Canon 50mm f1.2 LTM - Dropped. Smashed Front Element.

[clickysteve]

Today I was walking along the street and had an accident.

I had my Leica M Typ 240 slung across my body on a long strap, mounted with a Summicron-C 40mm, and in my camera bag I had a Leica M2 with a Canon 50mm f1.2 LTM mounted on it.

I tripped on a bump in the sidewalk and fell flat on my face. I wasn't hurt, but felt the digital M hit the ground beneath me. Fearing the worst, I looked it over and the lens was completely fine. The back of the camera had taken a beating, and the body was pretty badly scratched up. Luckily, I had an Expert Shield on the LCD, so the screen was saved... just peeled it off and will put another one on. Even the rangefinder didn't seem to be knocked off.

It was only afterwards that I thought about the camera in the bag. Whilst padded, the bag insert had seams which weren't as protected. It looks like the lens must have hit the ground really hard on its front, as it had a huge dent in it... which had also smashed the whole front element, and chipped the back element slightly in the mount. The M2 seemed completely fine, though I have no way to check the rangefinder until the films come out... which sucks as I'm travelling at the minute. Hopefully it will be fine, given the huge knock that the M took without trouble.

I'm pretty gutted, and have no choice but to get another copy of the lens as I loved it. Has anybody ever done something like this before with these lenses? Is it worth keeping the old one for spares incase the next one I purchase needs repaired at somepoint in the future? Is there any way to repair this one without cannibalising another lens?

From the way the lens buckled, it seems like if it had a strong metal filter on it, it might have helped reinforce the front enough to avoid smashing the lens element. I know there's lots of chat about this, but I think I'll get a UV filter anyway, just incase.

Eugh. Back to being paranoid about all of my gear.

 

[Godfrey]

Yuck, that's wretched luck; I'm sorry to hear about it.
Here's hoping the damage is contained and the cameras are ok.

G

 

[Kate-the-Great]

Damn shame 🙁 Glad you (or your M240!) weren't hurt at least. Seems like it would be worth keeping the busted lens around for parts, I wouldn't have any expectations about replacing the elements though. In extreme cases, new metal parts can be machined but the only realistic way to get replacement glass would be from another lens. How bad is the damage to the rear element? It may be possible to find a copy that has a damaged rear element and swap but just replacing the whole lens might be a better option as there could be alignment issues after a blow that hard.

 

[kuuan]

what a shame, good that not more got damaged.
concerning the 1.2/50: Quite a number of Canon LTM lenses have an inner lens element, next to the aperture, that has become milky, etched. I am not sure if copies of the 1.2/50 are also among the effected, if so your damaged copy is of good use! - either you could get one with a milky inner element, or sell your's to someone who has such an effected copy, to make '1 out of 2'.

 

[Sarcophilus Harrisii]

I would always retain a scrap lens of that vintage. One just never knows when a fastener or other fitting may be needed and after all it takes up little storage space. Not knowing much about the Canon RF lenses personally I would still expect that unless a specialist repairer happens to have the required parts cannibalised from other lenses you may well be out of luck. Any example you might spot for sale that would be suitable as a donor, would probably be better kept as is, both from an originality point of view and as a user, and if one is cheap enough to consider using for spares, the odds are it will probably have enough defects of its own to be an unattractive proposition as a glass donor. Ideally you need to find someone who's had a similar misfortune to yourself but with a trashed up lens barrel and pristine glass. Rather easier said than done, I suspect.

Re checking the RF on your film M. I would fit whichever lenses you have to it in turn, setting them to their infinity stops, and then check the RF patch through the finder. If it still looks good, that is really the best you can do on the road with the camera loaded.
Cheers
Brett

 

[aoresteen]

I'd give it to Don Golberg. He works on Canon RF lenses and may be able to salvage some parts off of it.