Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2016/12/02

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Subject: [Leica] Correct a front-focussing 90 Summicron (Leitz Canada)
From: peter.cheyne at gmail.com (Peter Cheyne)
Date: Sat, 3 Dec 2016 12:52:26 +0900

My 90 Summicron is front-focussing on my M9. A colleague recommended an
independent repair man proficient with Leica lenses (this is in Japan). The
repair man emailed me back to say the lens is fine and his machine says the
focus is fine too, so probably my camera is in error, perhaps the distance
meter, rangefinder or the mount.

Thing is, Leica replaced my sensor in July, and I haven't used it much in
the four months since. The camera seems to be fine. Last night I took some
focus test shots with my other lenses wide open and focusing on the 25cm
mark of the ruler where the pencil tip is pointing:

https://www.flickr.com/gp/geordiepete/5r3ce9

OK, I didn't use a tripod, and I could have made the test more rigorous,
but it's still clear that those lenses are spot on wide open. I couldn't
test the 90 Summicron at the same time, as it is in another city with the
repair man. However, I made many tests with it before I sent it off, both
in real-life situations, and with rulers. It wasn't the kind of error that
only shows up with rulers. I'm not into that kind of photo. The lens was
clearly front-focussing to a large degree, so that a portrait wide open
would always be unusably out of focus.

I'm thinking, the repair man must be wrong, so I'll ask him to send me the
lens back, and I'll ship it out to Leica. But they might say the same
thing! If my camera is at fault, it looks like Leica should repair it free,
as they recently replaced the sensor. But my other Leica lenses (plus the
35/1.2 Voigtlander) are all spot-on. I'm beginning to worry that to get my
90 Cron working properly on my camera might be very expensive indeed, as I
might have to send the camera and all lenses together to be examined.

Does anyone have any good advice?

Peter


Replies: Reply from red735i at verizon.net (Frank Filippone) ([Leica] Correct a front-focussing 90 Summicron (Leitz Canada))