Found this on the auction site, and not really in my price range, but was shocked to see this image of the aperture blades. Is something like this fixable, or are we talking boat anchor time? I would think parts for these lenses would be pretty hard to come by. Maybe you could straighten the blades out if none of them are cracked or broken.
Best,
-Tim
The blades themselves are fixable, for the parts involved leading the aperture blades I do not know.
Blades in such a state most likely need complete replacement (a few good specialists do have replacements and will do the work).
This is not an easy lens to fix - only a handful of shops will still do a qualified job on these AND have spare parts as the precious blades.
Mine had several broken blades most likely leading to it's absolute pristine condition as it most likely languished in storage for the rest of it's life until it was resurrected by a few Japanese lens masters and helped into my hands by the great Jon so it would be taking pictures again.
If you are interested, I would send a few pictures to the US shop which does work on these - I just cannot remember which it was :bang:
And ask for their opinion.
And btw - somebody REALLY screwed up on that lens you linked - I cannot fathom the hamfisted fingertip dexterity necessary to bork this up so much
😱
The aperture ring on these is supposed to be twisted with the tip of your finger while sensing ANY possible issue and STOP the moment you feel something is wrong. It is not a lens one can beat up and run over by a truck and expect it to work like the F-mount Nikkors.
Definitely doesn't look like a legendary lens.
That's not a nice thing to say :-(
This lens is not easy to focus and certainly not easy to use in the spur of the moment.
The Nikon rangefinder mechanics in combination with the 50/1.1 are CLEARLY much less precise than say a comparable Leica M with a Noctilux.
The Nikkor definitely needs a matched body (usually the lens itself gets matched to a specific body not the other way around).
… and then still the focussing slack from the lens' focussing mount to the intermediate clutch to the internal focussing mount of the camera to the rangefinder mechanism is just so much @ f1.1 that one MUST ALWAYS focus exclusively from one side (I focus on my SP + 50/1.1 always pulling towards infinity as that is where mine focusses spot on).
On a Leica M + Noctilux there is both much less slack and extensive possibilities of tuning both the lens and the rangefinder to perfectly match.
Anyway, this lens surely isn't your cup of tea to begin with, looking through your website gallery, which doesn't make the lens any less legendary. But the comment is not nice.
Also: focus does not matter. It's the story that does matter. Always.