The $60 lens spanner that scratched my Leica flange - waste or worth it?

I bought a cheap stainless spanner from Amazon to adjust a stuck focus ring on a vintage 50mm, and it slipped right off and gouged the brass flange. A repair shop quoted me $150 to fix the scratch and adjust the lens proper. Do you guys go for budget tools and risk it, or pay up for quality to avoid these headaches?

2 comments

2 Comments

jennysullivan20d ago

People always cheap out on the one tool that actually touches their gear. I see it all the time with customers buying the bottom shelf paintbrushes and then complaining the bristles fall out. You got a $60 spanner on a lens that's probably worth ten times that. That's like using a rusty screwdriver on a BMW's dashboard. Sometimes you gotta admit the cheap route costs more in the long run, especially when it comes to anything that can physically wreck your stuff.

patricia_green2120d ago

@jennysullivan I gotta push back on this a little. Not everyone needs a high end tool to do a decent job. I've been using a $15 no name spanner for years on lenses that cost ten times that and have never had a single issue. Cheap paintbrushes fall apart because they're literally made from glue and loose bristles. A cheap metal tool is still a piece of metal, it's not rocket science. You buy a basic wrench for your car, it turns bolts just fine. The real problem is people buying the absolute bottom of the barrel junk, not that they're skipping the premium brand.