[Leica] Configuring a 90 Summicron

Wed Feb 22 22:08:14 PST 2017

It is interesting to note that a used Sony A7 camera is going for about $700USD.  About the same price as "fixing" the lens...... if anyone would do it.....

It may be the best option......  ( a Fuji X series camera is your other option.  Lower cost if you pick the right body!)

Frank Filippone

Red735i at verizon.net

-----Original Message-----
From: LUG [mailto:lug-bounces+red735i=verizon.net at leica-users.org] On Behalf Of Peter Cheyne
Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2017 7:14 PM
To: lug
Subject: [Leica] Configuring a 90 Summicron

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

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