Summitar -- help needed

[payasam]

My coated, post-war Summitar has just come back after having a couple of small spots of fungus removed. The man who did the job (who's in a distant city, which makes sending things and getting them back a problem) did not, however, fix something else I'd told him about. When I can see that the diaphragm is wide open, the aperture ring scale does not show 2 against the index mark but goes well beyond that. At the other end, the ring does not go beyond 8: that is, it does not reach 11 or 16. The front-most element was easily removed by hand, but I did not touch the next ring, which has the aperture index mark on it. After setting the aperture to 8, the smallest that could be reached, I removed the two screws on the aperture setting ring. I saw a brass surface through the holes, with indentations for the screws to engage with. The ring turned freely in both directions. Not knowing what to do, I put back both screws and am again where I was. I understand that the diaphragm assembly of this lens is complicated, so I will do nothing without full instructions. At the same time, the difficulty seems not to be with the diaphragm assembly itself but with the link to it from the aperture setting ring. Help appreciated.

 

[taffer]

Just wanted to tell you, my own Summitar does similar things. As long as the iris blades can open and close all the way it should be find. I just marked a new aperture index where it more or less matched the ring's behaviour and that's all 🙂

If your lens doesn't actually open or close all the way then that's a different thing 🙁

 

[payasam]

Taffer, the ring seems to rotate freely to each end. I aim to take readings with a body with a TTL meter, then replace the lens with the Summitar (just holding by hand with black paper to keep out stray light) to see what falls where. Finally I shall paste on a narrow strip of something which will have an index mark and will cover the existing index mark. Thanks for brightening my idea, which was rather on the dim side.

 

[payasam]

All done, Taffer. Put an index mark opposite 2 when the lens was wide open, and it goes a bit beyond 16 at the other end. All stops checked with a body with a TTL meter. Have seen several Leitz lenses (two of my own in the past) in which the aperture rings did not stop (no pun) where they should have. Possibly there is a groove in the brass surface beneath which gets lengthened with use over time. No space (around 1.5mm) for an elegant strip which ageing eyes can make. Am now thinking of short white strip which will have an index mark and one end of which will cover the "real" mark.

 

[taffer]

Glad you had it sort out ! 🙂 It's a bit annoying but now these things are probably more than 50 years old, they have to get weak on some point. My new aperture index mark is just a drawn line, the original spot is still there but well, I just ignore it.

The Summitar is a great lens and definitely has a very special character, enjoy yours! 🙂

Oscar

 

[payasam]

Thanks, Taffer. I plan to use the lens in two ways: at f/4 and smaller for general work, where in the past I did not find it appreciably inferior to its offspring, the Summicron; and wide open for precisely that character of which you speak. For the present, my index mark is much what yours is: except that it's not a line but a bloody great blob. While I agree that all mechanical devices which have been used over long periods must show it, I had meant to say that nearly all Leitz lenses -- of the 1950s and earlier anyway -- have this aperture ring problem, while those of most other makers do not: in my experience.