Canon 35mm f2 ltm woes

[mandocaster]

I received a beautiful minty version of this lens a couple of weeks ago from Japan on ebay. The focus was a little stiff, but not bad. I took it out on a couple of photo expeditions with no problem - developed the film and printed today. Lovely.
Tonight I was playing the camera, pleased with the order of the universe, and the focus ground to a halt and froze up.
What the heck.

 

[Andrew K]

hate to say it but it needs a service - replace the grease. It's worth doing - they are a really nice lens

 

[zanxion72]

Warm it up a bit to get the grease to soften a bit. This calls for cleaning the helicoid from dirt and old lubricant.

 

[Fixcinater]

Easy fix, that lens is built like most of the other Canon LTM lenses. I've had good success repairing the ones that have come my way as well as fixing a few for others.

 

[mandocaster]

I bought a 50 f3.5 elmar to have a normal to use while the 35 gets fixed.

 

[mandocaster]

Ack. I took the lens to Professional Camera Repair here in Houston. Mike Hakim (who I respect) looked at it and said he could repair it for $85. I got a call today that he won't/can't repair it and will return it no charge. Plan B?

 

[mandocaster]

I just talked to Mike Hakim. He says he was unable to disassemble the lens. It was frozen. He tried chemicals to loosen it. No luck.

 

[chip j]

I'll never get into old RFs, but old Nikon bodies & lenses I will.

 

[Andrew K]

not good - I've had the occasional lens over the years I couldn't get apart no matter what I tried.

One problem you have is that a technician has to be careful when they repair something because if a customer see's damage they will complain/demand a new lens/free repair etc (I've seen it all).

If you are not worried about how it looks (say the keyways where you put a lens tool in to get damaged or the lens rin/retainer gets scratched because the tool slips) I'd ask him to have another go and use some force. Heating the lens in a oven sometimes works

Alternately try DAG cameras - Don is very good at rangefinder gear and may be willing to have a go

 

[piffey]

May be a dumb reply, but I was convinced my Canon 28mm LTM focus had stopped working. Turned out some of those older lenses had an infinity lock and I had no clue such a thing existed. I'd never encountered a lens with that before. Figured I'd pipe in just in case you are as clueless as I was about those old lenses. Best of luck!

 

[mandocaster]

Thanks for the idea. Unfortunately the lens is stuck in the middle of the focusing range.

 

[mandocaster]

I looked at the original eBay listing. I bought it on March 29. There is a 30 day return policy. I'm hoping that works out.