Advice on M/L39 lenses

[BrianV]

If you post how far the actual focus is off at a given distance, I can compute how much the shim needs to be thickened or thinned.

It is just like the Jupiter-3: The optics module unscrews from the focus mount, the new shim goes into place, and the hard part is moving the aperture ring to line up correctly after screwing the optics back in. The Three set screws for the aperture come out, and most of the time can be screwed back in to hold the ring into place. Occasionally, you need to tap out holes for the set screws, like on the J-3. Most J-8's and J-3's: back-focus about 1"~2" at 3ft, when used wide-open. Increase the shim 0.1mm corrects 80% of them. About 2 layers of thin kitchen aluminum foil.

This is with an early Jupiter-8 wide-open, adjusted by setting the shim using the "0.1mm rule of thumb".

 

[dxqcanada]

Thanks for the info Brian ... I already found Jason's site, but not Kim's.

 

[dxqcanada]

I shoot with a Canon 50mm f/1.4 most of the time.

I wish I could find a Canon lens (that I can afford) to go with the Canon 7.

 

[BrianV]

The Canon 50/1.4 goes in the $300 range, not much less than the modern Voigtlander Nokton 50/1.5 aspheric. The Nokton is much sharper. The Canon 50/1.5 is a Sonnar formula lens- and has gone out of sight. The 50/1.8 is a fine performer, the equal of the 1950s Summicron. The Black version is subject to etched glass on the surface behind the aperture IF oil seeps in. It reacted badly with a new type of glass. The chrome version with older glass- aged better. The 50/1.9- "an old look to it". I'll post some shots with mine. It is soft and low-contrast compared with the 50/1.8.

I did a big sell-off to buy the Monochrom, sold off many of the duplicate lenses. The J-8 that i have now is a real Franken-Lens, I modified the internals and purposely misthreaded the helical to make it close-focus. I could never sell it, no one else could work on it. I do take requests from forum members to adjust J-3's and J-8's, and always prefer to help others do-it-themselves. They are not hard to work on, but some patience and a few tools are required.

 

[bhop]

I shoot with a Canon 50mm f/1.4 most of the time.

I wish I could find a Canon lens (that I can afford) to go with the Canon 7.

Canon Rangefinder 50 F1.8 CANON BLACK/CHROME (40) 35MM RANGEFINDER MANUAL FOCUS STANDARD ANGLE LENS - KEH.com

 

[dxqcanada]

Thanks ... I looked at KEH, and it appears I missed that one.

 

[dxqcanada]

Hmm, have a question about KEH's ratings ... this lens: Canon Rangefinder 35 F2.8 CANON CHROME (34) GLASS UGLY 35MM RANGEFINDER MANUAL FOCUS WIDE ANGLE LENS - KEH.com is noted as EX, but the description says the lens is "ugly" ??

 

[compur]

"Glass ugly" does sound a bit off-putting. I've never seen them say that before.

Their items are usually better than their descriptions would indicate and you can return anything you buy from them. I know one of the KEH buyers and see him every few weeks at local camera shows. He is very fussy about condition of the stuff he buys and KEH in general is also very conservative on the ratings they use on their web site. Once I sold him a Nikon DSLR which I thought was cosmetically very good but he said KEH would call it "BGN" when they sold it.

 

[BrianV]

KEH takes returns. On a Black Canon 50/1.8: check the surface behind the aperture for haze/ coating damage/ etched glass. KEH usually makes notes of this, and they are very good in the descriptions for problems.

A lens with UGLY glass for $215- In would pass on it.

A Jupiter-12 35/2.8 in Leica mount will work on the IIf, probably will bang the light baffles of the Canon 7. I've used it on a Leica M9 without problems.

 

[dxqcanada]

Ok, got my Leica IIF ... the rangefinder needs work, can't see a thing through it (was expecting some issue with it).
Looks like I am going to have to take the top off.

Watching a couple of Ebay auctions ... though I may end up with KEH.

 

[BrianV]

Youxin Ye does wonders with barnack Leica's. He has replaced and rebuilt the RF/Viewfinder in several of mine. It will run in the $150 range for a rebuild.

What did the IIf run you?

If you ever need to tape the top plate off the Canon 7: there are some "gotcha's". The frameline selector has to line up perfectly with the underlying linkage or you cannot fire the shutter release. Guess how I know.

 

[BrianV]

These are test pictures with the Canon 50/1.9 Serenar after disassembling, clean, lube, and repair. It was missing the screws that hold the helical in place. I found the screws from a Canonet Ql17 G3 that hold one of the lens plates in place fit perfectly. At F4 and F1.9, full image with 100% crop. You can see some focus shift going from F1.9 to F4. It looks to be optimzied for F2.8. This is an "old School" lens, low-contrast- but not as low as the Uncoated Summar.

 

[BrianV]

Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 5cm F1 5 L39 Leica Screw Red T 1938 EX | eBay

Another counterfeit, this time a Jupiter-3 pretending to be a Sonnar. The focus mount is later J-3, the aperture ring is J-3, the alloy used in the barrel is early J-3.

The Serial number in the fake namering is from a batch of 7.5cm F3.5 Tessars from 1938. The only way that you will find a pre-war Sonnar in Leica mount is of someone converted it. And they would leave the original aperture ring with "wings" in place.

 

[dxqcanada]

What did the IIf run you?

$165 + 45 for shipping.

This is my first venture into the world of Leica screwmount rangefinders.

 

[BrianV]

So if you return it- you lose two-way shipping.

For a IIf, which is uncommon compared with a IIIf, that is a good price.

Old cameras can get expensive. If you can repair it yourself, it's a bargain. Paying for Youxin or someone else to repair-you get a great working camera. Lenses have become very expensive compared to 10 years ago, mostly because of Digital Leica RF's and mirrorless.