Your lens cleaning adventures - post them here

[Markoneswift]

I'm curious to see whether many of us have had success by purchasing lenses on the cheap which need mould / fungus / dust removal to get them back to optimal. I'll start with this one - Soligor 200mm F/3.5 telephoto, bought for $20 (NZ) and cleaned with just basic tools (lens wrench / alcohol wipes).

Very easy to disassemble - front group just unscrewed with the lens wrench, likewise the rear group. Once the groups were out, mould was evident inside the front element and inside / outside the rear group. I cleaned off what I could (pretty successfully) and reassembled. Being an old thread-mount prime lens with no AF etc to worry about, it seems to have survived the work pretty well - on my Sony A7iii it turned out to really sharp.

 

[Markoneswift]

I'll be cleaning a Nikon AF 80-200 F/2.8 shortly (full of mould) and a 28-70 F/2.8-4 (also full of mould). Bought them both for $80 total, pics to follow....

 

[Shominy]

 

[setup1]

The Canon 50mm f1.8 Leica thread mount (LTM) lens is notorious for fogging. It came free as a body cap for my Canon IVSBII. Since it was useless as-is, I took a stab at DIY defogging/cleaning.

Sample image after cleaning + more pics, if you want

 

[Markoneswift]

Well - the 80-200 arrived and I've had to write it off. Someone has clearly dropped it and due to the front filter thread area being deformed from the impact I cannot drive out the front element retaining ring now. The mould is right the way though so without getting that front element out its pretty much scrap :-(

 

[Shominy]

Just did my 80-200/2.8D AF Nikkor.
Two big honkin' white dust spots at 11 and 3:00. They ended up being on the back surface of the front element group.

 

[Markoneswift]

Just did my 80-200/2.8D AF Nikkor.
Two big honkin' white dust spots at 11 and 3:00. They ended up being on the back surface of the front element group.

View attachment 2056678

View attachment 2056679

Nice work - that's where my eforts can unstuck, trying to free that front group :-(

 

[GuyK]

Well - the 80-200 arrived and I've had to write it off. Someone has clearly dropped it and due to the front filter thread area being deformed from the impact I cannot drive out the front element retaining ring now. The mould is right the way though so without getting that front element out its pretty much scrap :-(

Can you source a lens vise? Only about $35 US on Amazon here in the States.

 

[Markoneswift]

Can you source a lens vise? Only about $35 US on Amazon here in the States.

I have a lens wrench already - the type with two parallel sliding tools which have chiseled ends and pointed ends. Even with this tool (which I've opened a fair few lenses with) couldn't shift it.

 

[GuyK]

Not the wrench, a lens vise. They can be used to straighten filter rings.
Not my image.

 

[Markoneswift]

Not the wrench, a lens vise. They can be used to straighten filter rings.
Not my image.
View attachment 2064817

Oh, I see - that's actually quite cool. I guess on a lens such as the one in the picture it would work well. I'm going to stick to cleaning / repairing prime lenses I think - SO much easier to work on than zooms !