Stiff focusing ring on a Biotar 58/2...? No problem!!!

[tomasg]

hi All

this is how i opened, cleaned and greased, oiled, my biotar 58/2...and put it back togheter

first step:

Before trying this the first thing to do is to check if you can unscrew the ring at the rear element, just loosen it and tighten it back, it will go off later, if you can`t unscrew it then i suggest that you DO NOT go on. I did maneged to put back the lens even without unscrewing it, but it took me four hours! It`s the outer, bigger ring, not the inner that holds a lens element!



Now if you can do that, we can go on, open up the aperture to f2 and align everything



unscrew the screw wich acts as a stopper, limiter



now you turn the FOCUSING ring twards close focus ClockWise, it can be very stiff, keep turning, at one point the upper, front, part of the lens will start to turn, keep turning, it will come out at one point, do everything very gently, never force at this point...



now you can turn the focusing ring all the way out, depending on the condition of the lens, this can be very, i mean very hard!, the focusing ring has a very fine thread, so when you turn it, it looks like it`s threadless...



now you can clean, grease, lubricate, the threads of the focusing ring, use your preferred method, but NEVER use generic sprays like WD40 for example, use one that it`s not acid!
now let`s go back to the front part of the lens, remember the ring we tested? it`s time to unscrew it, under it i found a spacer ring



once you removed them pull up gently the inner ring, it should come off easely, clean, grease, lubricate and so on everything you want...after that it`s time to put the lens together !!!

first, screw back the focusing ring, start to screw it in at infinity position



go all the way in, this is important, becouse otherwise you probably won`t be able to achieve infinity, depending on how you greased it, it may still require some force, my lens reaches the end at a position marked at around 0,65 m



unscrew the focusing ring back to reach infinity then add one more full turn, 360 degrees, if you don`t add this turn you want be able to turn the focusing ring enough in the opposite direction, when needed, simplly put, screw it to the closest infinity position at the end of the thread, then unscrew it one turn, it`s much more easy to do than to explain it



now comes the tricky part: take a look at this picture, no really take a long look, taken before the focusing ring is in position



the notch, jag, incision, however it`s called, on the inner ring of the lens, has to go into the tooth (translation pending), that is screwed on the inner part of the rear ring of the lens, on this picture the focusing ring is in it`s place



to do this put the inner ring into the focusing ring, align the notch to the tooth (TP), turn it ClockWise just a few milimeters, to find the beginning of the tread, once you achieved that, turn it CounterClockWise, you will have to hold the fousing ring in place all the time, move the notch exactly above the tooth, the goal now is to turn the focusing ring CounterClockWise (twards infinity), so that the notch slides onto the tooth, i do it by moving alternatevly the inner ring and the focusing ring, by just a milimeter or so, at one point when the notch reaches the tooth you won`t be abe to turn the inner ring, if you nailed the position you`ll be able to turn the focusing ring to reach infinity, a series of pics:


this is the starting position






by "playing" and with a lot of patience you should be able to do it, i opened and put togheter the lens now five times, it takes me a few moments to do this and 10 minutes to do all the work, i`am by no means an expert, it`s the first lens i opened, the end result:



the rest is much easyer, put back the spacer ring, as a side note for nikon users, i tryed to put the lens togheter without it, but you still can`t reach infinity without a glass adapter



now align the two red triangular marks, be careful, the spacer ring is easy to move



the rear part should just drop onto the front part, now screw on the retaining ring at the back of the lens



oh and dont`t forget to put the limiter screw back in!!!



that`s it!!!

Disclaimer:
1. try this at your own risk
2. your biotar 58/2 can be different
3. befor doing it, wait to see if this post will have some interest, so we can discuss the process and maybe i˙ll have to answer some questions
4. to the administrators: feel free to move or remove the topic, if you think is too "dangerous"
5. please feel free to correct all the grammatical errors, and find a translation for the "tooth"

tomas
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www.pbase.com/tomasg_71

[Helios]

Congratulations ! Very helpful, precise tutorial ... ! I have a Biotar on the way to CLA, but I only "contemplate" it ... and unscrewed nothing for one year ... Many thanks !

