raphaelmatto Posted March 19, 2009 Share #1 Posted March 19, 2009 Advertisement (gone after registration) hey folks, I bought a used m6 w/50mm summicron off ebay -- my first Lieca! -- for my 30th birthday. The m6 body seems like it's in great condition, but the 50mm lens has two issues. the first is fungus -- ouch. I've bought a bunch of silica packs & am trying to burn out the fungus w/sunlight (leaving it on the windowsill on sunny days). but the real question is the focus -- it feels "wrong" to me, but maybe it's normal.. anyway -- it was built in 1994. the serial number is 3631585. it's black, has a tab, is marked with "50" on the barrel, no built in hood & looks thinner & lighter than the 50 for sale on the leica site now. hopefully all that will help folks identify which version of the 50 I have (there seem to be so many). When I focus by gripping the entire barrel & twisting, it's pretty nice & smooth when held vertically -- esp when the lens is off the camera. but when I use the tab (with the lens back on the camera), the focus starts to feel a little "gritty" & "stiff" & kind of sticks a little -- esp as I get close to infinity. this makes fine tuning the focus difficult and jerky. when I take the lens off the camera and hold it diagonally down & twist the barrel, I can start to feel the same gritty resistance. so I'm pretty sure it's the lens & not the slight resistance from the rangefinder "wheel" thing in the camera body. when I press on that w/my finger, it's nice & smooth. So! is this normal for this version of the 50? I was going to pay some big $bucks to get the fungus cleaned off, but I don't want to do that if the focus isn't "right" on this model. I really want a silky smooth focus like my old Nikkors. any insight appreciated. Cheers, Raphael Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted March 19, 2009 Posted March 19, 2009 Hi raphaelmatto, Take a look here My first Leica (m6)! .. but questions.... I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
raphaelmatto Posted March 19, 2009 Author Share #2 Posted March 19, 2009 ps -- here's an auction w/the same lens I have: Leica Summicron-M 50mm f2 50/2 Rigid v.3 - eBay (item 180327603324 end time Apr-10-09 12:58:29 PDT) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nikau Posted March 19, 2009 Share #3 Posted March 19, 2009 My 1984 50mm Summicron is silky smooth and always has been. After 20 years it had developed some fungus and I sent it to my Leica-trained technician for a general overhaul including getting rid of the growth. He did this for surprisingly little cost (don't remember exactly how much). Unless it's very, very minor you probably won't be able to "treat" the fungus yourself. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andit Posted March 19, 2009 Share #4 Posted March 19, 2009 Hi Raphael, Firstly, welcome to the Leica forum. Sorry to hear about your troubles with your 50mm Summicron. The barrel of this lens looks thinner than the current version due to the current one being made with the built in lens hood. Focus should be absolutely smooth. In terms of focus, it should be razor sharp. This is one of the finest lenses that Leica built - there should be no softness at all. Without seeing the actual lens personally it is difficult to say anything about it, however, I would tend to say that this lens took quite a fall onto a hard surface at sometime, knocking the lens elements out of alignment as well as damaging the focusing helical thread. Fungus is another story. It destroys the lens coatings and can cause pitting. It can be cleaned but it is impossible to kill it off. From what I recall reading here on the forum, there is only one way of killing off fungus. The lens needs to spend sometime in a certain lethal gas environment (can't remember what gas it is). This gas is however extremely lethal to humans as well and is outlawed in most of the world. FUNGUS SPREADS TO OTHER PHOTOGRAPHIC EQUIPMENT. DO NOT KEEP THIS LENS WITH YOUR OTHER GOOD EQUIPMENT! The really sad thing about this post is that this is a really new lens (1994), at least in Leica terms that is. It is shocking that this lens is in such a poor condition - one can only wonder how the original owner looked after his/her equipment. There are many lenses out their that are decades old and are in perfect condition. Send the lens into Leica for a CLA service. They will clean the optics, adjust the focus and repair the focusing helicals. I'm not sure of the costs. Andreas Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
