35mm Summicron damage

markinlondon

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Apr 26, 2005
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How hard do you have to hit a 35mm Summicron 4th type to:

1. Break the focus tab off and completely in half

2. Bend the front of the lens enough for the aperture ring to bind and the diaphragm flex visibly when going beyond f2.8.

This was not a private or Ebay sale, but from a major dealer, I returned the lens naturally, but this seemed a little too much damage to have got past even the most perfunctory inspection. It took me all of twenty seconds to spot the "repair" to the focus tab.

Regards,

Mark

Still using a CV Skopar PII
 
Perhaps the PO's caring casual staff (the ones they replaced all the regular employees with) had an impromptu football game with your lens, or used it to prop up a van while they changed the tyre. ;)

Bummer anyway. I can't imagine there's anyway such damage could be done accidentally unless the previous owner was one Dr David Banner!
 
That's a machined aluminum focusing tab that's broken in half, right? And a bent aluminum lens barrel that's less than an inch long?

A solid hit with a heavy hammer while the lens was mounted on the camera might do it. I doubt the post office did, as it's hard to imagine the packaging surviving. It'd be a good question to ask the dealer, after you've received your refund.
 
Update now I've got the refund.

The lens was as described in undamaged packaging and the tab had been glued back together, so either it was a postman with a highly developed sense of guilt or it left the dealer that way. The lens has not appeared for sale again at the dealer's web site, so I would say we're well shot of that one.

Mark
 
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