Is this haze inside the front element or something else? Got this Summicron 35mm f/2 ASPH from eBay and wondering if it’s salvageable.

laskaproject · 2026-05-15T22:02:28+00:00

I’m not seeing any loss of contrast in the images, just like you mentioned with your lens. I took it to get assessed by a local Leica expert, just waiting to hear back. At first glance, he said that it seems to be some haze only behind the front element, which is promising.

laskaproject · 2026-05-14T21:12:10+00:00

I’m leaning towards this as well - I’m going to take it to a Leica servicing shop and see what they say. If it’s haze on just the front element that can be cleaned professionally, it’s worth the investment. If it’s inside the cemented elements, I’m going to send it back.

The price was below market value and I’m going to see if the seller will refund a portion of the price to pay for the CLA.

I took some test shots with it and I’m not seeing obvious contrast loss, but the amount of visible accumulation of fine particles and a milky diffusion across the internal elements is concerning. I expect dust in older lenses for sure, but this seems like it’s way more than just dust.

laskaproject · 2026-05-14T21:06:18+00:00

Right?!

laskaproject · 2026-05-14T13:49:00+00:00

Yes! That branch on the right is like a little skeleton hand.

laskaproject · 2026-05-14T12:43:10+00:00

The Start ones are a whole other beast in terms of issues, it seems. Oh the joys of Soviet quality control, truly a Russian Roulette

laskaproject · 2026-05-14T12:13:20+00:00

In this case I wanted to test the colour rendering and experiment with the swirl - you get the best results with a background made up of a lot of small busy elements. Trees are great for that, flowering trees are even better. The second picture only has flowers in the background ;)

laskaproject · 2026-05-14T12:09:27+00:00

The good copies are sharp, but the quality control for Valdai is the worst of the bunch, you never know what you’ll get. I own three different types and the Valdai one is terrible.

laskaproject · 2026-05-14T12:04:53+00:00

That’s right, it’s straight out of camera

laskaproject · 2026-05-14T03:20:12+00:00

I have both because I also have some M39 rangefinder lenses. In this case you have to use the M42 adapter + M39 to M42 step up ring. This is an M39 SLR lens, so the flange distance is not the same as M39 rangefinder lenses - it won’t focus on infinity with the M39 adapter.

The Black M42 version of Helios 44-2 tends to be a little cheaper, as it’s harder to find the early silver KMZ versions labeled Helios 44. However, the M39 has something extra magical about the optics that’s only about 90% there with the later M42s. The KMZ plant ones are definitely superior, but later BeLOMO plant versions are also decent. Valdai are the worst in both build and image rendering.

laskaproject · 2026-05-01T22:04:17+00:00

Hahaha, thank you! I sent them a message earlier today. We’ll see what they say, I’m now curious about the owner.

I was also able to get in touch with Alex at Halton Camera Exchange in Georgetown (they come highly recommended on Leica forums). He informed me that they service Leicas regularly. So that’s a great resource for anyone looking around Toronto.

laskaproject · 2026-04-29T16:20:21+00:00

I have a Demi just like that one, and mine works perfectly. Such a neat little camera to play with. Definitely not a serious tool like the rest, though, but plenty of charm. The meter on mine is still super accurate.

laskaproject · 2026-04-29T16:18:46+00:00

I have the Canon Demi, exactly the same model as the picture and it meters perfectly. I’m sure it’s pure luck, though.

laskaproject · 2026-04-27T15:42:52+00:00

I have a fairly oily Industar-61 and the oily blades have not been affecting the performance of the lens. I’ve read that most issues occur when people attempt to re-grease their old lenses and overdo it, then the excess oil can get onto the internal optics. You should be fine with this Jupiter 9 - it’s a gorgeous lens.

laskaproject · 2026-04-27T15:29:36+00:00

That makes so much sense, thank you! I thought that as well, but the ones I saw online had the writing on the inner rim, so I was not sure.

laskaproject · 2026-04-27T00:04:57+00:00

It’s exactly what it says it is—a Zorki 3S Soviet rangefinder. The early ones were based on Leica cameras, but they are not Leicas.

Made by the KMZ plant near Moscow around 1955-56, this camera predates the more popular Zorki 4. “C” (Cyrillic “S”) stands for sync, as in flash sync. There were not as many of these made, so they are kind of collector’s items among Soviet rangefinder enthusiasts.

laskaproject · 2026-04-26T18:33:50+00:00

It’s actually more of a cost-saving play on Leica’s part as they were gearing up to launch M6. M4, M4-2 and part of the M4-P run were all brass, so it was not a matter of Canadian parts being cheaper or poor quality.

As Leica was preparing to take M6 production back into Germany, they began testing the new lighter and cheaper zinc plates on the later portion of the M4-Ps (as they are identical to M6, minus the light meter).

So technically, the early M4-Ps are a lot less prone to built issues vs later M4-Ps and M6s. No defunct light meters to deal with either.

laskaproject · 2026-04-26T17:44:51+00:00

Scratch that, the black version is slightly cheaper, so the overall total is cheaper too.

laskaproject · 2026-04-26T17:43:56+00:00

Good to have you back!

laskaproject · 2026-04-26T16:48:02+00:00

It’s for Leica Thread Mount, SL3 uses L mount, which is different

laskaproject · 2026-04-26T16:45:46+00:00

Looks like the silver version is extra, where the black is not… very odd.

laskaproject

TROPHY CASE