Broke my 90mm Tele-Elmarit (thin). Advice?

[ninadp]

I recently acquired a 90mm tele-elmarit thin in lovely condition—a dream lens of sorts for me, since I love architectural details and have carried a small scope with me since I was a kid to examine details. Unfortunately I seem to have broken it.

When I try too move the aperture dial, it moves the focusing tube along with it—so the aperture doesn't click. If I hold down the focusing tube and then turn the aperture dial, the dial clicks correctly and, as far as I can tell, changes aperture appropriately including half stops.

I believe the problem occurred when I was trying to remove the pesky rubber hood that came with the lens. It was sort of stuck and I think I did something wrong trying to take it off.

I already wrote to YYe but I'm trying to:

1. Understand if it can be fixed at all
2. Learn if I can fix it myself without having to send the lens off for months

Thanks!

 

[Rob-F]

When I try too move the aperture dial, it moves the focusing tube along with it—so the aperture doesn't click. If I hold down the focusing tube and then turn the aperture dial, the dial clicks correctly and, as far as I can tell, changes aperture appropriately including half stops.
Thanks!

When you turn the aperture ring, the focusing ring turns instead of changing apertures?

 

[ninadp]

When you turn the aperture ring, the focusing ring turns instead of changing apertures?

Edited:

The focusing ring doesn't turn with the aperture ring. When I turn the aperture ring, the barrel/tube turns freely—doesn't change focus! And the focusing ring itself stays put. If I hold the focusing barrel/focusing ring between my fingers and turn only the aperture ring, I get the usual and expected clicks. This also changes aperture correctly.

When I turn the focusing ring, the barrel (and the cam inside) moves back or forward as per focusing.

 

[ninadp]

This is so embarrassing that I am tempted to delete this thread (is that possible on RFF?). I fixed the "problem." But I will leave it here for future generations of lens repair newbies like me.

Turns out I had accidentally partially unscrewed the focusing helicoid. I had never used this type of lens before, so a removable helicoid is a new concept for me. I was trying to understand how the lens was put together and realized that I was somehow unscrewing the front part of the lens. That's when I realized what I had done before. I am glad I didn't unscrew it till it fell off!

A few turns in the other direction till finger tight and everything works like it should. Excited to have this lens working again. Thanks!

 

[oftheherd]

Do leave the thread. Pretty much all of us have done silly things before.

 

[raydm6]

Yes I agree to please leave the thread intact.

Also for reference, the 135mm f/4 Tele-Elmar lens group also can be unscrewed to be used on the Visoflex.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ninadp]

Do leave the thread. Pretty much all of us have done silly things before.

Yes I agree to please leave the thread intact.

Also for reference, the 135mm f/4 Tele-Elmar lens group also can be unscrewed to be used on the Visoflex.

Thanks, and yes, I won't be deleting it! Hopefully it'll be of use to someone else at some point.

 

[madNbad]

Careful with the hood. There is the hood itself and a two piece retaining ring.

 

[ninadp]

Careful with the hood. There is the hood itself and a two piece retaining ring.

Thanks. Yes that tricky two piece ring started the problem! The hood had been “on” for a long time and had somehow affixed itself very very tightly. In fact when I finally managed to remove it, the two pieces of the retaining ring separated 🙁 It looks like they’re glued together or something.

I was removing it so that I could replace it with a metal 12575 which, I believe, is a much better hood for this lens. The rubber hood is really very ugly. Now waiting on a 42mm cap to use when the metal hood is reversed. After that, I won’t be looking for a new lens for some years I think.

V5 50 Summicron, CV 35/2.5 Color Skopar, 90/2.8 Tele-Elmarit, all on an M4. Pretty happy with the lineup.

 

[Pál_K]

Nothing to be embarrassed about at all. This thread may help someone later.

 

[peterm1]

Yep nothing to be embarrassed about especially as in your case as there was no harm done. I can say this as I actually did break a lens. It became jammed on the adapter and in the course of trying to twist it off I managed to shear off something inside the lens. Cost me a hundred bucks to have repaired. I just had to suck it up. Having said this I was embarrassed at first of course but am now happy to speak about it. Life lesson learner never use force to try to unstick a stuck lens.

 

[ninadp]

Yep nothing to be embarrassed about especially as in your case as there was no harm done. I can say this as I actually did break a lens. It became jammed on the adapter and in the course of trying to twist it off I managed to shear off something inside the lens. Cost me a hundred bucks to have repaired. I just had to suck it up. Having said this I was embarrassed at first of course but am now happy to speak about it. Life lesson learner never use force to try to unstick a stuck lens.

Oh man I'm sorry to hear about your lens. While many mistakes may be fixable, I still feel bad when I'm responsible for breaking something that seems to have lasted for quite some time. I got lucky with this lens, but I have broken plenty of other mechanical things over the years in my quest to learn how they're put together. My grandfather's Parker 51 comes to mind... Luckily it was reversed by an actual expert.

 

[jankap]

You lens seem to need a CLA. Cleaning, Lubrication and Adjustment.

 

[ninadp]

You lens seem to need a CLA. Cleaning, Lubrication and Adjustment.

Actually it was recently CLA'd, and what happened was a user error. It's fixed now—just a misunderstanding on my part about how the lens is supposed to work. Thanks!