Purchased "MINT" Voigtlander 40mm f/1.4 MC and found hidden troubles

[yukosteel]

CV 40mm f1.4 is one of my favorite adapted lens on Fuji-X bodies. It's small, fun to use and make interesting shots.

Yesterday I've received "MINT" sample from eBay US seller claiming the lens is used only once.
The lens has tons of hidden issues, and I'd like to expose them so you'll not buy (or just return) similar lens.

Please feel free to ask questions or add suggestions. My case with that seller is not over yet, he still insists the lens is perfect and I'm wrong : )

Ok, so discovered issues list:

1. Checking the focus ring. It should rotate smooth on all Voigtlanders. I was surprised there are no grease and ring rotates sometimes stiff sometimes very loose.

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2. It looked suspicious, so I inspected rear side. There are shiny black painted areas on disassembly threads.
Make sure you inspect it on your Voigtlander/Zeiss/Leica, etc. lens



3. Typical inspection with strong flash light under different angles unveils more details.
You can see a lot of dust.

 

4. And now we came to the most scary part : ) I found someone's fingerprint under the glass.

After noticing that I also checked the box - styrofoam inserts was from another lens. No manual. Plastic bag is "100y old". Also white paint on lens became yellowish  - one more indicator of the lens age.

Optically lens works excellent, but all that issues make overall experience very bad.
Hope this short review helps someone purchasing better options.

[lleo]

Yuko, the dust inside can be possible. The fingerprint not, unless somebody opened it up. Anyways also a fingerprint might not appear on the shot.

The only issue is that the seller lied to you.

[yukosteel]

Yes, the dust is fine, I see it in very new lens out of factory. The bad sign here is traces of moving cleaning clothe/swab, just hard to reflect it on the photo.

 

Looks like that seller didn't know the lens is kind of refurbished and currently offering partial refund solution. I took a lot of time to explain and demonstrate signs to the seller, but finally seller got the point.

 

If partial refund is made, I'll buy the good grease, lubricate and clean the lens properly then give it good use.

[lleo]

That would be fine. Unfortunately there are sellers who have bought items that are not in the conditions that have been described to them, who are completely unaware that the lens has been opened, or cleaned, or used, anyways they not necessarily have to be lying.

If you get partial refund it's good, opening that lens is not a major work. Just use the right tools and get a good grease.

[yukosteel]

I've cleaned and lubricated lens, now it still has little play in the front area so should check deeper helicoid zone as well.

The seller says he's the first owner, so probably something happened at dealership side.

Anyway, seller got the point and I've received fair partial refund, so the lens will have good use.

 

That fingerprint was on the 6th element, so rear lens group got previously disassembled as well.

 

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Edited August 28, 2017 by yukosteel

[lleo]

Definitely. And it also wasn't a check or whatever was very professionally done. The first thing before reassembling a lens, it's to check if there are fingerprints, dust, and so on.

[yukosteel]

Finally found time to re-lubricate inner area of helicoid, it was wobbling a bit making it feel falling apart on camera : )

 

Found great guide for CV 40mm 1.4 :
http://helino-photo.blogspot.com/2016/08/how-to-fix-squeeky-voigtlander-nokton.html

 

Here's my sample deeply disassembled:

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[lleo]

Good. One thing: don't trust to several threads you'll find on the net about what grease to use. When I started working on lenses I knew a guy (a wish-I-was-a-fixer) who said he used the grease #10 or 30 for helicoids, which is absolutely wrong. Too thick, the focus will almost get stuck. Use the #500 that works well in quite all situations.