Stiff focus ring on Sonnar 50/1.5

[gotium]

A Sonnar has arrived at my door. After a good wait.

Beautiful thing to hold, but the focus ring is STIFF. Stiff enough that I really have to grab the thing firmly with two fingers to get it to turn.

Is this a variant of normal and, more importantly, does it loosen up with continued use? It will probably drive me nuts like this.

Anyone have experience?

 

[Richard G]

Doesn't sound right. I got one new and early on I occasionally noticed a slight increase in stiffness when focussing close but that seems to have gone.

 

[fbf]

Are you referring to the newer ZM 50/1.5 sonnar?　Ｉhave had 3, two black, one silver. Non has had the problem you mentioned.

 

[MCTuomey]

my new sonnar can be turned comfortably with thumb and forefinger. i would consider the ring's movement to be on the firm side, more so than my 35/2 and 25/2.8.

 

[back alley]

mine has been smooth from day 1.

fbf...you have 3??

 

[fbf]

mine has been smooth from day 1.

fbf...you have 3??

Joe, had 3 but sold them all. First two were optimized at 2.8 then I "had to" have the F1.5 optimized. I got it and I didn't see any difference.
I am using the canon 50/1.5 from Ari now. Can't be any happier. Also have a contax opton 50/1.5 sonnar that I haven't tested.

 

[back alley]

'i have had 3'...my reading skills are fading faster than my hearing...😉

 

[gotium]

Are you referring to the newer ZM 50/1.5 sonnar?　Ｉhave had 3, two black, one silver. Non has had the problem you mentioned.

Yes, brand new.

A bit disappointing especially after returning a ZM 25 last month for a focusing problem.

 

[Rowse]

I've owned two copies of the Zeiss 100mm Makro ZF. While not part of the ZM line, one had very smooth focusing and the other was extremely stiff. My 28mm ZM has a stiffer focusing ring than my old 35mm Biogon F/2 which is being replaced for an oil leakage. Anyway, I prefer a well dampened focus ring.

 

[varjag]

ZM lenses tend to be all over the place, with both wobble and stiffness not entirely uncommon. Among my friends, three Sonnars and one Planar have had noticeable wobble.

One Planar had very stiff, uneven focusing. The owner sent it to Zeiss for repair, who turned it down saying the lens had impact compression. There was a scratch on the lens barrel; however, calliper measurements shown there is no compression. Home treatment revealed a fleck of paint inside the helical, which was making the focusing stiff. That means, that Zeiss service DID NOT ACTUALLY BOTHER TO OPEN THE LENS and shrugged it off as user's fault.

Myself, I'm on the fence about buying a Sonnar 50, loving it's, ahem, rendition. But if I do that it's with full understanding it might be problematic, with little support by the manufacturer.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Mine's delightfully smooth, and has been from new (a couple of years ago).

Cheers,

R.

 

[ray*j*gun]

Sad for such expensive lenses.

ZM lenses tend to be all over the place, with both wobble and stiffness not entirely uncommon. Among my friends, three Sonnars and one Planar have had noticeable wobble.

One Planar had very stiff, uneven focusing. The owner sent it to Zeiss for repair, who turned it down saying the lens had impact compression. There was a scratch on the lens barrel; however, calliper measurements shown there is no compression. Home treatment revealed a fleck of paint inside the helical, which was making the focusing stiff. That means, that Zeiss service DID NOT ACTUALLY BOTHER TO OPEN THE LENS and shrugged it off as user's fault.

Myself, I'm on the fence about buying a Sonnar 50, loving it's, ahem, rendition. But if I do that it's with full understanding it might be problematic, with little support by the manufacturer.

 

[Ronald M]

I hope you sent a bill to Zeiss for your time since you were forced to do warrantee work for them.

Not sure I would buy CV products beyond the 12 & 15 & 24 I have had since they were introduced. I self repaired the 12 and 15 myself.

 

[varjag]

Ronald, the Planar was out of warranty, but the owner was willing to pay for repair. Zeiss service said it's not repairable and offered to buy a new one instead. After the fleck was removed the lens focused fine.

CV's own stuff actually tends to be less problematic. My Ultron had this common problem with screws loosening, which was easily remedied. Fine otherwise in two years of heavy use. CV lenses do seem to be made with better quality and quantity of material than their production for ZM, and much easier to work on, but that's just mine opinion. Why that would be the case is beyond my understanding - one would really expect reverse.

 

[Avotius]

I have encountered 8 or 9 examples of Zeiss ZM lenses and even ones that were the same model had very different feeling focus rings. Like my ZM 21 f2.8 has a very loose feeling ring, almost too loose, it can be too easy to knock it off of where I want it when doing hyperfocal stuff. Two of my friends have the same lens and one is pretty stiff where it takes a good amount more effort to move the ring then mine, the other friend's is about in between the two, just about right, not too tight not too loose. This is also the same on the two 50 sonnars I have used, both new right out of the box and both felt very different from each other.

I wonder what it is about the Zeiss focus rings that gives them an odd feeling from eachother, my ZM 28 f2.8's main cell is starting to get the wobble only after minimal use, and my ZM 50 f2 is so loose when I turn the ring it makes a sound as if there is no lubrication in the helical.

May have to send them off to Zeiss for a once over, but that would leave me pretty empty here.