savagesax Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 Well I googled the heck out of this without a result. I have to take the front element apart of this lens. There's a serious mark right smack on the center and in between the 2 front elements perhaps? Are these 2 elements cemented together? If not well I think I have fungus. Looks like spitter webs, but very small. How do I do this? I've taken apart hasselblad lenses so I will feel somewhat comfortable with some needed guidance. If I mess it up, such as if it is fungus, well the lens is from 1958. I picked this up along with an M2 for free so I can't complain! I can always hit up ebay or KEH and get another one. If other readers have references for leica gear that would be fantastic. In advance, thanks folks for your help. If anyone can refer me to a repair place near Burbank, CA that could be of use too. I called the Leica USA repair center and we are looking at a waiting list of 3 months and they have no idea of the cost. Well needless to say it can most likely be easier just to buy another lens. Replacing a 1958 lens may be much less than a Leica service repair. Enjoy the holidays! bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
savagesax Posted December 20, 2014 Author Share Posted December 20, 2014 Here's the lens. Forgot to post it!<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
savagesax Posted December 20, 2014 Author Share Posted December 20, 2014 A few posts down Stephen Lewis posted his cool camera. Well thats the same as what I have and it's a much better picture. Stephen, I hope you don't mind me using your image! bob Look under "Your favorite Leica and lens to fondle." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
savagesax Posted December 20, 2014 Author Share Posted December 20, 2014 Aol just keeps hanging up. Another try to post his picture... didn't work...sorry folks. My New Years resolution - dump AOL! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCL Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 <p>Can't tell you about disassembly but Ken Ruth in Davenport, CA did some unique lens work for me a number of years ago converting a f/0.95 Canon lens to a Leica M mount. If you Google either his name or Photography on Bald Mountain you can see his area of specialty. Also John Stelton at Focal Point in CO is noted for working wonders...I've never used him, but have heard lots of good stories over the years...but can be pricy.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
savagesax Posted December 20, 2014 Author Share Posted December 20, 2014 Wow, thanks Stephen! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john_shriver Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 I think that's a Leica lens from the "soft coating" era. It is incredibly easy to damage or remove their soft coatings when cleaning, so this is work I'd leave to a Leica pro. I've torn down and cleaned an uncoated Summar, but after an unfortunate incident with a coated Summicron, I farm out soft coated lenses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian1664876441 Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 Send it in to a pro. Sometimes the front rings get cross-threaded, sometimes they have hidden set screws that hold the rings in. In the case of the Elmar, I've seen one destroyed because of this. The 9cm F4 collapsible, easy and straight forward. The 5cm F2.8 that was sent me- the spanner slot of the front retaining ring had been stripped. Would not budge, and not enough left for me to try. I CLA'd a 1936 Sonnar 5cm F1.5 last month, never been opened. Front ring came out, rear fixture out, retaining ring for the front triplet had been cross-threaded at the time of manufacture. Half an hour to get it out, lucky I had a spare to replace it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BelaMolnar Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 <p><em>" . . . retaining ring for the front triplet had been cross-threaded at the time of manufacture"</em><br /> Cross-threaded, at the factory...? From Leica? It is barbaric! My first education was a fine, precision-mechanic-tread school, and I would never cross thread anything, and people whom trained at the factory has a very fine hand for such a thing. Hard to believe, something like this. You can open a lens in the way, with a proper tool, nobody would notice, the lens was opened. And the person, whom do such a thing, cross tread, better to go and change occupation to become a conductor in the railway. You never start to screw a fine treaded part to each others streat clockwise, always anti clockwise, until you fell the click, when the tread set to each others correctly, then start to rotate clockwise. Even auto mechanic know this.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
savagesax Posted December 20, 2014 Author Share Posted December 20, 2014 As I've said I've taken apart Hasselblad lenses and replaced shutters and the springs. Removed oil on the blades, all of that. However there doesn't appear to be a place on the front to use a Spanner tool. This leads me to believe that you have to take this apart from the inside. Then I worry about lining up the lenses, don't have a focusing machine. There is a ring in the rear which indicates the need for the Spanner tool. Seems like I need to leave this job for the pros! Which I will. It also looks like there are at least 4 lens elements. It's really an engineering marvel the way these are made, going back to the mid 1950's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCL Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 <p>According to Erwin Puts, the 50 Elmar f/3.5 had 4 elements in 3 groups, and was a derivative of the Cooke triplet design, with the diaphragm positioned behind the first element. Later productions did have a lens coating, but some of the factory notes suggested that coated versions were reserved for military organizations, including war correspondents and official war photographers, but not amateur users.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uhooru Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 <p>Also Steven Choi in Culver City at Steve's Camera, he's pretty good. He's worked on a 35 Summicron I have and it works great since..</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
