I bought a M6 Millenium with 35 and 50 black paint and I'd like to buy a 90m AA black paint available on japanese market ( Dragon set ). Thanks fabio

-- fabio scaglione (fabioscaglione@tim.it), March 31, 2002

Answers

Fabio, are you sure there is such a thing? If there is, I'm in for one. I have the set like yours and would dearly like to round it out. Maybe when you locate it you could let me know where and how much. Meanwhile, I'll put my dealer with Japanese connections on the trail and let you know if he comes up with anything. Sincerely, --Marc Williams

-- Marc Williams (mwilliams111313MI@comcast.net), March 31, 2002.

There is no such thing.

-- ray tai (razerx@netvigator.com), March 31, 2002.

Thanks Ray. Saves me from making an ass of myself with my dealer. Again. This begs a question, Could such a thing be made? Considering they made a limited edition Titanium 90 AA it must exist in brass huh? Isn't that what is necessary for a black paint?

-- Marc Williams (mwilliams111313MI@comcast.net), March 31, 2002.

According to Shintaro black paint can only be applied to brass. By the way he can paint brass lenses. Perhaps you can send him your 90AA Ti and have him convert it to black paint :)

-- ray tai (razerx@netvigator.com), March 31, 2002.

i purchased a black paint camera set from lemon & co in tokyo and asked them if they could supply a black paint 90mm AA. they came through with the lens for about $900 above the then list. i believe, but cannot be sure, that it started life as a chrome lens (although for all i know it could have been titan!!). lemon claimed at the time that it was a limited edition leica lens, but i don't buy it. however, the quality of the paint looks like factory work, and far exceeds the quality of the cameras i have had painted by shintaro (who, i hasten to add, does amazing work for a very low price -- at least it was low two years ago when i had my cameras painted). i suggest faxing lemon (that's how i dealt with them, although they have a website and email address). alternately, ken hansen has an excellent painting contact. the fellow has painted cameras for hansen with skill that equals the work on my lens. and by the way, if anyone has info to support lemon's claim that some 90AA's were produced in black paint for the japanes market, i'd love to hear it.

-- roger michel (michel@tcn.org), March 31, 2002.

Roger, Since Leica hasn't introduced a chrome 90AA yet then Lemon probably had some kind of dealer sample. As far as I know there is no official black paint 90AA but maybe there is one in the works?

-- ray tai (razerx@netvigator.com), March 31, 2002.

what's the deal with the titan 90AAs. are they brass base or zinc?? any idea??

-- roger michel (michel@tcn.org), March 31, 2002.

I think the choices for lens mount material are either brass or aluminum. The brass vs. zinc dichotomy is for the body top plate, AFAIK.

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), March 31, 2002.

I didn't think there were any black paint 90/2.0 ASPH M lenses made either, but it is possible that Leica made a few of these without telling me. :-).

The probablem with black paint or titanium plated 90/2 ASPH lenses is that these finishes would have to be applied to a brass barrel. If you read some of the other threads on the 90/2 ASPH lens, you will find that users praise the sharpness of this less but consider it on the upper edge of useability because of its bulk and weight (500 gm).

A brass barrel 90/2 ASPH would have to weigh on the order of 600 gm or more. I think brass barreled lenses are OK for smallish lenses like the 35/2, but they are problematic for big long lenses. On the other hand, if this is just a collectible, it makes no difference.

-- Eliot (erosen@lij.edu), April 01, 2002.

So everyone, If I follow this thread correctly, I could select any brass barreled 90, like the Titanium ones produced previously, and have it painted black by one of the sources mentioned above????? Didn't Leica make a 90/2.8 Titanium? I know, I know, this is the highly impractical Artist in me doing a raid on my wallet for the sake of beauty again. But I HAVE to follow the compulsive streak, or my head will explode. AND let me say it before someone else does...It won't improve my photography one little bit. But beauty is sooooo seductive...

-- Marc Williams (mwilliams111313MI@comcast.net), April 01, 2002.

Marc. I don't think what you say is possible. I don't know how titanium holds black paint, but chrome certainly does not hold balck paint well. Leica found this out with their early black paint M lenses, some of which had paint over chrome surfaces.

The problem with removing the chrome (I don't even know if titanium can be stripped off) is that as I see it, you would probably have to disassemble the optical components of the lens to strip off the chrome. This is no problem for someone like Shintaro when you are dealing with a yop plate, bottom plate, and small parts like levers that can be unscrewed. But it is very problematic for a lens barrel. Believe me, you do not want to have a lens disassembled just to be painted black.

-- Eliot (erosen@lij.edu), April 01, 2002.

Curses, foiled again. What you say makes sense. Jeeze, I hate it when cold hard logic gets in the way of my "Wants 'n Gimmes". Besides, as my dealer quipped, " you'll go through all this trouble and 2 months later Leica will come out with one." But if I don't they never will. What a quandry.

-- Marc Williams (mwilliams111313MI@comcast.net), April 01, 2002.