Planar 50 focus wobble

[daveywaugh]

I recently purchased a second hand Planar 50 (couldn't find one new anywhere here in Australia) and am very happy with the results. It's on an M3 and I ended up buying it because I couldn't come to terms with my Hex 50 back-focussing (although it worked well on my old R3A).

I must say the Planar doesn't seem built as nicely as the Hex. The focus ring wobbles a bit (well there's a bit of play). It's kind of annoying although it doesn't affect the results. I don't believe this is the infamous 'Zeiss wobble', but is it normal? Do I just put up with it or do you think it's something I should have repaired?

Compared to the Hex, the bokeh probably isn't quite as smooth, and I miss the built in hood. The Planar is very sharp however, and I can see a nice 'pop' that people talk about. I think I will grow to love this lens. I really desired the Sonnar but simply couldn't find one anywhere.

Hoods for the Planar are out of stock to, so am using a B+W haze filter for a bit of protection (I normally don't use filters - only hoods). Any thoughts here? I only really shoot B&W and not sure if the haze filter is more problems than it's worth...


Thanks.

 

[daveywaugh]

I know I should have read the other threads first ;-) but I am just not sure if my focus ring issue is in fact the 'wobble'... sounds like something else. Or this just another associated issue with the build quality issues? Thanks.

 

[capito]

Mine doesn't wobble, but it has some play. You can loosely turn it a few mm back and forth until the focus engages. But I didn't do anything about it yet.

 

[jonmanjiro]

Do you notice the "wobble" when changing the focus rotation direction from clockwise to anticlockwise or vise versa? If so, its not the famous wobble, but still a known issue with some Zeiss lenses. Your lens just needs the focus helicoid regreased properly. Shouldn't be an expensive fix and any decent repairman should be able to do the job.

 

[daveywaugh]

Thanks for the info - I'll get someone to look at it then.