Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1996/04/24

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To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us, leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
Subject: Re: Minimum aperture question:
From: beamon@primenet.com (Roger L. Beamon)
Date: Wed, 24 Apr 1996 14:47:35 -0700 (MST)

>I also noticed this "smallest aperture" on my 50mm Summicron which is about
twenty years old. (I mentioned this in an earlier thread.) The 35mm
Summicron that I recently bought and that is almost brand-new doesn't have
this "feature". Therefore I suppose that the "extra f-stop" isn't
intentional but a result of heavy usage of the former owner(s) - although I
hate the idea that the aperture ring of a Leica lens wears out that way...
>
>I haven't done any test yet to find out if I really get something like f22
(or at least "half of it") with it. If you do please let us know.

Guten Tag, Edi:

If and when I get a chance, I'll run some tests to see if I can quantify the
value of that "up against the stop" position. My 35/2.0 M surely looks mint
and is about 1991 manufacture, but I guess it could have had a fair amount
of use by a very careful owner. 

In my limited experience with Leica, so far, the aperture ring seems to be
the most poorly crafted item on the lens. I have a 100/2.8R Macro, very
recent manufacture, and probably never owned, though not new, and its
aperture ring is actually "squeezable". The same lens owned by a friend is
the same way. It may never pose a problem, but it's not as solid as the rest
of the lens.
       --
       Roger Beamon,  Natural History Interpreter & Photographer
                                 Docent: Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
                                 INTERNET: beamon@primenet.com