Zeiss 35mm stuck aperture blades

goinggreynow

goinggreynow

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I would be most grateful if someone could help me out with this or at least point me in another direction. I have already done the usual searches of on-line videos etc but no joy.
Have recently purchased a Zeiss 35mm manual lens but the aperture is not working correctly. i know I need to disassemble the lens etc and strongly suspect that the issue is connected to the internal spring coming loose or broken.
My problem is none of the on-line videos or guides shows exactly my lens, so at the first hurdle, i don't even know which screws to undo to remove the rear retaining ring! I am fairly sure I should only remove 3 of the 6 (silver coloured) screws, but which 3?? As you can see, there are 2 at the 1 o'clock position, a couple more at 4-5 o'clock and the final 2 at 7-8 o'clock.
Photos are attached and if anyone has any first hand experience, I would be very grateful for any help.
At the present time, moving the aperture ring does nothing but if I move the lever/rod up/down, the aperture moves from wide open to (about) f11 or so.
Given what i've read about this lens, i really don't want to consign it to the "bin" at this early stage. If I have to, I don't mind investigating the cost of a professional repair but given what i paid for the lens, it would have to be very special to make me want to do this.
I have posted here but if moderators think this is better posted in the film forum, then could they please move the post?
many thanks
 

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Can't help with the lens, but may be worth getting a quote from a local repair shop. A few years ago when I had a couple of non-working apertures fixed on old lenses it cost me £30, a cost which the seller of the lens was happy to share with me rather than have me return the lens and get my money back.
 
chris malcolm said:
Can't help with the lens, but may be worth getting a quote from a local repair shop. A few years ago when I had a couple of non-working apertures fixed on old lenses it cost me £30, a cost which the seller of the lens was happy to share with me rather than have me return the lens and get my money back.
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Many thanks. I think you may be right about this but it's probably the classic dilemma of whether to put out more money in the hope that all works out (and the lens proves to be of the quality you hope it is) or whether to cut ones losses (possibly sell on for spares & repair) and put it down to experience. I have been warned by several people (forum members & others) that getting involved with old manual/adapted lenses can often be more troublesome than you anticipated. I guess my main issue here is not having any first hand experience as to how good this lens really is. My purchase decision was based on other peoples' reviews and comments. Thanks again. Stuart
 
If you indicate where you are there may be other members who could suggest places for (economic) repairs???
 
I'd recommend giving Miles Whitehead a shout. He's the 'go to' repair option for most members of the Film and Conventional section on here and is a decent guy who will give you a quote on the repair ahead of time. He's just repaired the shutter in my large format Angulon 90 and did an excellent job.
 
stevelmx5 said:
I'd recommend giving Miles Whitehead a shout. He's the 'go to' repair option for most members of the Film and Conventional section on here and is a decent guy who will give you a quote on the repair ahead of time. He's just repaired the shutter in my large format Angulon 90 and did an excellent job.
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many thanks. I've seen his name mentioned previously and I'm sure his contact details will be available somewhere.
 
stevelmx5 said:
Sorry, would have been useful!

http://www.mwcamerarepairs.co.uk/
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Thanks Steve. have just dropped Miles a line. My main issue will not be the actual cost of the repair but trying to get my head around the repair cost v lens value (and what i paid for it). It's all very well reading "x" reviews saying a lens is great but until you actually use it, the doubt always remains! As this lens is stuck at about f11 I suspect that I won't really be able to tell unless it's fixed. Dilemma! Thanks again.
 
goinggreynow said:
Thanks Steve. have just dropped Miles a line. My main issue will not be the actual cost of the repair but trying to get my head around the repair cost v lens value (and what i paid for it). It's all very well reading "x" reviews saying a lens is great but until you actually use it, the doubt always remains! As this lens is stuck at about f11 I suspect that I won't really be able to tell unless it's fixed. Dilemma! Thanks again.
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I've paid more for a repair of a lens than it's probably worth based on what lenses can be bought for but my reasoning is that at least I end up with a known good one rather than the lottery that buying used can sometimes be.
 
