Leica M2 bayonet problem

I purchased a BGN Leica M2 from KEH, and I'm having problems with the cameras bayonet, and my Zeiss 50mm C-Sonnar. The lens isn't snapping into place like it should. It requires to much force to both put on and remove. I needed to apply even more force to get the 50 frame lines to appear. It's absurd!

This is my only lens for this system and it worked great on my previous Leica M6. Can anyone offer any advice? I will contact the company tomorrow and see if they can repair the camera.

pressureworld said:

I purchased a BGN Leica M2 from KEH, and I'm having problems with the cameras bayonet, and my Zeiss 50mm C-Sonnar. The lens isn't snapping into place like it should. It requires to much force to both put on and remove. I needed to apply even more force to get the 50 frame lines to appear. It's absurd!

This is my only lens for this system and it worked great on my previous Leica M6. Can anyone offer any advice? I will contact the company tomorrow and see if they can repair the camera.

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If you bought it in the last six months, KEH will fix it for free. Otherwise they will fix it for a charge, but either way it will be fixed correctly.

I'm pretty disappointed but I guess it happens. I just purchased it this week and hope to get it straightened out soon.

Did you buy both the lens and the body at the same time? I’d try an actual Leica lens on the body before deciding if the body is the problem.

A dumb question, but did you give the mount a thorough cleaning and polishing? Also the mount on the lens? I learned long ago to start any repair with the simplest possible cause and work back from there. For exposure, the transmission in my ancient MB 300d was misbehaving. The internet suggested all kinds of expensive disasters. Turns out, the problem was simply a small rubber bushing the finally gave up after over 35 years. Saved a lot of money.
If cleaning and polished doesn’t work, follow Sirius’ advice.

I did not purchase the lens when buying the camera. I owned a M6 a few years ago and kept the C-Sonnar 50mm. It's currently my only M mount lens so I wasn't able to try any real Leica lenses. Guangong you make a great point. I didn't clean nor polish the mount. I just expected the lens to fit with no problems like it did on my previous M.

I sent the camera to KEH after my original post and they replaced the lens mount and back spring before sending it back. The lens now fits into place better than it did before. It's still a little rougher than it probably should be, but I'm glad to get it back.

My M2 (KEH Bgn) is an early model with the rewind button. Unfortunately the button and screw fell off the camera, and the collar that surrounds the button is really loose. I tried screwing it back on, but both the button and collar are still to loose, and fragile. They feel like they could fall off at anytime. I'm pretty disappointed, but decided to send it to DAG.

Hmmm. Out of curiosity, how is the patch and the framelines? I'm not sure how much a BGN M2 costs on KEH, but it sounds like this camera has a number of problems, some of which may not be resolved by sending it to DAG. I mention the Framelines and the Patch because desilvering is fairly common, and it can't be fixed.

If it were me, I'd just send it back to KEH and find another one.

The patch and framelines were fine but the bayonet and button on M2 were both a problem. I sent it to KEH to be repaired and still had problems. I ended up sending it to DAG who has it working like a dream. I'm very disappointed in KEH. Their quality control isn't what it used to be.