savagesax Posted December 21, 2014 Author Share Posted December 21, 2014 Great information. Had no idea about the coatings. The tiny spider web look is between the front element lens. Does anyone know if these 2 elements are cemented? I'm hoping that the 2 lenses simply need to be recemented and it's not fungus, which often can't be removed. I'll give Steven a call tomorrow. He's pretty close by. A continued thanks for all of this valuable information. OK, another silly question. I have a pile of Canon pro lenses. I found that you can get an adaptor to connect a Canon lens to a leica rangefinder. Has anyone ever tried this? I'm aware of course that everything will be shot totally in manual, but I was wondering about the quality. I know it would look pretty goofy using a 200mm canon on an M2! Would the quality pretty much suck? lol As all of you can see I am totally new to this leica scene, but at the same time I can't wait to start shooting.I Enjoy the rest of the weekend and thank you for all of your support. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCL Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 <p>I have used the Canon adapter B on my LTM bodies (can use it also on M body with the LTM->M ring), but only with wide angle lenses, as you need to zone focus, there is no coupling to the rangefinder. Obviously not as accurate as having a coupled lens, but the DOF is sufficient to secure acceptable focus (I've only used 17 and 28mm lenses - the 28 is a Canon f/2 and the 17 is a Tamron in an FD mount).</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christopher_junker1 Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 <p>Bela, the f1.5 50 Sonnar is a Zeiss lens, so Leica lenses are still perfectly made. Bob, the lens mount engineering on the 4 element Elmar f3.5 50 goes much further back than the 50's. Max Berek and the Leitz works designed the lens in the 1920's so we are still using a lens with a design and construction dating back 90 years. Post WWII the Elmar's have coated lens elements so the above advice to send it out for a professional CLA will be money well spent as you got it free anyway. The Elmar 3.5 50 takes marvelous color images.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhbebb Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 <p><em>The tiny spider web look is between the front element lens. Does anyone know if these 2 elements are cemented?</em><br> The classic Tessar<br> https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=tessar+lens&rlz=1C1CHFX_en-GBGB562GB562&espv=2&biw=1600&bih=799&tbm=isch&imgil=d5Cr2d-mxQnH5M%253A%253Be3FlG6iDtEMDqM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.wrotniak.net%25252Fphoto%25252Fexakta%25252Flenses.html&source=iu&pf=m&fir=d5Cr2d-mxQnH5M%253A%252Ce3FlG6iDtEMDqM%252C_&usg=__2Bf31dEcuIZpzLfS4uNZpbhT9A8%3D&ved=0CEYQyjc&ei=kE2ZVLifH4HcUtqdgvAK#facrc=_&imgdii=d5Cr2d-mxQnH5M%3A%3B-g4H4UOEo0ccLM%3Bd5Cr2d-mxQnH5M%3A&imgrc=d5Cr2d-mxQnH5M%253A%3Be3FlG6iDtEMDqM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.wrotniak.net%252Fphoto%252Fexakta%252F_img%252Fopt-tessar.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.wrotniak.net%252Fphoto%252Fexakta%252Flenses.html%3B240%3B180<br> has 4 elements, front two air-spaced, rear two cemented. Everyone but Leitz put the iris diaphragm between the two groups, i.e. between elements 2 and 3. Leitz felt they had to place it between elements 1 and 2, it ended up very close to the rear of the first element. Leitz then decided to use a lubricant for the iris diaphragm which gases over time and, particularly if the camera and lens are left in a drawer with the lens pointing upwards, causes the rear of the front element to be attacked by fungus. This damage is terminal unless you can find a repair person who can replace the front element,</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
savagesax Posted December 24, 2014 Author Share Posted December 24, 2014 OK, an update. I sent in the lens. I won't say which repair place I chose for now, until I see how the results come back. The man is a factory trained Leica tech. I also decided to buy a 90mm lens KEH. For those that don't know about KEH they are fantastic for used gear. If you order a lens or something and they rate it as a 9 or so, you can expect the lens to be close to a 10-. The lens was rated as no haze, no fungus and no dust. I paid about $375 I think. It comes with a 180 day warranty. So after the first of the year I should be in good shape to go out and play! Enjoy the holidays folks! Again thank you for everyones posts. I'm learning a lot. bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian1664876441 Posted December 24, 2014 Share Posted December 24, 2014 The Sonnar with the cross-threaded retaining ring is a Carl Zeiss Jena. After taking apart 100 or so, start to see signs of ones that have been opened or not. I had another one with damaged to the optical fixture due to the tap for a set screw not being deep enough, and the head of the screw sticking up. There was only one set of taps, the lens had not been repositioned. It happens.With the Elmar 5cm F2.8- I do not know how the lens was misthreaded. I received it as a parts lens. I used the focus mount to turn a Leica 5cm F3.5 Varob into an RF coupled lens. The Varob is the classic uncoated Elmar ,made for an enlarger. Same optics, works well with a camera. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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