).

I was lucky to be pointed by a fellow Forum member to a local craftsman who has both the knowledge and the tools to polish Leica lenses, among others. The lens has been sent and I am now waiting for the results.

I will keep you updated.

I think it is sad, in a way, that Leica forsakes its historical tradition of keeping up with a system; I would have assumed a polishing and coating could still be performed. I heard, too, that they no longer coded old lenses for the M8, in this particular instance an Elmar 3.5/35, but this only hearsay.

Anybody cares to comment?

[jc_braconi]

I heard, too, that they no longer coded old lenses for the M8, in this particular instance an Elmar 3.5/35, but this only hearsay.

Anybody cares to comment?

 

Just on this part : lens codification. this is only possible on lens whith the bayonnet(M)mount is fixed/removable by 6 Phillips screw, so what they do is change the original plain one for a new coded (milled and painted) one.

the Elmar 3.5/35 is a Screw mount type lens,

3.5/35 in M mount are Summaron's lenses.

 

We are waiting for news about your Summicron.

[Guest Bernd Banken]

Just on this part : lens codification. this is only possible on lens whith the bayonnet(M)mount is fixed/removable by 6 Phillips screw, so what they do is change the original plain one for a new coded (milled and painted) one.

the Elmar 3.5/35 is a Screw mount type lens,

3.5/35 in M mount are Summaron's lenses.

 

We are waiting for news about your Summicron.

 

What about coding the LTM > M adapter?

[UliWer]

What about coding the LTM > M adapter?

 

Unfortunately this is not possible with all adapters. Mine (Leica 2.8+5 cm) is not broad enough at the essential place, so the coding reader is not covered by it. I see no reason why it is narrower at this part, but this seems to be the usual design of Leica adapters.

[Artorius]

Unfortunately this is not possible with all adapters. Mine (Leica 2.8+5 cm) is not broad enough at the essential place, so the coding reader is not covered by it. I see no reason why it is narrower at this part, but this seems to be the usual design of Leica adapters.

 

Don't get the "Leica" adapters then. Get the Type II adapters from CameraQuest, or from John Milch, they can be coded. Do a search for the adapters on this forum.

[samiba]

I was lucky to be pointed by a fellow Forum member to a local craftsman who has both the knowledge and the tools to polish Leica lenses, among others. The lens has been sent and I am now waiting for the results.

I will keep you updated.

QUOTE]

Hello, where is this local craftsman situated? Is it possible to receive his adress via PN? I´ll appreciate to receive information on this matter.

Regards, Michael

[LeonardT]

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Unfortunately this is not possible with all adapters. Mine (Leica 2.8+5 cm) is not broad enough at the essential place, so the coding reader is not covered by it. I see no reason why it is narrower at this part, but this seems to be the usual design of Leica adapters.

 

Leica adapters are made narrow in the area where the focus button travels to the infinity lock on some lenses. Look at the 5cm 3.5 Elmars and the 3.5cm 3.5 Summarons and you'll see why. If you want to code wider adapters you will have to remove the buttons on these lenses. You will find the buttons removed on 5cm Hektors that have the infinity lock positions at 11 o'clock. These even interfere with the partially narrow Leitz adapters.

 

Len

[jc_braconi]

Leica adapters are made narrow in the area where the focus button travels to the infinity lock on some lenses. Look at the 5cm 3.5 Elmars and the 3.5cm 3.5 Summarons and you'll see why. If you want to code wider adapters you will have to remove the buttons on these lenses. You will find the buttons removed on 5cm Hektors that have the infinity lock positions at 11 o'clock. These even interfere with the partially narrow Leitz adapters.

 

Len

Len, you made an excellent explaination.

[LeonardT]

Len, you made an excellent explaination.

 

Thanks JC. I try. One other thing I forgot to mention. Telephoto lenses don't need coding for performance reasons, only if you want to see what lens you used in the EXIF data. For certain telephoto lenses you will want to use genuine Leitz adapters. These are telephotos like the 8.5cm Summarex and 13.5cm Hektor that have moving focus sliders to link to the camera RF wheel. I find that with some off brand adapters the sliders will barely line up with the camera rangefinder wheel and the built in tripod mounts won't line up horizontally with the camera body. Even famous brand adapters have this problem. In every case the Leitz adapter, regardless of focal length lines up perfectly. Leitz telephoto lenses don't have the focus buttons close to the mount like the 5cm Elmars, if at all, so the issue with interference is not a problem.

 

Len

[Robert J]

The one big problem in re-polishing lens elements to remove scratches is that,even if the exact curvature of the element is maintained during the polishing procedure,the thickness of the element will be reduced.Now,as the refraction of light through the lens element is dependant not only on the composition of the glass and the curvature of the front and rear surfaces but also depends on the thickness of the element,the passage of light through the lens cannot help but be affected and not for the better.You will have a lens that will look good but will not perfofm as well as it would have before.

[luigi bertolotti]

Coming to the initial issue posted by Otto, I think it's no surprising, but not so worrying too, that Leica co. doesn't maintain a department in which very old lenses can be cleaned/repolished etc... : they are trying to be a modern factory, with modern organization of work, and this doesn't fit well with "artisan" tasks that are more apt for small private shops : there is no reason for these cannot make a repair better than someone in Leica factory, after all, and luckily these kind of small shops still exist (in Europe, America, Asia) and are rather well known in our community.

[Philippe D.]

If you are in France, or close to, here is a good address in Bordeaux for lenses repair and polishing:

Réparation appareils photo Bordeaux, Polissage Optique des plus grandes marques : Leica Rollei Zeiss Foca Hasselblad Nikon Canon

[jc_braconi]

Coming to the initial issue posted by Otto, I think it's no surprising, but not so worrying too, that Leica co. doesn't maintain a department in which very old lenses can be cleaned/repolished etc... : they are trying to be a modern factory, with modern organization of work, and this doesn't fit well with "artisan" tasks that are more apt for small private shops : there is no reason for these cannot make a repair better than someone in Leica factory, after all, and luckily these kind of small shops still exist (in Europe, America, Asia) and are rather well known in our community.

 

Sorry Luigi,but your reasoning is not right,

I got from them to change front lenses on 2 Elmar 2.8 /50 and front flange on an Elmar 3.5/50 recently. They even repair any collectors items IF they have the pieces in stock.

The fact is in this case that they do not have any front lenses for this Summicron 2/50 collapsible.

And for Philippe info, the lens was already sent to Marc Nicolas in Bordeaux by Octo.

[octo]

The one big problem in re-polishing lens elements to remove scratches is that,even if the exact curvature of the element is maintained during the polishing procedure,the thickness of the element will be reduced.Now,as the refraction of light through the lens element is dependant not only on the composition of the glass and the curvature of the front and rear surfaces but also depends on the thickness of the element,the passage of light through the lens cannot help but be affected and not for the better.You will have a lens that will look good but will not perfofm as well as it would have before.

Robert,

I agree with your remark, but I was willing to try. Anyway, in the condition it was, it wouldn't have performed well either so I didn't have much to loose.

[ErikFive]

Leica only replaces stuff. They dont repair them. Its a shame. I talk from a sad experience where they told me to toss a 5000$ lens in the bin. John Van Stelten at Focal Point fixed it in 5 days for 290$. I will never send them a lens again for anything...