[djmike]

Tomas,
Thanks for sharing.
Mike
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DSLR: Canon 400D
SLR: Nikon FM2 + Canon A-1 + Praktica MTL-5B + Pentax Spotmatic F + Fujica ST801 + Voigtlander Bassematic + Voigtlander Vito + Rollei 35S + Rolleiflex SL35 ME + Canon QL17 GIII + Olympus Pen EE-3
Lenses
M42: CZJ Flektogon 35/2.4 + CZJ Flektogon Zebra 35/2.8 + CZJ Pancolar 50/1.8 + CZJ Sonnar 135/3.5 + CZJ Tessar 50/2.8 Chrome + Pentacon 135/2.8 + Pentacon 50/1.8 + SMC Takumar 50/1.4 + SMC Takumar 55/2 + SMC Takumar 135/3.5 + Fujinon 55/1.8 + Jupiter-9 85/2 + Jupiter-37A 135/3.5 + Helios 44-6 58/2
Nikor: Nikkor 50/1.4 + Nikkor 28/3.5 + Nikkor 35-105 Zoom + 36-72 Series E Zoom
Canon: Canon FD 50/1.8 + Canon 35-105 Macro Zoom
Other: Rollei Planar HFT 50/1.8

[LucisPictor]

Thanks a lot for sharing!
Putting back together this lens can be very frustrating.
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Cams in use: EOS 5D, EOS 40D, EF/M, EOS 300, Spotmatic SPII, EXA 1c, Rollei 35XF, Minox 35 GL, Yashica Electro 35 GS, FED-3b, Kodak Retina Ia and some others...
Lenses in use: Asahi Pentax: 3.5/35;1.4/50;1.7/50;2.8/105;3.5/135 | Former GDR: CZJ Flek 4/20; CZJ 2/50,2.8/50; Meyer 1.9/58; CZJ 4/135 | Leica: Summicron 2.0/50; Elmar 4/180 | Mamiya: 1.8/55 | Nikkor: 2.8/24;1.4/50;1.2/55;1.8/85; | West German: Ludwig 2.9/50; Steinheil 2.8/35, 2.8/85; Will 4.5/105; Zeiss 4.5/105; Schneider 4/28, 3.5/135; Zeiss 4/135; Schacht 4.5/135; Enna 4.5/240 | Olympus: 1.4/50; | Rikenon: 35-70 | Rollei: 1.8/50, 80-200 | Russian: Peleng 3.5/8; Zenitar 2.8/16; MIR 2/35; Volna 2.8/50; Industar 3.5/50; Industar 3.5/5cm; Helios 2/58; Jupiter 2/85; Jupiter 3.5/135; RF: Jupiter 2.8/35; Jupiter 2/50 | Soligor: 28-105;35-200;60-300;70-220 | Tamron: 2.5/28;2.5/135; 8/500 | Tokina: 28-85; 28-105 | Vivitar: 3.5/17;2/28;2.5/28 | Yashica: 2/5cm |
Green is the gear I use the most. More? http://forum.mflenses.com/viewtopic.php?t=65
AF-lenses: Canon: 1.8/50 | Sigma: 1.8/24; 15-30; 28-105; 18-125 OS | Tokina: 12-24; 24-200; 28-70 | Tamron 80-210 | http://lucispictor.weebly.com/

[lwsy711]

Thanks for sharing! Good habit to take photo for each step! Seems like there will always be some extra and useless parts when we resemble something, at least I am
_________________
Camera: pentax k7, Olympus E-p1
MF lens:
M42: CZJ 135/3.5, 50/1.8, 35/2.4, 20/4, Super Takumar 35/3.5, Yashinon macro 60/2.8, CZ tessar 80/2.8(Exakta to M42), Vivitar 200/3.5
Pk: Cosinon 55/1,2
Exakta: CZJ biotar 75/1.5, Meyer 100/2.8, Meritar 50/2.9
Praktina: CZJ biotar 75/1.5, Primagon 35/4.5
Praktica: CZJ pancolar 80/1.8

[martinsmith99]

