SLR Magic 25mm Lens Repair

In the past I’ve documented my repairs of the SLR Magic HyperPrime 12mm lens for Micro Four Thirds. (Other mount variations should be similar.) Today I needed to fix a problem on the 25mm variation (SLR Magic HyperPrime Cine III 25mm T0.95). NOTE: I’m not a professional lens tech. Proceed at your own risk! If you have feedback, let me know.

Loose Front Section

Normally, the front of the lens should be firmly attached, with no wiggle and no way to unscrew it from the lens base. I was shocked to find that one of my lenses came unscrewed while I was removing a filter! Time to investigate:

Step 1

Use a rubber filter wrench tool to remove the trim ring from the front of the lens.

Step 2

Now the lens core is revealed, surrounded by 3 set-screws that lock the lens front to the lens base. Careful! My setscrews were rattling around loose. If yours are too, then remove them with tweezers before the next step.

Step 3

Carefully remove the lens core. (It slides out in one piece. There are no loose elements to get lost.) Now you have easy access to the holes where the setscrews go. If you needed to get deeper into the lens, you could unscrew the lens front at this point. (Maybe if you have aperture problems or dust on the rear element?)

Step 4

Make sure the lens front is screwed on firmly, then insert and tighten the setscrews with a hex wrench. (It’s probably smart to use a tiny drop of medium strength threadlocker on these, like blue Loctite 242.)

Step 5

Re-assemble the lens and check all lens rings and infinity focus.