Hi @ll, i've got a little question to the elmar 50mm /2,8 for Leica Ms I have such a lens mounted on my M2 with the SN2327370. So it is an older lens, but does anyone of you know whether it is coated and so resistable against cleaning marks??

Thanks for all answers!!

-- Cristjan Doepp (c.doepp@msn.de), December 21, 2001

Answers

Cristjan, The lens is coated; however, the glass of the front element is relatively soft and is easily scratched. Fortunately, new front elements are still available. I have had mine replaced.

-- Henry Chu (heninden@yahoo.com), December 21, 2001.

Actually, it is the coating and not the glass that was soft and easily scratched on the earlier lenses. Today's outer element coatings are very tough by comparison. Interestingly, soft coatings are still sometimes used on internal elements, where they are out of reach of the average lens-scrubbing photographer.

-- Jack Flesher (jbflesher@msn.com), December 21, 2001.

Jack, Yes, the coating is soft but the main problem is the glass is soft and easily scratched. In fact, so soft that, if scratched, it is not worth polishing and recoating. Therefore replacement is the route to go. I just confirmed this with John Van Stelten of Focal Point.

-- Henry Chu (heninden@yahoo.com), December 21, 2001.

If you scratch the front element I think you can take a black marker to it and fill in the scratch (so the lens won't flare) and still use it. According to the folks at KBCamera a scratch on the front element will not diminish the performance of the lens... only the resale value.

-- John Chan (ouroboros_2001@yahoo.com), December 21, 2001.