Canon 35mm f2 ltm woes

mandocaster · Apr 18, 2017

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 · Apr 18, 2017

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

zanxion72 · Apr 18, 2017

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 · Apr 19, 2017

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 · Apr 20, 2017

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

mandocaster · Apr 26, 2017

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 · Apr 26, 2017

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 · Apr 26, 2017

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

Andrew K · Apr 27, 2017

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 · Apr 27, 2017

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 · Apr 27, 2017

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

mandocaster · Apr 28, 2017

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.

Canon 35mm f2 ltm woes

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