I'm getting ready for a shoot at the zoo; went to change filters to a pol.; took off the UV; blew on the lens and the serial no. ring and the small threaded shade/ring holding it on flew off! There are no slots/notches to grab to screw it back together. There is now a bunch of chrome for light to bounce around, rats.

It must of come loose from vibration over the 34 years of existence. I'm glad it happened at home and not at the gorilla pit.

Check your lenses!!!

-- Steve (leitz_not_leica@hotmail.com), April 05, 2002

Answers

What lens???

-- Al Smith (smith58@msn.com), April 05, 2002.

al, chrome 35/2. i got the thing put back together using rubber gloves to give me some friction; am busy now checking my other lenses. the threaded ring looks like a small built-in conical lens hood. it holds down the serial no. ring. good news is that the screws under the ring were not tampered with, and i cleaned some debris in this area, incl. the edge of the glass, better than before it flew off. the gorilla pit is deep.

another advantage of using filters, it would have dropped off somewhere never to be found. serial no. is recorded. how much would leica charge for a replacement, with an "*" after the number. ;^)

-- Steve (leitz_not_leica@hotmail.com), April 05, 2002.

Dear Steve,

Thank you for that warning. Screw do come loose, even on Leica lenses. Always good to have a tiny screwdriver handy.

Best,

Alex

-- Alex Shishin (shishin@pp.iij4-u.or.jp), April 09, 2002.

Variations on the proper tool here amount to short length of round wooden dowels with 1/8th inch (or 1/16th inch) rubber sheet glued to end. You had the right idea with the rubber gloves!

-- Larry Welker (lwelker@adelphia.net), June 07, 2002.