Help with Soligor ( Elicar ) 90mm macro

[ovim]

I just got myself a Soligor C/D Macro 2.8/90mm in PKA mount. I believe it's basically the same lens as the Elicar 90mm.

The problem I have is that the aperture ring is a little loose. It moves a bit to every direction instead of moving only from side to side. I can also hear something rolling inside the lens whan I move it (like a loosened screw or something).

Anyone have any experience with this kind of problem? I was about to take a peek form the mount end but I think I'm going to get a new set of screwdrivers first.

[luisalegria]

Does the aperture open and close ?

Does the aperture ring click ?

I think the little ball on the aperture ring can get loose if the ring is not pressed firmly against it. That may be the thing rattling around. Be careful it doen't fall out, they are very easy to lose.

This is probably a second-order failure from the aperture ring becoming loose in the first place. I think there are probably loose screws in a ring, or, very likely, a snap ring has come out of its slot (a snap ring is a circular brass spring that goes in a circular slot, usually to hold assemblies in place on a tube).

[ovim]

Aperture still works and clicks. But the way the aperture ring is moving all over the place makes me worry that I might loose that little ball soon. I'm going to take a look inside the lens tonight. I'm just a little bit worried because of the lens has the A aperture setting (some electronics inside I think.)

[ovim]

Ok, I opened the lens from the mount and I think everything is ok. Basically I couldn't find anything wrong inside but I post my findings here in case someone needs the info later.

There is three small screws on the outside of the lens body right next to the aperture ring. These hold the mount end of the lens (including aperture ring) to the body. These screws were a little loose and tightening them tightened also the aperture ring. There still is some play (to every direction) in the aperture ring but I quess this is normal because I couldn't find anything else that could affect it.

The lens still makes a rattling sound when aperture is ajusted from the aperture ring. I found out that this is caused by the aperture linkage which consist of pretty long parts which have a little play in them (because the lens almost doubles its size when extended to 1:1 magnifiction ratio).

I can still hear the rolling sound when tilting the lens. It was very quiet last night and I cold really listen to it and it really sounds like small ball bearings rolling. I found out on the Kiron-Klub (Yahoo group) that this is normal at least on some Kiron made lenses (although I think this lens was made by Komine). There apparently really is small ball bearings somewhere inside.

edit: and after worrying in my previous post I remembered that I've opened a Tokina PK-A/R lens mount before. The "electronics" inside the lens are really only a few parts which you have to be careful of. So no problems there.