Hand coding ZM lenses

[glycine]

Has anyone tried hand coding ZM lenses for use on M8? I have been hand coding some Leica and Voigtlander lenses with good result. But the problem of ZM lenses is there is always a screw that occupies the position where the 6 bit coding should be.

Any solutions?
Thanks.

 

[Ben Z]

Some older Leica lenses also have a screw opposite the code reader. The reader "sees" the screw as if it was a black code. A dab of thick white paint (I use automotive touchup that comes in those little brush-top tubes) enough to cover the head and fill-in the screw slot makes it invisible to the reader. If the screw happens to straddle two code sites and one of them needs to be black, the white-painted screw head could then be partially painted over with black.

Note that the codes are a combination of the black dots (shiny chrome is seen as white, so there's really no need to do more than the black ones) and the position of the frameline selector, and as I understand it some of the Zeiss lenses don't bring up the correct framelines and need modification/replacement of the rear lens flange.

(PS...does your monniker refer to the neurotransmitter or the wristwatch?)

 

[glycine]

Good to know. Thanks.

(PS: that's the neurotransmitter, 😛)

Some older Leica lenses also have a screw opposite the code reader. The reader "sees" the screw as if it was a black code. A dab of thick white paint (I use automotive touchup that comes in those little brush-top tubes) enough to cover the head and fill-in the screw slot makes it invisible to the reader. If the screw happens to straddle two code sites and one of them needs to be black, the white-painted screw head could then be partially painted over with black.

Note that the codes are a combination of the black dots (shiny chrome is seen as white, so there's really no need to do more than the black ones) and the position of the frameline selector, and as I understand it some of the Zeiss lenses don't bring up the correct framelines and need modification/replacement of the rear lens flange.

(PS...does your monniker refer to the neurotransmitter or the wristwatch?)

 

[glycine]

I do coding for the purpose of focal length too. 😀
I do post-processing in Lightroom anyway.

I recently, finally got around to hand-coding all of my ZMs. Honestly, mostly just so that I see the focal length in the EXIF. It's hit or miss, and some of them aren't reading as exactly what I coded them for (e.g. Summicron instead of Summilux)... But it's close enough, and certainly enough to tell one lens from another. With 35mm or higher it doesn't matter so much as far as in-camera corrections anyway.