Love my VC lenses but what's up with loose aperture rings?

sparrow6224

sparrow6224

Well-known
Local time
7:54 AM
Joined
Aug 21, 2009
Messages
951
Just want to know if others are irritated by loose aperture rings on their VC m-mount and LTM-mount lenses. I had the 35/2.5 Color Skopar and it virtually was never, when I'd lift the camera, at the setting I'd left it at. Now have the 35mm f/1.4 and it's a bit better but not great. The 21/4, the 25/3.5 and the 28/3.5 -- I Love Them All -- but the aperture rings are almost as loose as the original 35/2.5.

Is there a design idea behind this? It seems a curious weakness to be so universally distributed.
 
I've only got the 40mm an the 15mm and they do not have a problem unless I unintentionally move them while focusing, i got big hands.
 
I've only noticed looser aperture rings on the LTM (earlier) lenses. Sometimes annoying, sometimes not.
 
I've found the aperture ring detentes to be very light on all my LTM VC lenses (12mm, 21mm, 25mm, and 28mm f/3.5, and on the 35mm f/2.5 I owned a few years ago), to the point where I've gotten into the habit of double-checking the selected aperture just about every second shot; but heavy enough on my 40mm Nokton not to be a nuisance.
 
I don't have a problem with my VC aperture rings. My 35mm f/1.4 is way tighter and clickier than my 50mm Summicron (v4). Though, it stays where it's supposed to, just a lot looser than my VC lenses.
 
Manufacturing tolerances/fit & finish aside, maybe we can blame "shutter-priority" shooters, i.e., people who set the shutter speed first when shooting manually & then move the aperture ring around.

Based on my experiences w/the 50/1.5 Nokton & 28/1.9 Ultron, the older LTM CV lenses did have pretty loose aperture rings, but my late '90s-early '00s Leica lenses are also loose compared to my vintage glass.
 
I have no such problem with any of my CV LTM and M mount lenses. Out of the lenses OP lists, I have 35/1.4 and 21/4 in M mount.
 
furcafe said:
28/1.9 Ultron, the older LTM CV lenses did have pretty loose aperture rings
Click to expand...
It's not loose on mine, but apart from cosmetics I think the one I have is close to the condition it left the factory.

I have a Canon Serenar 85mm lens that has a fairly loose aperture ring. It's a significant difference to any of the CV lenses. That lens may be far from factory spec, I have no way to tell.
 
My 50/2.5 LTM Skopar aperture ring is loose. The camera repair guy told me its not loose, it's wear and needs new parts! Its irritating but works ok.
 
I know my CS 35mm's ring is not loose but it doesn't really stay put if you bump it and the two edges sticking out tend to hit stuff and it changes a lot.

So I have made it a habit of setting it to the widest settings when not using it. And when carrying it I tend to check it before I use it. I don't always remember to do so but since I like to shoot wide open a lot, most of the time actually, keeping it all the way open usually works for me.

I can see how it could be annoying though if you are doing some from the hip shooting in a situation where stopping to check the settings is counter productive to getting the shots.
 
I've found it mostly tends to be the oldest CV LTM lenses that have the most aperture ring issues. The only one I ever had a problem with was my old 50/1.5 Nokton, which was so loose that even lightly brushing against my shirt accidentally would be enough to change it from F1.5 to F8.
 
They are fairly light to move, and yes, often you'll take it out of the bag and it's shifted from where you left it. It does not bother me in the slightest though.
 
The aperture ring on my M-mount 35/2.5 is tighter than the v4 50mm Summicron I used, but it's nothing to write home about. Unrelated, but I think I bought your Mamiya 7 a few months back via auction. That roll of Velvia came out well, check my Flickr for pics ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom