Help with a stuck apperture

bychance · Joined: 24 Apr 2013 Posts: 347 Location: Kent, England

I have a nice little Soligor preset 135mm f 3.5 No M170517, it's got both original end caps, hood and case and is absolutely mint.
But, the silver ear appereture ring is stuck at f22.

Any tips on how to fix this? or is it simply not worth the bother, be a shame if it is a right off, but I have never tried to fix a lens before and don't know what I'm doing.

Steve.

Lloydy · Expire: 2022-01-01

I've got it's slightly older twin brother, number M163924. Looking at the back of the lens with the T mount off there is a silver ring with two tiny holes, unscrew the ring. Mine wasn't tight so a push anti clockwise with a screwdriver in one hole should move it.
The stop down ring lifts off easily, there's no springs or anything to worry about.
You can now see a long slot in the chrome aperture ring, and there should be a small screw in the slot acting as a stop at each end ( one screw, the slot moves ) - possibly the screw has come out and jammed in the slot?
There is another slot in the lens body - sideways - with another small screw which is the stop down, check that the screw hasn't fallen out of that.

At the moment I can't see how to get the chrome ap' ring off the lens, but I suspect that whatever problem your lens has should be visible at this level of dismantling.

It's a good lens and worth a try, and there's nothing likely to get damaged by going in this far.

bychance · Joined: 24 Apr 2013 Posts: 347 Location: Kent, England

Thanks for that Dave I'll give that go later mate.

Steve.

Gonzoo · Joined: 29 Mar 2010 Posts: 231

Hi Steve. Can you post some pictures?

Some preset lenses allow to limit the aperture range. Propably your is just set to f22. Try turning the aperture ring while pushing or pulling along the optical axis. This way I can set the aperture limit on older Pentacon and Meyer lenses.

Lloydy · Expire: 2022-01-01

I didn't take any pictures as I took the stop down ring off the other day, but I just found this picture and added the notes.

bychance · Joined: 24 Apr 2013 Posts: 347 Location: Kent, England

Thanks Dave and Gonzoo, I took the mount off and couldn't see any way of removing the first (black) apperture ring so screwwed it back on, low on behold the bloody thing is working again??? Shocked

Typical!

Steve.

Lloydy · Expire: 2022-01-01

That's good news, but it might be worth removing the thin silver ring, lifting the stop down ring off, and giving it a clean under there as mine was full of dirt and rubbish. The stop down ring is a loose fit and the crap gets in very easily.

philslizzy · Joined: 07 Aug 2012 Posts: 4745 Location: Cheshire, England

Nice advice Dave, TTP!