I managed to get mine apart & back together, but it did cause some problems at first. I did it differently to this though. I just removed the screw and it came apart. I have a technique of putting it together which requires 3 hands but it works.
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Gear: Canon 5Dmkii & 40D DSLRs and a stack of M42 mount cameras and lenses (mainly Russian)
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[tomasg]

[martinsmith99]

If you find a way or know of a way to adjust the infinity focus I'd be interested. Mine doesn't seem to hit infinity on my Chinon. Most lenses are ok, but this one and another cause issues only on that camera.
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MF Lenses User Self Pics (add yours)
Gear: Canon 5Dmkii & 40D DSLRs and a stack of M42 mount cameras and lenses (mainly Russian)
ms-imaging
my blog
My Flickr

[peterqd]

Great work Tomas. Is that Torx screw original??

I'd like to move this thread into the Equipment Care section, do you have any objections?
_________________
Lenses: M42 - CZJ 2.8/20, 2.4/35, 1.8/50, 2.8/50, 3.5/135 - Meyer/Pentacon 1.8/50, 2.8/50, 2.8/135, 4/200
Russian - J8, J9, J21, J37A, M1v, M24m, I50, I50-2, H44-2, H44M, H44M-4, Vega12b
S-M-C Tak 3.5/28, 2.0/35, 1.4/50, 1.8/55, 3.5/135, Super-Tak 3.5/35, 1.4/50, 1.8/55, 2.0/55, 1.9/85, Vivitar WA 2.8/28, Chinon Auto 1.7/55
K-mount : Pentax-M 2.8/28, 1.7/50
Minolta MD : MC W-Rokkor-SG 3.5/28, MC W-Rokkor-HG 2.8/35, MD Rokkor 1.7/50, MD Minolta 2/50, MC Tele Rokkor-QD 3.5/135, Viv W/A 2.8/28
Tamron zooms: SP28-80, SP35-80, SP60-300, 80-210
DSLR: Canon 400D 35mm SLR: Pentax Spotmatic SP, SPII(x2), SPF, ESII, K2, ME Super, P30n - Chinon CE3 - Minolta XG-M, XD7 - Praktica PLC2 - Zenit 3M
Rangefinder: Zorki-4, Beauty Light-o-matic III Medium Format: Yashica-Mat 124G

[Attila]

Many thanks to sharing!
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Panasonic G-1
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[tomasg]

[hinnerker]

THX for sharing..

Cheers
Henry
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some light-painting lens stuff..
... and an EOS 5D MKII

[indianadinos]

Hi,

I was just looking for this ... Hopefully i can fix my Biotars now ...

Many thanks for sharing!

Cheers
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Please visit my blog Shooting with a Pentax K10D

Takumar Lenses: 24/3.5, 28/3.5, 35/2, 35/3.5, 50/1.4, 55/1.8, 85/1.8, 105/2.8, 135/3.5, 200/4
Pentax-K Lenses: M28/2.8, K28/3.5, M50/1.4, A50/1.7, M55/4 Macro, K85/1.8, K105/2.8, K135/2.5, M200/4, M70-150/4
Zeiss Lenses: Flektogon 20/2.8, 20/4, 35/2.4, 35/2.8, Tessar 50/2.8, Pancolar 50/1.8, Biotar 58/2, Sonnar 135/3.5, Sonnar 180/2.8
Meyer Lenses: Primagon 35/4.5, Domiplan 50/2.8, Primoplan 58/1.9, Trioplan 100/2.8, Orestor 100/2.8, Orestor 135/2.8
Schacht/Steinheil Lenses: Travenar 90/2.8, Quinar 135/2.8, Quinar 135/3.5
Russian Lenses: MIR 37B, Jupiter 37A
P6 Lenses: Flektogon 50/4, Biometar 80/2.8, Orestor 300/4
Nikkor Lenses: Nikkor-O 35/2, Micro 55/3.5, Nikkor-Q 135/2.8
Fuji Lenses: EBC 28/3.5, EBC 55/3.5 Macro, EBC 135/2.5
Misc Lenses: Kiron 105/2.8 Macro, Tamron SP90/2.5
... and a few other Vivitar, Tamron, Sigma and Soligor lenses ...

[tomasg]