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Where to get Leica lenses coded?

Gary Clennan

New member
Hi all. Where do you recommend I go to have a few of my Leica lenses coded? Canada preferred but US would also be OK. Many thanks.
 

jagsiva

Active member
Kinderman camera in Toronto. They will have to send into NJ, but becuase they are a service centre, you'll not have to worry about duties etc.

They did 3 lenses for me acouple of years ago. Appox $200-250 per lens.
 

Hosermage

Active member
I just had my 90mm elmarit-m coded by sending the mounting flange to jlm (John Milich). PM'd you the details.
 

BeeWee

New member
I got mine done through The Camera Store. They sent in my 35 lux asph to Leica New Jersey for me and when the lens was done, they received the lens for me and called me for pickup. I can't tell you how much the coding was since it was done in combination with some cleaning and maintenance but all said, it wasn't unreasonably expensive.

What's best was that I didn't have to deal with paper work for customs, or pay for any shipping myself. You'll have to be patient if you go with Leica since they usually have a pretty huge backlog. It's been a while but I believe Leica had my lens for about 2 months.
 

glenerrolrd

Workshop Member
The advantage of using DAG is that you can request a recalibration of the lens . He ships your flange to jlm for coding but then he thoroughly tests the lens after he puts the new flange on.

Leica will inspect the lens up front and if the lens needs any work you get an estimate for a CLA ..otherwise they assume the lens is calibrated correctly . If you are just paying for 6 bit coding you are not getting a free recalibration .

The summiluxes are much more difficult to do as many have been shimmed . For these my lenses had to go to Solms . A 50 summicron is easily done by DAG .

You have the added complexity of customs..I would use Kinderman....as they seem to have a great reputation .
 

StephenPatterson

New member
I had my 90 Elmarit-M coded by Leica NJ about a year ago, and when I received the lens it included a calibration certificate, no extra charge.
 

algrove

Well-known member
+1 to Stephen's post. I have had about 12 lenses done by Leica NJ with calibration included in the 6 bit price and sent back to me with a Leica certificate saying same.
 

250swb

Member
Leica will inspect the lens up front and if the lens needs any work you get an estimate for a CLA ..otherwise they assume the lens is calibrated correctly . If you are just paying for 6 bit coding you are not getting a free recalibration .
I think Leica do calibrate the lens if necessary when modifying it with six bit coding. This is because they change the mount for a new one, the old mount goes in the bin.

The other options for coding are the Chinese codeable bayonet flanges available via Ebay for not much money. A lot of people have success with these, only requiring a screwdriver of the correct size to complete the job. Some find they do affect the accuracy of the focusing, but for the pennies they cost it is possible to experiment and find out. I found them accurate. Make sure they fit your lens, the screw hole placements are not the same on all lenses.

The next option is to do-it-yourself with a Dremel. Find the code you need and test it using black paint on the bayonet flange. If it works engrave the black code marks with a sharp burr. You can make a coder to determine the position and find the lens codes here

BoPhoto.com: M8 coder - simple manual handcoding of M lenses

The final option that people try with an M9, and fail at, is simple hand coding. The M9 needs a much more opaque black mark than the M8 does, and this amounts to using paint not a Sharpie, but paint will soon come off in use. So its not practical to hand code lenses for the M9.


Steve
 

glenerrolrd

Workshop Member
Its great to hear that Leica is now certifying that they calibrate the lenses after 6 bit coding . On most summicrons and elmarits they do a mount exchange (and recycle your mount for machining) . The summiluxes have been individually fit to the lens and should not be exchanged (for a while they were shipping these to Solms ).

A few years back Leica was not calibrating the lenses during 6 bit coding . I went thru the process in detail with the technicians that were doing the work . (I sent in a dozen lenses for 6 bit coding to NJ ) ..4-5 came back with significant focus errors . But if they are including a certificate that says the lens was calibrated ..that is an important improvement and good to hear .
 

jlm

Workshop Member
i have machined quite a few flanges, most have been sent to me off the lens, but for the many I have seen on the lens, there has been no shimming between flange and lens. if you replace the same flange on the same lens, it should not require re-calibration as far as i can tell
 

robertwright

New member
If I had only known about the chinese ebay knockoffs....! :facesmack:

I have two lenses in NJ now for coding, 5- 6 weeks and 230$ each....
 
Wow! I love my Leica and wouldn't trade it for anything. But their pricing for things is crazy!

I recommend DAG as well--great service and reasonable price.
 
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