small purple dot in the center of my 35 Summicron-M..

[joel aron]

Was blowing some dust off of my 2 year old 35 Summicron-M, and when I looked at the surface of the outer lens, I

saw what appeared to be a small (just under 1mm) perfectly round violet dot. If I hold up the lens to the

light, and look through from the front, looking to the back, the dot goes away, but when I slowly move the lens

around, I see what looks like a small amount of distortion where the dot is.. like a very tiny inverted water

drop. It's not on the surface of the out element.

 

Could the coating be coming off!? This is such a bummer, as I'm about to head back to Asia to shoot.

 

It's almost dead center. I take very good care of my lenses...and even more so w/ this one, as it's new (bought

from Vic here on the forum).. so it's kinda strange.

 

Any advise would be greatly appreciated. Should I not worry about it, and just shoot? (duh!), or is this the

start of something that could be very bad when I get in the to isolated humid hills of China?

 

thanks as always!

-Joel

[SolaresLarrave]

Joel, if nothing shows in your photos, the lens is perfectly fine.

[chris_s.2]

Hi Joel,

May just be a water spot. Breathe carefully onto the lens surface for a bit of moisture (don't use any lens cleaning fluid) and wipe carefully with a clean lens tissue or cloth. If it comes clean, great! If not, you're still good, just shoot. If you're still concerned about keeping your lenses pristine, then look around for a UV or skylight filter. Some people prefer to keep lens caps on for protection when not shooting, others just hoods, while I put both a filter and hood on each lens, especially when traveling away from home.

 

Chris

[vic_.]

Hi Joel, Sorry to read about the purple dot. My guess is that it's on the outer surface of the lens. Whatever it is, is so thin

that it causes the purple coloring, with other colors towards the edge. If you have a lens cleaner and a microfiber cloth, that

shoud do it. I'm quite sure it's not inside the lens, as it is an Asph lens, which is not know for such things. Please let me

know how it goes.

 

I have caused such things to happen on lenses while cleaning them, and have freaked out that I might have scratched

them. They turned out to be just cleaning fluid that had stayed on the lens in a very thin film. A spray and a wipe, and they

were gone.

 

Regards, Vic

[joel aron]

Vic, and all,

 

Thank you so much for the comments!

 

I've tried all of the above, and it's still there. I'm going to shoot with in asia regardless. (gotta leave in a

week..so no question there) Leica called me today (wow...amazing customer service!). Mark, from Leica,

returned my call, after we talked the day before. He mentioned that if the spot would not go away after a lite

surface cleaning did not clear it up, then they would be very interested in seeing the lens.

 

I shot a test roll last night, and I'm going to shoot another one tonight of a test grid (yeah...I'm that geeky).

Last night's test roll does not show any problems. (yay!). I'm sure the grid shots will tell me for sure.

 

For any geeks like me that are interested in this outcome.. I'll post a few images (if I see anything), and I'll

let ya know if I send the lens in to Leica, and what they say.

 

Side note... so blown away from my conversation w/ Leica today... they were seriously interested in the issue,

and it makes me want to send the lens to them regardless of the severity of the issue...just so they can test it

for future lenses.

 

Thanks again everyone!

 

Vic... please don't feel guilty! The lens is still the best glass i've ever used! ..stuff (you know what word

I'm trying to use).... just happens! :)

 

cheers,

-Joel