Avotius
Some guy
I have found something odd going on with two lenses I have, both made by Cosina, my Voigtlander 35mm pancake II and Zeiss 50 Planar.
If you watch the news you know that China is going through a very odd cold spell, snow in places where there have not had any for nearly half a century and so on. Anyway my Voigtlander and Zeiss lens seem to be getting stiffer and stiffer to focus as the temperature goes down. This is quite strange as I never had this problem with any other lens I had.
Wondering if anyone else has encountered this?
My cv 35mm lens when I got it was firm but loosened up nicely but now has firmed up again. I have had it for about a year. I bought it when it was coldish, not this cold mind you, and then after a month or two it loosened up nicely, coincidently when the weather warmed up a bit? Not that drastic I think. But there was a 30C difference in the winter and summer last year.
Then I got my Zeiss 50 planar, I got that when the temperature was pretty toasty right in the summer. 40 C days are common then, the focus on that lens was firm as well, but seemed to loosen slightly but always seemed too firm and now it is even more firm it seems. My Leica 50 Elmar 3.5 seems ok, but it was never completely smooth (needs to be relubed). My other lenses all seem to be fine though, no noticeable firming up to be found on anything else, even the old zeiss 50 Distagon and 150 Sonnar lenses on the hasselblad feel the same and who knows when they were last looked at.
Maybe the lube Cosina uses does not care for the cold much?
If you watch the news you know that China is going through a very odd cold spell, snow in places where there have not had any for nearly half a century and so on. Anyway my Voigtlander and Zeiss lens seem to be getting stiffer and stiffer to focus as the temperature goes down. This is quite strange as I never had this problem with any other lens I had.
Wondering if anyone else has encountered this?
My cv 35mm lens when I got it was firm but loosened up nicely but now has firmed up again. I have had it for about a year. I bought it when it was coldish, not this cold mind you, and then after a month or two it loosened up nicely, coincidently when the weather warmed up a bit? Not that drastic I think. But there was a 30C difference in the winter and summer last year.
Then I got my Zeiss 50 planar, I got that when the temperature was pretty toasty right in the summer. 40 C days are common then, the focus on that lens was firm as well, but seemed to loosen slightly but always seemed too firm and now it is even more firm it seems. My Leica 50 Elmar 3.5 seems ok, but it was never completely smooth (needs to be relubed). My other lenses all seem to be fine though, no noticeable firming up to be found on anything else, even the old zeiss 50 Distagon and 150 Sonnar lenses on the hasselblad feel the same and who knows when they were last looked at.
Maybe the lube Cosina uses does not care for the cold much?
Ororaro
Well-known
Normal for all my lenses. The grease gets thicker as it gets colder.
selma-1
Established
Hmmmmmm I would think the modern day lenses would use synthetic lubricants???
maddoc
... likes film again.
It happens to all of my lenses. When I am out in the cold, focus is a little bit stiff but when going back into a warm place, focus gets back to normal.
funkaoshi
Well-known
Metal expands and contracts due to heat and cold, something else to think about.
Al Kaplan
Veteran
My 15mm VC has always been stiff, and if I haven't changed focus in a few days it gets really difficult to start it moving. I mostly just leave it set at 1 meter because it has so much depth of field, so the stiffness is an advantage and keeps it set at 1 meter.
Avotius
Some guy
Well I can understand the noticeable tightening but how tight my lenses are getting doesnt seem right, not this tight, I have shot long enough when something is fishy. My Zeiss always was too tight the amount of force to turn it now just isnt right.
Spider67
Well-known
Thanks for this observation....
In the 50's-60's the instant answer would have been "There you also see th reason why the Germans lost WWII on the eastern front!" But now that Voigtländers and some Zeiss lenses are made in japan this won't work!
In the 50's-60's the instant answer would have been "There you also see th reason why the Germans lost WWII on the eastern front!" But now that Voigtländers and some Zeiss lenses are made in japan this won't work!
januaryman
"Flim? You want flim?"
I had a Jupiter 8 that tightened up so much I was unable to change the aperture if the temp dropped to anything below 50 degrees. Finally i gave in and sent it to Fedka for a CLA. Now it is loose as a goose. Maybe even a little tooooo loose. But I'm careful.
skibeerr
Well-known
Wait until spring Bandini.
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