This will Fox many but I hope not all of you.

G

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I have a M Summicron 35mm F2 E39. Got her out to exercise the shutter and put a roll in her and suddenly noticed a rather serious problem. When turning the aperture ring, the whole ring and everything in front of the ring just spins around, no clicking into place on F stop settings.
Now on further investigation, if I hold the very front of the lens and rotate the aperture ring, it does click through them. But if I hold the lens at the back and turn the aperture ring it just goes around and around in complete circles with no clicking or stopping.
Any boffins out there know what the problem is. I would think it is a rather simple fix, so am I right or wrong.
Cheers in advance of help.
James.
 
Do you happen to grip the lens by the hood when you mount and remove the lens?

Certain lens designs, gripping by the hood to aid in mounting and removing will eventually loosen the front part to where it does just like you describe. I've bought two different 28mm f2.8 Elmarit-M ASPH units with loose front sections that were, no doubt, done in by previous owners doing exactly that.
 
It's loosened up and I know no one wants to spend $100 to fix a $1000 lens that is probably 30 years or more old, but send it to a repairman. It will come back working properly, cleaned, and smooth as silk like the day it was born. I don't think any Leica lens actually wears out, they just need to be serviced once in awhile.
 
My version 4 35/2 did this - a plastic part had fractured internally and the lens was a write-off because there are no longer any parts available.

Marty
 
Beemermark said:
It's loosened up and I know no one wants to spend $100 to fix a $1000 lens that is probably 30 years or more old, but send it to a repairman. It will come back working properly, cleaned, and smooth as silk like the day it was born. I don't think any Leica lens actually wears out, they just need to be serviced once in awhile.
Click to expand...

YouTube has video of old Leica Cron with broken aperture mechanism. Leica made it from plastic.
I also had Rigid once and CLA'd it for my self for free. Some of its focus parts were not tight. Don't know if Leica made lens like this or it worn out. Lens was showing a lot and long use.
 
I have to admit that I've only owned one new Leica lens in my 50 years of using Leica. That is a 50 'cron V5 that i still have. Most, or all, of my Leica lenses were bought very well used but with good glass. Back in the day when film was king pros took care of the glass but the bodies would show considerable wear. Over the years I've bought, and sold, many lenses. Mostly 35 & 50 'crons. Most needed a CLA at some point. for the last 10 years or my GAS (or finances) have subsided and I've owned the same 28 Elmarit (V4) and 35 'Cron (V3) for all that time. Both bodies are well worn, glass & aperature clean but the Elmarit has a little binding at one point in it's focus and I need to send it off. But I've never had one that couldn't be repaired and didn't cost a fortune for a CLA compare to it's worth.
 
jmpgino said:
I have a M Summicron 35mm F2 E39. Got her out to exercise the shutter and put a roll in her and suddenly noticed a rather serious problem. When turning the aperture ring, the whole ring and everything in front of the ring just spins around, no clicking into place on F stop settings.
Now on further investigation, if I hold the very front of the lens and rotate the aperture ring, it does click through them. But if I hold the lens at the back and turn the aperture ring it just goes around and around in complete circles with no clicking or stopping.
Any boffins out there know what the problem is. I would think it is a rather simple fix, so am I right or wrong.
Cheers in advance of help.
James.
Click to expand...

Is it the version IV, as suspected above?
 
Freakscene said:
My version 4 35/2 did this - a plastic part had fractured internally and the lens was a write-off because there are no longer any parts available.

Marty
Click to expand...

Yeah, my question would be with version 35mm Summicron. Version IV and newer have a lot of plastic in them. I broke some internal plastic part on a 35mm Summicron Asph; it made the aperture ring spin a bit freely if I recall correctly. Fixable though.

Marty -- Sherry Krauter in upstate NY, USA, once fixed a 60mm Elmarit for me, where she had to manufacture the spare part because replacement parts were no longer made. Just a thought.
 
Version 4. Plastic part. Mishandled for years by previous owner. Expert repairer. Or discard. Expert repair of earlier version v likely.
 
Hmmm... My 35/2 v4 has a misaligned aperture index mark (it doesn't line up with the focus index mark). The aperture ring works properly, but I suspect someone has had the lens apart before.

Since it's working and sharp, I'm going to leave it alone.
 

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steveyork said:
Yeah, my question would be with version 35mm Summicron. Version IV and newer have a lot of plastic in them. I broke some internal plastic part on a 35mm Summicron Asph; it made the aperture ring spin a bit freely if I recall correctly. Fixable though.

Marty -- Sherry Krauter in upstate NY, USA, once fixed a 60mm Elmarit for me, where she had to manufacture the spare part because replacement parts were no longer made. Just a thought.
Click to expand...

Thanks. This happened nearly 20 years ago. The part was too complicated for a remanufacture to be viable, but these days a high quality 3D print might be possible. I waited, eventually got a junked 35/2 with the needed part in one piece and Jorg Heumuller from http://www.europeancameraservice.com/ in Melbourne repaired it. But I never trusted it, and once rices were sky high for the v4 I sold it. I got more for the junked parts than I paid for the two lenses and the repaired lens went for a price that still leaves me stunned. As I was stunned to also find that the internals of the chrome on brass v4 35/2 were plastic . . .

Leica got all those funds when I bought the M10M. [shrug]

Marty
 
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