[Leica] could it be a defective lens?

[grduprey at mchsi.com (grduprey@mchsi.com)]

Qiao,

Your lens is most likely fine.  There are over time minor defects and 
materials chips which work loose in all lenses.  these need not be worried 
over unless they are in huge amounts.  What you need to do is clean both the 
front and rear lens surfaces.  This needs to be done with a lens cloth, such 
as a micro fiber cleaning cloth, and a drop or two of cleaning fluid  on the 
cloth.  A good thorough cleaning should get you shooting with your new 
camera and lens.  Do not put the cleaning fluid directly on the lens 
element, and no more than a drop or two on the cloth.  If this does not 
clean up the images, then a CLA is needed to clean the entire lens.  On 
older lenses this is sometimes needed, irregardless of who made the lens.  
Good luck and enjoy your new to you Leicaflex and lens.

Gene

-------------- Original message ----------------------
From: Qiao Li <qiao_li@mentor.com>
>
> Hi folks,
> 
> I have a problem with a suspected answer. However, I am still
> in a bit of denial, and hope perhaps it is normal for some Leica
> lenses.
> 
> I bought a 1969 Leicaflex SL with 50mm Summicron a couple of
> weeks back. The eBay listing said they were not sold before,
> perhaps only used as display items. From the exterior conditions
> of the camera and lens, I believe that could be case.
> 
> I had not owned a Leica before, and had always been
> fascinated by the consistent praises for Leica. Needless to
> say, I am very happy with the build quality of the camera and
> lens. Shot a roll of Fuji Superia 400 from Costco, and was very
> happy with the result also.
> 
> Last night, I decided to take out the lens, and clean the
> rear element a little. When the lens came, there was a finger
> print smudge on the rear element, so I used a lens paper to
> clean it up a little before I ran the roll of film through.
> 
> Perhaps due to the oily nature of the finger print smudge,
> a couple of lens paper afterwards, there were still this
> discernible oily smear traces following the strokes of the
> lens paper.
> 
> Can I use the lens cleansing solution to clean the rear element
> without damaging it?
> 
> After the aforementioned efforts, I came to inspect the lens
> a little closely. As I can barely claim myself a little more
> serious than the average point-and-shoot Joe, my inspection
> efforts can only be amateur in nature. So I held the lens against
> my desk lamp (40W), and I found a sparkle on one of the inner
> elements of the lens.
> 
> The way I found it is to tilt the lens such that the black
> barrel interior would come into the line of sight. The sparkle
> is like that from a chipped glass. And seems to be comging from
> one of the inner elements of the lens due to its movement
> relative to the tilt variation, barrel rotation, focus ring
> rotation. And the sparkle is relatively around the same (inner)
> spot when viewed from the front or the back.
> 
> After the discover to this sparkle, I was disturbed too much to
> continue. Given the stringent quality control of Leica, I wasn't
> expecting anything like this.
> 
> Was it just bad luck, or glasses couldn't be made perfect then
> (or and now), and Leica allow slightly defective glasses to be
> used?
> 
> I wanted a mint condition Leica. Mint M's are too expensive for
> me. So I opted for Leicaflex. Got a mint one, and now, I am very
> disappointed. Not that I can justify another Leica purchase soon.
> But in case I have funds for another Leica purchase, I would
> probably go for user condition ones. Scratches on lens elements
> can't be too much worse than dust and sparkles. And paying
> premiums for mint looking ones is a bit too much a gamble for the
> mint condition.
> 
> Qiao
> 
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