CV Nokton 50/1.5 Loose Barrel Repair Guide

A loosening barrel seems to be a common issue with some CV 35 Ultrons and 50 Noktons (like mine :bang: ). I repaired it (it's very easy to do) and took pics along the way. I posted the guide on my CV fansite:

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Hope this helps some out there

Excellent Brian, great site and thanks for the info. My Nokton and Ultron are both OK at this point, but you never know.
Tony

No prob. My Ultron is okay, too...I think my Nokton was "helped along" by a nasty spill it took last year

loose lens

I have the same problem with my 40 1.4 Nokton. I've repaired it at least 3 times and should really photograph everything before taking it apart. This repair is from the mount to tighten a retaining ring.

Eric

Do these CV lenses just fall apart or do they do so from abuse? If it is the former then wouldn't the seller, like Stephen Gandy, replace it free of charge and cover the the cost of shipping the old one back and for the replacement? What kind of warrantee comes with these lenses, a Crackerjack type?

Donald Boyd said:

Do these CV lenses just fall apart or do they do so from abuse? If it is the former then wouldn't the seller, like Stephen Gandy, replace it free of charge and cover the the cost of shipping the old one back and for the replacement? What kind of warrantee comes with these lenses, a Crackerjack type?

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I bought my Nokton used and nothing started to happen to it until after it took a spill, which was also after 2-3 years of regular usage.

My used Nokton came with a 1 year warranty from the store.

All my new CV lenses have also come with a 1 year warranty and I've had no issues with any of them.

I think I will pass on the CVs. I have never had a lens fall apart so why start now. I have read too many horror stories about these lenses. Even the cameras have lots of problems. I know because I own one.

Donald Boyd said:

... Even the cameras have lots of problems. I know because I own one.

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Would be interested to know what the problems are!

Regards,

David

Poor focusing, rattle in the viewfinder, camera body not balanced, shutter gets stuck, film winder slips out of my fingers, film lever scratches the body, shutter dial as stiff as unscrewing a screw with my fingers.... Should I go on?

Here is a recent thread from another unhappy owner:

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=46941

These types of threads are all too common.

The Cosina/Voigtlander camera gear is much less expensive to purchase than Leica brand RFDR gear. Much, much less expensive. The quality of the lenses (sharpness, resolution) is much closer to Leica standards than one would think, considering the purchase cost of the lenses. Of course they are not built to the same mechanical standards, but by golly, they are good lenses. I have almost all of them. Never had a problem, but even if there are problems from time-to-time, you still come out ahead financially over purchasing Leica lenses. Even Leica lenses can have "issues" from time-to-time. The Cosina/Voigtlander LTM AND "M" MOUNT lenses are much more robust than the average crop of consumer digital SLR LENSES.

PHOTOTONE said:

The Cosina/Voigtlander camera gear is much less expensive to purchase than Leica brand RFDR gear. Much, much less expensive. The quality of the lenses (sharpness, resolution) is much closer to Leica standards than one would think, considering the purchase cost of the lenses. Of course they are not built to the same mechanical standards, but by golly, they are good lenses. I have almost all of them. Never had a problem, but even if there are problems from time-to-time, you still come out ahead financially over purchasing Leica lenses. Even Leica lenses can have "issues" from time-to-time. The Cosina/Voigtlander LTM AND "M" MOUNT lenses are much more robust than the average crop of consumer digital SLR LENSES.

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Seconded.

Agree with remarks about lenses, but feel that the bodies are a little fragile (arguably still good value for money). I'm a little steamed up right now because I just sold a Bessa R2a on e-bay which I had owned for a short time and shot only 2 rolls of film with. Buyer has just contact me to say he can see a faint stray frame line in the viewfinder and a very small chip in the corner of the v/f cover glass. If these faults are present at all, they were there when I bought the camera, but, hey ho, I'm giving him a refund! The reason I was selling this and another R2a was the feeling that came over me that I'd rather have Leica M2s (in today's market, no dearer than new Bessas) and that I'd like to unload my Bessas before problems emerge. There does seem to be a consensus that Bessa rangefinders are a little delicate and are likely to succumb to relatively minor shock trauma!

...but feel that the bodies are a little fragile (arguably still good value for money).

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The FM2 sold for about roughly the same price when the R2/R2A/R2M first came out. I would say that the Nikon body is ten times the body of those R's. Although I got a deal on the R2, it didn't take me long to find out that it was a mistake buying it.

Donald Boyd said:

The FM2 sold for about roughly the same price when the R2/R2A/R2M first came out. I would say that the Nikon body is ten times the body of those R's. Although I got a deal on the R2, it didn't take me long to find out that it was a mistake buying it.

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Within 6 months of the introduction of the FM2/FE2, I had three customers who had the new high speed shutter "explode" on them. This was from a sample of perhaps a couple of hundred sold from that shop. Nikon refused warranty repair on all of them, citing in sequence on a single camera: sand grains in the shutter, coke spilled in the shutter mechanism, and a professional wedding photographer's thumb having gone through the shutter from the back while halfway through a roll of film. It was only after the high volume dealer that I worked for got a promise from the local sales rep that he would personally guarantee those shutters that we kept stocking them. You could clearly hear the sales rep screaming at the repair people through two closed doors. Nikon never admitted a problem. Obviously this problem was either spotty or worked out in later production. I also spoke with the local Nikon warranty repair shop, who told me they'd never seen those shutters at 1/4000 test out any faster than 1/2500.

Anecdotal evidence is what it is. You are judging the Bessas from a sample of one, plus selected negative internet reports. Have you run statistics on all internet reports on Bessas, positive and negative? Have you done any sample biasing to account for the fact that people who are unhappy are much more likely to sound off on internet fora? If I had judged all Nikons from the sample of early production FM2/FE2's that I saw, I'd have concluded that the brand was entirely unreliable, with about a 1% catastrophic failure rate within 6 months (never covered under warranty) and didn't perform to spec. That's obviously not the case.

As for comparing prices, the inflation adjusted price of an early 80's FM2 would be significantly more than a current Bessa.

Lee

As for comparing prices, the inflation adjusted price of an early 80's FM2 would be significantly more than a current Bessa.

Lee

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When the FM2n were still being sold, it and the R2 were roughly the same price. Go figure.