Hi,

Just received a NIB 35 lux ASPH from Hong Kong at a very reasonable price (USD 1580). Cosmetically it's perfect and everything's there and fine - but the focus is so stiff that I can't believe it! Going from infinity to close it works fairly, but the other way round its downright sticky - far from my silky smooth 35 cron pre-asph. I mentioned it to the seller who reacted promptly apologizing for any inconvenience. He claims not to have been aware of any problem whatsoever, the lens coming directly from Leica Hong Kong, certified with a warranty card. He suspects that the stiffness experienced might be due to the newness of the lens and might pass with use... Now, what do you think of it? I have never purchased a new lens, so it's hard for me to compare. Thanks for sharing your experiences.

-- Lutz Konermann (lutz@konermann.net), January 05, 2002

Answers

The tension in the focus helical should be the same in both directions. Before sending it back, or out for repair, watch your favourite TV program and work the focus ring back and forth for a half an hour or so. If it does not improve...

-- John Collier (jbcollier@powersurfr.com), January 05, 2002.

Ditto what John said. If the grease isn't evenly distributed, working it might help. But my little red light also went off when I read that it's only stiff in one direction. My 35 Lux ASPH was always smooth as velvet in both directions.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), January 05, 2002.

Hi Lutz! I purchased an Apo 90 Asph last May, and it was a bit stiff in the close-range, which I found rather depressing. After working it for a while, the problem resolved itself, and the lens is now smooth as silk.

On another occasion, years ago, I bought an older 35 Summicron-M, first-version, chrome, which looked practically new, but had extremely stiff focus. My solution? I held the lens over our hot wood-stove for a few minutes, which I believe re-emulsified some dry grease, and it worked (and performed) wonderfully from then on! But I don't recommend this procedure!

What concerns me about your lens is the asymmetrical nature of its focus-resistance. I think that working the focus a bit couldn't hurt, but I suggest that you do this with several fingers encompassing the focus barrel (not just one finger on the focus-tab) to cancel as much non-rotational force as you can.

I suggest that you do the above twice per day, about five minutes per session, for four or five days. This will allow the lubricants time to re-consolidate between sessions, and will give you a sense of whether or not things are actually improving. Check the focus in the traditional manner, mounted on a camera and using the finger-tab, from time to time.

The only caution I would give you is to stop if you feel any metal-to-metal contact, which shouldn't occur if the assembly process (which includes individual "lapping" of each lenses focus helicals) was performed correctly.

At any rate, if you feel metal-to-metal contact, or if things don't otherwise improve after the perscribed "excercise" sessions, I'd consider sending the lens back under warrantee. Good Luck!

-- John Layton (john.layton@valley.net), January 05, 2002.

Judt a question Lutz; whatīs the average temperature where you are?

-- r watson (al1231234@hotmail.com), January 05, 2002.

Hello Lutz.Years ago I received a "new" Super Angulon R from overseas which exhibited a bad binding characteristic.It turned out the lens had been actually dropped.The lens box had been rewrapped in a different style of plastic to original Leitz plastic. I rebuked the seller and received another new satisfactory lens.It may be a very remote but distinct possibility that your lens may have been dropped whilst out of the box prior to shipment.I don't know whether newest Leica lense boxes are shrink wrapped like the older boxes.I certainly hope nothing like this has happened to your lens and wish that the usual "working" of your lens will solve the problem.Regards.

-- Sheridan Zantis (albada60@hotmail.com), January 05, 2002.

Thanks for your answers so far. Roberto, although outside temperatures are down to 10 degrees below zero Celsius (aka freezing) I'm comfortably sitting inside...;o), watching my favourite program (greenspun), as John suggests, gently working on the focus of my new but stubborn toy...

I come to believe now that this might actually be a lubrification issue since focussing tends to become fair as long as I keep it going, but if I pause for a second or two it gets damn hard again to move it back from close up to infinity. And right in tune with Murphy's law, this is a weekend, isn't it? And Leica Switzerland is sound off duty...

-- Lutz Konermann (lutz@konermann.net), January 05, 2002.

Wintertime in Zuerich

-- Lutz Konermann (lutz@konermann.net), January 05, 2002.

beautiful Lutz;

you know the other day watching my "second" favourite TV program (Fox Kids), they showed a documentary work on the human body, and talk about our scences, and the porcentage (%) of the brain used by each one; interestingly sigth uses more brain than all the rest of scences together, so when we find a picture that makes any of the other scences feel, is...

Ho yes Lutz, keep the īlux going... further and shorter...rigth,left, rigth...

well if we are doing time, let me tell you about that 35/2 third version that came to my hads; I had to return it, seller wanted it back, and I canīt afford it eather, it was a strong piece of glass and metal...

Iīm still keeping the M6...but donīt know for how long

-- r watson (al1231234@hotmail.com), January 05, 2002.

Thanks for asking the question, Lutz. Ditto with my 50 Summicron, which is stiff between .7 and 1 meters... It developed this condition while sitting on the shelf at home a few weeks ago. Exercise has not cured it yet. I'm trying...

-- Mani Sitaraman (bindumani@pacific.net.sg), January 05, 2002.

Although I've used Leica cameras for over 30 years, I've rarely bought anything new. That is until this past year, when I violated my own rules :-).

One of the Leica things I did purchase was a new 35 ASPH lux and it absolutely did not exhibit any of the symptoms you describe out of the box. If it had, I would have promptly sent it back. No, the new lux was just as smooth as my recently overhauled 35mm 2nd verson cron, which I use on another body. That lens I also bought new, but it was around 1972...

-- Rolfe Tessem (rolfe@ldp.com), January 05, 2002.

Well, this morning (second day of to and fro...) I made a stunning discovery: With the back lens cap mounted just a gentle pressure on the cap will downright *block* the focus totally. But, wait: this holds true for *all* of my primes... and here's more: for all of my Leitzes, my Voigtlaender and even my SLR Zuikos...?! Is it possible that all of these lenses are *that* sensitive, mechanically? Getting back to the 35 lux asph: squeezing is "freezing", stretching is completely unblocking...

-- Lutz Konermann (lutz@konermann.net), January 06, 2002.

Hello Lutz,

I did not read all the above posts thoroughly. So it could well be, that someone else has said it before: Does you lense behave the same being exercised without rearcap, with cap or attached to the camera?

With some (a few) of my rear caps the focussing of my w/a-lenses feel different because something touches slightly along the protuding barrel. On the camera focussingmovements feels fine.

Just a thought.

Best wishes

-- K. G. Wolf (k.g.wolf@web.de), January 06, 2002.

Lutz,

I had a new 24mm, and tried a new 35/2 and both of these had a 'stickier' feel to the focus movement, where it was noticably harder to break the static friction. The 24 got better the more I used it and the 35 I only had for an hour or so. I also had a strange assyemteric stiffness on the aperture of my 35/2 for a while and this was rectified by Leica, simply by relubricating. Could it be possible that some moisture has got inside an emulsified the grease? I think I would take it to somebody competent enough to check the lubrication without affecting the warranty.

-- Richard Palmer (richard@designblue.co.uk), January 06, 2002.