[Leica] Configuring a 90 Summicron

[Peter Cheyne]

Hi Kyle,

Is it the Canadian Leitz Summicron? Mine is front-focussing by a not-huge,
but still pictorially ruinous percentage of the focal distance. Here's a
focus test I did, following the recommendation of Don Goldberg:

https://www.flickr.com/gp/geordiepete/8Na6Tx

However, Don Goldberg said as he has the parts but doesn't have the best
testing machinery, it'd be best to send to Leica in Germany. Leica gave me
a mixed message. The German office said to ask the Tokyo office, as I live
in Japan. The Tokyo office said they need to ask Germany. Tokyo then said
that Germany said they can't do it as though they have the machinery, they
don't have the parts. So Catch 22 there between Don Goldberg and Leica. The
mixed message came from Mr Juimmy Hughes at the Leica boutique in London,
where I asked as I live part of the year in the UK. Here's his message,
which I'll put in italics:

*This sort of work can only be carried out in Germany – we can’t do it in
the UK.*


*I think we’ll need to send the lens to Germany to be 100% sure about
whether or not it can be done. If it goes off, I’d suggest getting the lens
6bit coded at the same time.  *

*This will add about £100 to the cost, but is worth having. You will get a
new bayonet, and the lens will be fully adjusted.*


*Not sure how much the cost of adjustment/6bit will cost; it varies from
lens to lens, depending on what needs doing. In your case, I’d assume that
‘quite a bit of work’ will be needed. *


*So possibly around £350 to £450 seems likely.*



I'm not paying *that* much, but Kudos to him for working hard trying to
increase the Leica kitty!


I then asked Sherry Krauter, but I made the mistake of telling her that as
well as using it on my M3, I'd use it on my M9 too. She then refused the
job, as she says she doesn't repair lenses that she knows will be used on
digital cameras. I then said I'd be happy if she repaired it so that it
became accurate on my M3, but she said she wouldn't, as it would also be
used on an M9.


My options have dwindled, and it seems the repair people are
self-deselecting when it comes to a 90 Summicron to be used at least
sometimes on digital. It looks like my next two options are:



1. Will van Manen, the Netherlands

*(079) 316 33 39*


*kamera-service at ziggo.nl <kamera-service at ziggo.nl>*

http://www.kamera-service.info/index.php/en/


2. Gerry Smith at Kindermann, in Canada. (Can't find the email with his
details, but they're online somewhere.)


I've been waiting till I'm awake enough at the right time to call Will van
Manen in Europe, and if he seems unconfident about being able to do it,
I'll give him a suggestion. It makes sense a repair person might prefer to
have the user's camera (my M9) as well as the lens, but the expense of
sending both is prohibitive, and I'd rather not lose the use of the camera
for the period. My idea is to show the repair person my focus test
pictures, and then to say that I will take further test photos suggested by
the repair person. This will give a better picture of how the lens
currently focuses on my digital camera. (My M3 and M9 are to my eyes
identically calibrated, by the way.) The repair person would then be able
to see (a) if my lens focuses the same on his camera or test equipment, and
(b) if they are different, by what fraction they are different.


I'll report what Will van Manen says.


Love that lens!—So I will find a way to use it again (I don't have a
through-the-lens way of using it, no Sony NEX or whatnot).


Peter