Nikkor 24mm 2.8 AI, steel ring incorrectly mounted.

[Sid836]

I have bought a Nikkor 24mm 2.8 lens. The previous owner had it probably opened, but put the steel ring above the aperture selection ring in a wrong way with the black dot not coinciding with the focus mark.
It does not really matter much, but is it easy to remove it and put it back correctly?

 

[sevo]

I never disassembled that particular lens. But on many Nikon lenses, "that steel ring" is one of the first two or three parts to be joined when assembling the barrel - so you might be facing a complete tear-down of everything but the optical block.

 

[Sid836]

Thank you! I'd better leave it as it is then. Better like that than turning it to unusable.

 

[ronnies]

Does that mean it doesn't match with the aperture selection either?

Ronnie

 

[Sid836]

The aperture ring and its scales match with the focus mark and the DOF. It is just that the black dot of the steel ring is on the other side of the lens barrel. Apparently it has been opened up, but that steel ring was put back incorrectly. It does not affect the operation of the lens, it just looks wrong.

 

[Dwig]

I have bought a Nikkor 24mm 2.8 lens. The previous owner had it probably opened, but put the steel ring above the aperture selection ring in a wrong way with the black dot not coinciding with the focus mark.
...

I'm not familiar with that particular lens in extreme details but on the Nikkors that I have partially disassembled it is totally impossible for the chrome ring to be incorrectly placed as it is usually the main "chassis" component of the lens barrel, everything else attached to it rather than the other way around.

The symptom you describe sounds like the focusing helicoid is improperly assembled. This is EXTREMELY complex in "floating element" lenses like the 24 f/2.8.

 

[sevo]

I'm not familiar with that particular lens in extreme details but on the Nikkors that I have partially disassembled it is totally impossible for the chrome ring to be incorrectly placed as it is usually the main "chassis" component of the lens barrel, everything else attached to it rather than the other way around.

On lenses that have the same number of screws throughout, it is often possible to assemble the entire rest of the lens around the core block offset by one or more screw holes (in this case, obviously two holes, i.e. 180°).

 

[Dwig]

On lenses that have the same number of screws throughout, it is often possible to assemble the entire rest of the lens around the core block offset by one or more screw holes (in this case, obviously two holes, i.e. 180°).

And on most Nikkors the core block surfaces as the chrome grip ring with the index dot. The core block is by definition correct.

 

[Sid836]

This is how the lens looks like:

It works perfectly, but that steel ring before the aperture has been incorrectly set.

 

[Sid836]

It was an easy fix. All I had to do was remove the mount, remove the aperture setting ring, loosen the three screws on that ring, turn it the correct way, put the screws, the aperture ring and the mount back.
It is not a block paired with anything else.