Leica 50mm APO - Stiff Focusing Ring

[Jffielde]

I just got a 50mm APO, and the focusing ring is stiffer than my other Leica lenses. It is perfectly smooth, but stiff. It's stiff enough that it is a little difficult to manipulate with one finger. It is easy to manipulate by grabbing the ring on both sides. Is it normal to be a little stiff on day one? Will it loosen up? Thank you.

 

[fad gadget]

Mine's the same, had it for around 9 months.

 

[uhoh7]

That's what you call a "tight" tolerance 😉

 

[Doug]

Mine is very slightly stiffer than my 35 Summilux ASPH and my 35 Summicron v.1 (which got a CLA from DAG a couple years ago), to take two disparate samples. But from your description yours might be a bit stiffer than mine, which was new in August. I wouldn't call mine "stiff" exactly, but it is a bit on the tight side.

 

[Jffielde]

Here's the response from Leica Customer Service, in case it might be helpful to others:

"Most Apo 50's have a tighter focus motion than other Leica lenses. Combination of construction and how the adjustable element is connected to the helical have an influence on the torque needed to move the focusing ring. It will ease up a little in time.

Best regards,
Bill"

 

[Jffielde]

I used too strong a word in "stiff." I suspect mine is about like yours. I should have said it's slightly stiffer than my other Leica lenses. It is far from "stiff."

Mine is very slightly stiffer than my 35 Summilux ASPH and my 35 Summicron v.1 (which got a CLA from DAG a couple years ago), to take two disparate samples. But from your description yours might be a bit stiffer than mine, which was new in August. I wouldn't call mine "stiff" exactly, but it is a bit on the tight side.

 

[Waus]

The response of Leica is redicilous! Its's a (approx.) €6000, - lens! Imagine that you buy a brand new car with a very stiff working steering wheel-would you accepet that answer???

 

[icebear]

Here's the response from Leica Customer Service, in case it might be helpful to others:

"Most Apo 50's have a tighter focus motion than other Leica lenses. Combination of construction and how the adjustable element is connected to the helical have an influence on the torque needed to move the focusing ring. It will ease up a little in time.

Best regards,
Bill"

The response of Leica is redicilous! Its's a (approx.) €6000, - lens! Imagine that you buy a brand new car with a very stiff working steering wheel-would you accepet that answer???

Obviously the above response exactely tells it like it is. It's a mechanical piece of equipment made of metal. Although some grease is used for lubrication there will be some "break in" period for these mechanics to all come together and get smoother. Alternative would be it works super smooth right from the beginning and needs some tightening after break in. Apart from not having a Apo 'cron 50 myself, I prefer it the first way with my Leica lenses. Both my Zeiss lenses needed service because they developed the "wobble".

 

[Emile de Leon]

I wish I had one..stiff...or not..

 

[Huss]

The response of Leica is redicilous! Its's a (approx.) €6000, - lens! Imagine that you buy a brand new car with a very stiff working steering wheel-would you accepet that answer???

Very poor analogy. It suggests that all cars are the same with the only differene being steering effort.

The only lens that compares to the Apo 50 is the Otus, and lensrentals tests shows the Leica still to be superior.
The focus is stiff (2 fingers needed!!!) because of the combination of mechanics and optics required for that superlative performance.

And no, I don't own one. I'm happy with my wobbly Planar and Sonnar
😉

 

[newsgrunt]

My Asph 50 Summilux focus is nowhere near as smooth as my Asph 35 Summicron. I was told the floating element is the main reason why, it's not just a simple helicoid but other mechanics are involved. I imagine in time it will 'wear in' and get better.

 

[Jffielde]

It depends. It may be that, by design, Ferraris have stiffer steering or suspension or gearboxes than Mazdas. While I wouldn't take it as conclusive what the manufacturer had to say, I wouldn't ignore it altogether, either. On the other hand, I would seek to confirm it or disconfirm the dealer's contentions through a forum of users of Ferraris, kind of like...this one for Leicas.

The response of Leica is redicilous! Its's a (approx.) €6000, - lens! Imagine that you buy a brand new car with a very stiff working steering wheel-would you accepet that answer???

 

[ian_watts]

My Asph 50 Summilux focus is nowhere near as smooth as my Asph 35 Summicron. I was told the floating element is the main reason why, it's not just a simple helicoid but other mechanics are involved. I imagine in time it will 'wear in' and get better.

I owned and used a 50 ASPH Summilux for about 7 years and it never got as smooth as the 35 Summicron ASPH or 35 Summilux ASPH (non-fle) I owned during that period. I'd be prepared to accept that the 50 Summilux might have to be like that (floating lens elements and all that) were it not for the black chrome special edition version of it I tried this year which was as smooth as butter. Perhaps the extra brass helps?

 

[newsgrunt]

I owned and used a 50 ASPH Summilux for about 7 years and it never got as smooth as the 35 Summicron ASPH or 35 Summilux ASPH (non-fle) I owned during that period. I'd be prepared to accept that the 50 Summilux might have to be like that (floating lens elements and all that) were it not for the black chrome special edition version of it I tried this year which was as smooth as butter. Perhaps the extra brass helps?

so basically you're telling me to spend money on a BP 50 😉 sure, when I win the lottery but then if it is indeed as smooth as butter, then that's worth it so it's a closer match to the 35 and even my 21.

 

[LCT]

All FLE lenses, at least mine (35/1.4, 50/1.4, 50/2, 75/2), are more or less like that but none of them need two fingers fortunately. Depends how often you use them of course but i would not expect significant improvements before a couple hundreds actuations at least. Now all copies of the same lens are not equally stiff. My 50/1.4 for instance has been returned two times to Solms due to excessive stiffness. It is now as smooth as non FLE lenses but it took me several months for that.

 

[_sgb_]

I really don't have any other Leica FLE lenses to compare with. But my copy of the 50AA which was bought second hand (mfg in April 2015), has the stiffest focusing ring out of all my Leica lenses. At the other end of the scale, the 1:2,8/24mm Elmarit-M ASPH has the resistance like a hot wire cutting through butter.

Once I got used to the the stiff focus ring and swapped lens to the 24 Elmarit, I easily overshoot the coincidence patch.

I find using the left thumb against the left side of the camera and modulate the focus tab with the index finger, kinda like the "pinching" action to go from infinity to short focus works OK with the stiff 50AA focus. (sorry if that didn't really make any sense cos I am very bad at describing things lol)

 

[Jffielde]

I would be delighted if Leica would drop the tab altogether. I would prefer the focus ring alone, but I must be int he minority!

 

[pulo]

Just bought a used 50 Lux ASPH FLE Silver Chrome (460g brass). When the lens axis is perpendicular to the line of gravity, the focus ring is extremely stiff, especially at the 0.7m distance (i.e., lens head fully extended). It is much much stiffer than my 35 Lux FLE. I tried to inject some Synco Lube into the helical, to no avail.

 

[Livesteamer]

Thoughts from a retired machinist. I would suggest there are two things happening here. First is that this lens has more parts moving as it is focused than other lens's. Second, the motion is controlled by carefully made, multi-lead screw threads. Making precise screw threads, as in a focusing helicoid, is a fine art. The fact that they feel a bit tight shows that Leica has produced mating parts with very little clearance (think lost motion) between them. This shows a high level of machining precision. I have a 50 Summilux asph and it was tight for about a year but has gotten better with use. My easiest lens to focus is a 28 Summicron but I suspect a 28 is less critical about location of optics. Joe