mrosberg posted an update 4 years, 5 months ago
S 120mm Macro on the SL2. As a partial response to what I've been reading I decided to add the Leica APO-MACRO-SUMMARIT-S 120mm F2.5. I was excited about a fast lens that I could use for portraiture and macro photography. I purchased a near mint condition lens with a “replaced”motor” on eBay. Unfortunately I'm struggling with its use. It's surprisingly noisy autofocus was concerning, but more importantly it's almost impossible to lock and focus with this lens. When attempting to use this lens with autofocus, it simply hunts and doesn't allow me to make an exposure. In fact, I needed to use it manually until focus was close and then use the back button. Am I missing something?
Yes they are a bit noisy as there is quite a distance the elements are moving, but very noisy if you don’t truly have a replaced motor gearing. The claim of a replaced motor on an eBay listing would be suspect unless they provided proof. The fact that it focuses at all suggests that it is working for now.
Your approach to focus manually and then use the back button is close to what I would suggest. Set the camera on manual focus. Press the back button to focus. Release the back button when focus is achieved to avoid more “searching”.
If you still have problems, send to to Germany and they will tell you if you bought a properly repaired 120, and if not, they will repair it for a price. Next time buy from Leica Store Miami.
Jack