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Author Message   Polymerase Tinkerer Username: Polymerase Post Number: 2 Registered: 01-2012 Rating: N/A Votes: 0 Posted on Thursday, January 19, 2012 - 11:51 pm:    Rick, thanks for the thought. Sadly, I'm suspecting more and more that it's not a mechanical issue and is more likely a mount problem or a problem with one of the lens elements possibly being somehow inverted? After taking the lens apart again, I found that the helical is locked in place by screws in a specific orientation, so the focus issue can't be due to a wrong turn. Regardless of where I attach the focus ring, and regardless of where the distance label is, the max and min focusing distance are still ~7 ft and 10 inches. Even if I screw the focus ring on in a way that lets me twist to the point of the ring being stopped by the VXM lever, the max focus is still ~7ft.. I stripped it down to essentially the chrome frame and didn't see anything out of the ordinary.. Maybe you can see something I'm missing. I added 10 new photos to my flickr set. They show all of the innards of this lens assembly. Obviously, this is driving me slightly crazy. All of your help is greatly appreciated. Please keep the ideas flowing!