Industar-50 Modified for the Leica

Brian,

Having weakened and bought a Fed 1 with one of these attached, I find that the aperture is extremely tight, and doesn't really want to move between about f8 and f3.5.

Can you help with details on stripping the optic module to flood clean the aperture?

While I'm in there, there are a few bits of crud that I could remove too.....
 
John- look at the second photograph, the outer slots for the spanner take the front group out of the optics module. The inner set of slots is for taking out the front element from the front fixture.

I use the needle nosed pliers for the spanner.

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Very interesting tutorial Brian ! I have a collapsible I-22 which seems to work alright on the Zorki-1 it came with. It gives an attractive quite-sharp-yet-with-low-contrast effect, similar to that seen with the I-50, above.

I strongly suspect that the old joke going "how many software engineers does it take to change a light-bulb?" does not apply to Brian.

Keep up the very interesting work 🙂

Oh, inevitably the punchline to the joke is "none, that's a hardware problem".....
 
Brian Sweeney said:
John- look at the second photograph, the outer slots for the spanner take the front group out of the optics module. The inner set of slots is for taking out the front element from the front fixture.

I use the needle nosed pliers for the spanner.
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Thanks Brian - so front & rear modules removed, then flood clean, eh? OK - I'll give that a go later.

I have to say that I'm only doing this as I weakened and bought a Fed 1 and lens to a) keep in t he car and b) enter the FSU shoot out. Some people obviously have a different definition of "good condition" to mine. The lens aperture won't move between about f8 and f 3.5, and the body needs a new set of cutains and a complete CLA.

I would hate to buy a "user" from this seller 😱
 
"good condition" is better than "I can see no reason why this camera will not work perfectly". It had been in a fire, and the insides were melted. But you could not see the damage...
 
Brian,

Managed to get the glas out, but could not shift the module securing ring. Managed to flood clean the aperture and got it moving nicely, but it does seem to be affected by tightening the front glass back in, is that normal?

You should have seen the state of the front element - covered in what looked like baked on castor oil (ever seen a well used model aero engine?). I couldn't shift the ring of dark crud around the outside of the lens, so dropped it into the ultrasonic cleaner for a few minutes. Worked a treat! unfortunately, now that all the muck has gone, you can see the myriad of skating marks in the coating - ah well.....
 
John- sounds like the front module is going in too far. Mine works easily, the front module has no effect on the aperture stiffness.
 
-doomed- said:
Perhaps Ill keep my IIIf and grab an industar 50 collapsible for it , though my luck with fsu lenses on leica bodies has been pretty good as I rarely focus wide open and close up , but on the few I have done so with theyve been pretty good. I am glad that Brian does these sorts of diy walkthroughs, for I am sure one day I will get an FSU lense that doesnt work acceptably.
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An I-50 is a very nice companion for a IIIf. I really should use mine more often, it's one of the nicest FSU lenses I've owned (and I've been quite lucky over the years! 🙂 ) Get one, you'll enjoy having it.

William
 
Brian Sweeney said:
John- sounds like the front module is going in too far. Mine works easily, the front module has no effect on the aperture stiffness.
Click to expand...

Well, it was me - I had cleaned the blades well, but only managed to wash the remnants of the tallow based grease into the annular space between the brass optical unit and the alloy aperture ring. It had made balls, along with other general 50-year old crud and was effectively acting as a set of locking rollers.

I had to strip it completely, and use the lathe to grip the front module to get that out, as the grease had gummed that thread shut too :bang:. I even had to take the leaves out - I really don't want to do that again!

All working now, except the grub screw for the front plate fell apart (3 pieces) when I took it out. Hopefully, that is a standard size and I will have one in my FSU parts pot.
 
OUCH! Mine was in better shape than yours!

I've seen some J-8's and J-3's in so tight that the guide screws snapped while trying to get the optics module out. I always thought someone had glued it instead of using a proper shim. Now I'm thinking it was greased, like yours.
 
Will there be much wear to the shim, or do you think I could use a harder material like Epoxy, or maybe a softer like tin instad of copper?
 
You can use paper for shims, there is not much wear once it is in place. The optics screw into place, the shim acts as a stand-off. Once in, it will not wear.
 
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