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Auto Beroflex MC 35-100 f3.5-4.3 won't zoom

Thwyllo

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Apr 27, 2022
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114
Location
SW France
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Large Format Digital
My list of "lenses to cut your dismantling technique teeth on" is growing.

This I believe is a Cima Kogaku lens, also badged as Chinon?

Does anyone know it well enough to know (1) if the zoom function is just pull/push (because mine doesn't) and (2) what's the trick to getting into and out of Macro?

I've tried pressing the small chrome button but the Macro ring refuses to budge in either direction. It needs someone who owns this lens to turn the light on for me!

Oh and as I've read elsewhere on the interweb is fairly predictable, there's a very hazy element inside....apart from that I'm having a great day
 
Thwyllo said:
I've tried pressing the small chrome button but the Macro ring refuses to budge in either direction. It needs someone who owns this lens to turn the light on for me!
Click to expand...

I think I have not had this lens in hand, but from my experience you did just the right thing.
Also any other operation makes no sense to me. I assume some cam at the innards got locked.
 
AgX said:
I think I have not had this lens in hand, but from my experience you did just the right thing.
Also any other operation makes no sense to me. I assume some cam at the innards got locked.
Click to expand...

Yes I'm sure I'm doing something dumb here. Definitely not hardened grease as the focus and aperture rings are smooth as silk, a very well built little lens, in this case on a Konica KR mount.
 
Last edited:
No, that was not what I meant, but that something inside got broken. As neither the macro ring moves, nor the zoom function is working. Think of a loosened screw or such.


The zoom is push pull (of the focus barrel), as there is not dedicated zoom ring.
 
But as you say it..., as ultimate test, try whether the macro setting is somehow dependent on the focus setting.
 
AgX said:
But as you say it..., as ultimate test, try whether the macro setting is somehow dependent on the focus setting.
Click to expand...

Yes I'm going to check that but it's got to come apart anyway to deal with the haze, but from the little I can see through it on the camera it's definitely OUT of Macro mode at the moment.
 
Yup it's a push-pull zoom alright.
No zoom is usually(as agx said) somethings loose or broken.
Frequently a roller in the zoom cam. If you're lucky it's under the rubber grip.
The grip slides off but needs some delicate lifting/prodding, just start at one edge and work
around the lens.
If nothing seems awry, you gotta go a bit deeper. MARK THE STARTING POINT SO YOU ARE SURE IT"S IN THE SAME PLACE AS WHEN YOU BEGAN.
It's amazing how many starting points there can be in there if you get it bolloxed up.
 

Yes your final sentence says it all! But good tip about the rubber grip, thanks.
 
To get into MACRO MODE, the lens has to be on a camera, the focal length has to be at 35mm. Then you push and hold the silver button and turn of in the direction of the arrow.
To get out of it, do the reverse.
Many lenses work this way.
 
xkaes said:
To get into MACRO MODE, the lens has to be on a camera,
Click to expand...

So far I had no lens in hands that worked this way.


In case you have it about a lens barrel otherwise turning, one always can grasp the lens at the mount end.
 
I have quite a few that work that way -- right now, for example, I'm holding a very similar JC Penny 28-80mm that does. And while you can get it to turn while it's not on a camera -- you can't do it if you don't know how.
 
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