For clarity......with the pin on the rear of the lens in the up position can you rotate the aperture ring from wide open to closed down in incremental stages e.g. f2.8, f4, f8 etc or is it going straight from wide open to closed down in one step?
 
stupar said:
For clarity......with the pin on the rear of the lens in the up position can you rotate the aperture ring from wide open to closed down in incremental stages e.g. f2.8, f4, f8 etc or is it going straight from wide open to closed down in one step?
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Thanks for the question.
As I move the pin/rod up (shown at the 3 o'clock position in my photos), the aperture blades stop down slowly from wide open to about F11. The speed of closing is determined by how fast I move the rod. Irrespective of whether the pin/rod is up, down or in between, moving the aperture ring has no effect on anything. Does this help in any way?
By comparison, I have a Zeiss 135 which works OK so I am familiar with what should happen when moving the pin. On the 135, pulling the pin down opens the aperture and when I release it, the spring?? engages, sending the pin upwards (at speed) to whatever Fstop was assigned. This action is very smooth. Compared to this, the 35mm's pin doesn't move at all unless I move it, i.e. in the down position, if I release my finger it's effectively stuck wide open until I manually push the pin upwards. Common sense is telling me this must be spring/tension related?.
Incidentally, when I first received the lens a couple of days ago, the aperture did work albeit intermittently and was sluggish. Had I known that trouble was imminemt, I would have stopped it down to about F4-5.6, purchased an adapter and got on an used it! I'm now questioning whether it's even worth spending £15-16 on the adapter, let alone the repair! If I could be really sure about the quality of the lens, the repair cost wouldn't be an issue.
THanks again. Stuart
 
I definitely sounds like a disconnected/broken return spring. I suspect you will need to remove all of the screws, but one of them near the electrical contacts may be holding the contact assembly together and you probably don't want that coming apart (tiny springs/parts going everywhere). I would start by removing the screws that are *not* recessed deeply.
 
sk66 said:
I definitely sounds like a disconnected/broken return spring. I suspect you will need to remove all of the screws, but one of them near the electrical contacts may be holding the contact assembly together and you probably don't want that coming apart (tiny springs/parts going everywhere). I would start by removing the screws that are *not* recessed deeply.
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Thanks Steven. I appreciate you taking the time to reply. Something, though, is telling me that I should only be removing 3 of the 6 screws. I just can't be sure 100% which ones, although your reply gives me a clue re those close to the electrical pin contacts. Thanks.
Stuart
 
sk66 said:
It looks like some of the screws are recessed a lot more... like maybe they are in a through hole and don't need removed.
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Thanks. you are correct. under a loupe, I can see that 3 of the 6 screws are definitely more recessed than the other 3. I know it's 100% down to me but just to confirm, you would suggest removing the 3 screws which are not so deeply recessed?
Despite all the help on this thread so far, i am still hoping that someone responds who 1) has actually taken one of these lenses apart and 2) has used one of the se lenses to confirm how good they really are.
Thanks again for your help. Stuart
 
BacktotheFuji said:
Is this the Praktica B bayonet mount version of the Flektogon?

What camera will you be using it with, out of interest?
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Yes, it's the PB mount.
At the moment I am using all of my adapted lenses on a Panasonic G80. I have thought about using some of them on my Canon 80D but the lack of MF aids (and IBIS for the longer lenses -not this one)puts me off a bit.
 
goinggreynow said:
Yes, it's the PB mount.
At the moment I am using all of my adapted lenses on a Panasonic G80. I have thought about using some of them on my Canon 80D but the lack of MF aids (and IBIS for the longer lenses -not this one)puts me off a bit.
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The Canon mount is a bit awkward for PB lenses, unless you just want it for close focus. Will be fine on the Lumix tho :)
 
BacktotheFuji said:
The Canon mount is a bit awkward for PB lenses, unless you just want it for close focus. Will be fine on the Lumix tho :)
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Thanks for this. Although I hadn't planned on using any PB mount lenses on my Canon, I assume that the adapters must have a glass element in them?
 
goinggreynow said:
Thanks for this. Although I hadn't planned on using any PB mount lenses on my Canon, I assume that the adapters must have a glass element in them?
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Typically they don't have glass. You may get lucky with an adapter that's thin enough. I only tried a couple.
 
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