[Leica] Re: Halogen light and lenses

[Jim Brick <jim@brick.org>]

As I've said many times, I have never had any Leica problems that weren't
my own fault. My lenses perform flawlessly. I frequently photograph
directly into the sun. Many times with the sun in the frame. I don't have a
flare problem with any of my Leica R lenses. All eleven of them. But I
don't go hunting for problems either. The old saying goes... "if you go
looking for trouble, you are going to find it." I personally cannot be
bothered. I bought a new Hasselblad lens, 60mm Distigon, that had a huge
bubble in the glass. Right up front, plain as day. It was a stunning
performer. I used that lens on many commercial jobs. It was indeed, one of
my favorites.

As Leica said, what you see in the lens will in no way effect your
photographs. So if you hadn't gone to the trouble of looking for something,
you would have never seen this, and your photographs would be exactly the
same.

I have often wondered if people buy Leica's to use for photography, or as
an exercise in mechanical/optical study.

About your 100/2.8 . Are you really interested in someone taking it all
apart, attempting to clean it, then reassembling it, without introducing
more problems? I personally would just use it. I wouldn't have this dilemma
in the first place...

Jim


At 09:43 AM 12/10/98 -0500, you wrote:
>  A friend of mine recently received a new 100 f.28 Macro for his R8.
>After receiving it he called me and said that there were 20-30 "very
>small" specs on the glass INSIDE of the lense.  He also told me that the
>only way you can check a lense to see if it is clean is with a halogen
>light.    I always check my lenses and camera with natural light or
>light bulb but have never checked them with a halogen light.  Well, I
>decided to check a few of my lenses and found the same thing - many
>small specs of dust or particles behind the front lense.
>
>  This morning I called Leica repair and they said that those specs
>should not be there but that they should also not affect the image in
>anyway.  They said that they would take the lenses in and clean them
>and it would take around 3 weeks.  They also said that the R lenses are
>not closed lenses.  That is, that dust can get into the inside elements
>of R lenses.  I thought this was weird but what do I know.
>
>    Do any of you have any thoughts or ideas concerning the specs and/or
>the halogen light check?  Is this a Leica QC problem or normal in all
>lenses?  Also, my friend ordered a brand new R8 and the glass in the
>veiwfinder was scratched.  What is going on with Leica.  People do NOT
>spend 2 to 3 times more money than the competition for any equipment
>without expecting perfection.  Leica will be out of business within 5
>years if they do not address these quality control issues.
>