masjah Posted March 19, 2009 Share #5 Posted March 19, 2009 Hi Raphael, Firstly, welcome to the Leica forum. Sorry to hear about your troubles with your 50mm Summicron. The barrel of this lens looks thinner than the current version due to the current one being made with the built in lens hood. Focus should be absolutely smooth. In terms of focus, it should be razor sharp. This is one of the finest lenses that Leica built - there should be no softness at all. Without seeing the actual lens personally it is difficult to say anything about it, however, I would tend to say that this lens took quite a fall onto a hard surface at sometime, knocking the lens elements out of alignment as well as damaging the focusing helical thread. Fungus is another story. It destroys the lens coatings and can cause pitting. It can be cleaned but it is impossible to kill it off. From what I recall reading here on the forum, there is only one way of killing off fungus. The lens needs to spend sometime in a certain lethal gas environment (can't remember what gas it is). This gas is however extremely lethal to humans as well and is outlawed in most of the world. FUNGUS SPREADS TO OTHER PHOTOGRAPHIC EQUIPMENT. DO NOT KEEP THIS LENS WITH YOUR OTHER GOOD EQUIPMENT! The really sad thing about this post is that this is a really new lens (1994), at least in Leica terms that is. It is shocking that this lens is in such a poor condition - one can only wonder how the original owner looked after his/her equipment. There are many lenses out their that are decades old and are in perfect condition. Send the lens into Leica for a CLA service. They will clean the optics, adjust the focus and repair the focusing helicals. I'm not sure of the costs. Andreas I fear that I once read that, these days, official Leica service will not venture near a fungus affected lens, because of the risk of contamination within the workshop. Can someone else confirm that this is indeed the case? If so, I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but maybe some other good workshop can deal with it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
richam Posted March 19, 2009 Share #6 Posted March 19, 2009 I fear that I once read that, these days, official Leica service will not venture near a fungus affected lens, because of the risk of contamination within the workshop. Can someone else confirm that this is indeed the case? If so, I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but maybe some other good workshop can deal with it. A couple of years ago, I visited Leica Solms. At the service shop, I took a few items with me for analysis or repair. In the lobby, I presented an old 50mm that was or had been fungus infected. One of the repairmen escorted me out the front door bodily like a bouncer in a night club ejecting an obnoxious drunk. There was a stern warning never to bring such a lens near the facility again. Furthermore, the damage to the lens manifested itself with "scratches" or "tracks" on the lens elements. I understand that these are etched on the glass by fungus waste products, and that even if the fungus is killed, the scratches remain. These cannot be removed or repaired without re-grinding and re-coating the affected elements -- certainly not an economical choice. The only silver lining I can think of in this case is that once you have killed the fungus, you have essentially a lens with an ersatz "soft focus" filter of sorts. You may like the effect for portraits. Here's an example, using the lens I mentioned. 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! Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/79896-my-first-leica-m6-but-questions/?do=findComment&comment=845656'>More sharing options...
JBA Posted March 19, 2009 Share #7 Posted March 19, 2009 Advertisement (gone after registration) I know of a shop in Kawasaki, near Tokyo, that is able to remove fungus by slightly grinding and polishing the lens to within acceptable tolerances and then single coating it. There must be other independent shops that are also able to do this kind of repair, but it might be cheaper just to buy another lens in better condition. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBA Posted March 19, 2009 Share #8 Posted March 19, 2009 A couple of years ago, I visited Leica Solms. At the service shop, I took a few items with me for analysis or repair. In the lobby, I presented an old 50mm that was or had been fungus infected. One of the repairmen escorted me out the front door bodily like a bouncer in a night club ejecting an obnoxious drunk. There was a stern warning never to bring such a lens near the facility again. Looks like I'll be throwing out my faithful old Nikkor 105, then. Fortunately, that is cheaply replaced. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lars_bergquist Posted March 19, 2009 Share #9 Posted March 19, 2009 The banned chemical is thymol. The only safe way of treating equipment with fungal infection is to regard it as toxic waste. Get rid of it, and hope that it has not contaminated the camera body. The old man from the Age Before the Environment Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
raphaelmatto Posted March 19, 2009 Author Share #10 Posted March 19, 2009 that's all really good advise -- thanks everyone. I had heard that the fungus can spread, so I was keeping the leica separate from all my nikkon gear.. but I didn't realize it was so infectious. I'll take the lens off the m6 & .. get rid of the camera bag? .. do I need to do that -- I really like that bag.. it's only been in the bag for a week or so. .. & hope that the fungus isn't in the camera body. maybe I'll take the whole thing in to my repairman and ask him to check the camera body for fungus before mounting other lenses.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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