35 Summicron v.4 – am I missing a part?

[RFH]

I was looking to see if there was anything to be done about my badly focusing 35 Summicron v.4. It took a fall some time ago, and I suspected decentering; half the frame was out of focus. Leica says minimum €500 to fix it. I says no.

I open it to find that there are no manual adjustments to be made – the elements are seated on flanges. My luck, simply rotating the second element at random improved things markedly.

But then I started to wonder what keeps the second element in place. After removing the front element, I see this:

The second lens group sits in the centre of the aluminium disc seen in the attached photo. As it is now, the lens group can be lifted out. Is something supposed to hold it in place?

I found this video of a 35 Summicron v.3 being disassembled. Around 3:30 minutes he removes a spanner ring to get the second element out.

Looking at my photo, the top thread holds the front element (1st edge highlight), but the next thread (2nd edge highlight) is unused, which seems strange to me.

The grey ring around the glass... I initially assumed that this was where the rear of the front element kept the second pressed in place, but according to my calliper, this is not the case.

Any knowledge sharing will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Richard G]

Look up photo.net and Gus Lazzari's dismantling photos of the v4.

 

[RFH]

Look up photo.net and Gus Lazzari's dismantling photos of the v4.

Thanks, I already checked it out. It doesn't seem to deal with the second element, though. BTW, my lens is the German version. So far, I haven't seen any plastic parts like the ones discussed in Mr. Lazzari's thread.

 

[rick oleson]

I'm not familiar with that lens, but I've never seen a lens that would allow centering to depend on friction and luck. It seems to me that you must have a retaining ring missing.

 

[RFH]

I'm not familiar with that lens, but I've never seen a lens that would allow centering to depend on friction and luck. It seems to me that you must have a retaining ring missing.

Me neither. It does seem very strange. I'm going to ask the repair guy, who opened it last time, if he forgot to put in a retainer.