Replating/Remanufactured Lens Mounts

[OM1234]

You would think that given the amount of interest in older film camera lens that somebody would be remanufacturing one of the most vital components that wears - the lens mount. I have spent a serious amount of money over the years building up a decent lens collection and will only mount pristine lens mounts on my cameras - this means a lot of even good lens I would not considere buying if the mount has some marks. I would have thought that popular lens greater in value than $250 would be a viable proposition to manufacture replacement lens mounts.
I have found a significant proportion of the lens for sale, even the pricier ones are showing significant lens mount wear.

Manufacturing costs can be made so low these days even a production run of a few hundred would be viable.

The same would apply to camera mounts.

Any thoughts?

 

[Ade-oh]

You would think that given the amount of interest in older film camera lens that somebody would be remanufacturing one of the most vital components that wears - the lens mount. I have spent a serious amount of money over the years building up a decent lens collection and will only mount pristine lens mounts on my cameras - this means a lot of even good lens I would not considere buying if the mount has some marks. I would have thought that popular lens greater in value than $250 would be a viable proposition to manufacture replacement lens mounts.
I have found a significant proportion of the lens for sale, even the pricier ones are showing significant lens mount wear.

Manufacturing costs can be made so low these days even a production run of a few hundred would be viable.

The same would apply to camera mounts.

Any thoughts?

I'm assuming your primary interest is as a collector rather than as a user? In my experience, you have to bash a lens around a fair bit to cause significant damage to the mount but, of course, any lens that gets a moderate amount of use will acquire scratches and marks on the mount which will detract from its value as a collectors' piece. It might be worthwhile getting in touch with a repairer like John Hermanson: he may know of a source of new OM mounts.

 

[sevo]

I have seen very few lenses whose mount was worn to the point where that created technical issues - and where I've seen it, it concerned ancient mounts like Exakta (vulnerable as its springs are actually part of the mount metal) or LTM and M42 (which are vulnerable to misthreading damage). On more modern mounts, damage to the cams and couplers will render the lens or body not economically serviceable long before the actual mount has more than a cosmetic issue.

 

[wblynch]

Heaven forbid a camera gets a scratch.

Use them for christsakes.

 

[zuiko85]

"...and will only mount pristine lens mounts on my cameras-..."

Wow!

Then looking at my collection of Zuiko glass and OM bodies would probably give you a heart attack.

To be fair I understand some people have obsessions like these (I am sure we are all insane, the only difference is degree and direction) so it's not mine to judge. That said I doubt anyone could tell the difference in photos between a heavily used lens and a like new sample assuming the used lens has not been used to hammer nails or some such.

One more thought, stainless steel mounts are pretty hard and don't wear very much I would think.

 

[jschrader]

I am only guessing, but

1, most lenses and bodies in usable state will have acceptable lens mounts,
2, for collectors, to whom scratches may be a problem, a replaced lens mount would not be original and therefore of little value
3, i doubt that manufacturing these would be cheap

 

[John Hermanson]

If you're looking for new mounts for OM lenses, let me know what models you need them for. I have lot of new ones in stock. John