Hi Fra,
I have spent the day trying to work with the problem. The built-in filters blocked the access to 2 screws so the whole lens had to be dissassembled into order to get to the helical threads. There are 2 separate threads, and I relubed both with Nye 723MS (since I have no damping grease). The focus ring is slightly easier to rotate now, but only slightly. I have been thinking, maybe this characteristic could not be cured because the original damping grease was still tacking and smooth as far as I could tell. Guess I have to use the lens for a few weeks and see. If the problem gets worse, I'll have to look for some high quality damping grease (hopefully won't happen). I wonder if Zeiss, Nikkor & Leica 15/3.5 had similar characteristic.
Alan Chan http://www.pbase.com/wlachan
Hi Alan,
nice to see how your experience helped you :) was it cheap for the "defects" I hope?
I have seen similar behaviour in all such helical-focusing front-heavy lenses, even if they were relubed with quite heavy damping MoS grease. It's the weight. Perhaps the helical thread could be made so fine that the weight would be better supported by much more threads, but then I guess it would wear out easier.
Get used to it :) I hold such lenses by the front anyway.
fra
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