Canon LTM Spoiled Canon 50mm 1.2

Canon M39 M39 screw mount bodies/lenses
Arvay

Arvay

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Jan 20, 2008
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A month ago I bought on ebay a Canon lens that turned out spoiled. It was written in description of item but I wanted the lens so much that was absolutely unfocused:D

Anyway, when it arrived few days ago I put it on my Epson and started to shoot.
The results were strange for me. It turned out that I bought a soft-focus for RF

I do not know whether to arrange repairings for the lens or to leave it like it is.

Here are some photos taken tonight.

2348192810_44e08db167_o.jpg


2348192542_92dd1cabc7_o.jpg


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What's your opinion?:)
 
The large amount of flare seen in the pictures is not typical performance from this lens. The Canon 50/1.2 is often affected by haze built up on the interior element right behind the lens iris. If your lens has this haze, it could contribute to the flare. Some flare is to be expected, of course, from the less-advanced lens coatngs available at the time, but not nearly this bad.

Also, I would not describe the problem as soft-focus, because the images seem to be reasonably detailed and sharpness is acceptable. Check out the detail on the peak of the building in the background of the first photo, or the well-delineated lines on the windows off to the right of the second photo.

I suspect that cleaning the lens would improve performance dramatically. Removing the lens elements from the back and cleaning the haze on the lens behind the iris is pretty easy- even a fumble-fingered guy like me has done it successfully!
 
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For me, it's the element directly behind the aperture that fogs. Same advice though, take off the back group and clean. No more than a 20 minute job if you have the basic tools.

Jim B.
 
And...take some pictures of something other than bright lights. Very few lenses can handle those lights way out of focus. Take some normal pictures. In a pub. Pretty girls. Use the lens the way it was meant to be used. My 50/1.4 Nikkor would have a fit with those lights too so I avoid things like that.
 
Mackinaw said:
For me, it's the element directly behind the aperture that fogs. Same advice though, take off the back group and clean. No more than a 20 minute job if you have the basic tools.

Jim B.
Click to expand...

Yes, it's right. But seems it is scrached very seriously
 
scratching would be unusual unless somebody really botched a cleaning job. Ar eyou positive that it is scratching, and not fungus?
 
send the lens out to a camera tech and have it cleaned.
I am sure you will find very good people in Moscow that do work on lenses.
 
dexdog said:
scratching would be unusual unless somebody really botched a cleaning job. Ar eyou positive that it is scratching, and not fungus?
Click to expand...

I am afraid it is. And I have no idea how to unscrew the lens to check. But looks like scratches..
 
raid said:
My lens does not have any fogging and it does not flare. Maybe I got lucky.
Click to expand...

Raid, I have a Canon 50/1.2 that was pristine when I bought it (no haze or fogging), and remains so to this day. I had another one that I had to clean once a year to remove haze. No visible difference in the two lenses that I could see. I ended up selling the haze-prone one,and kept the other one.

oh-oh, I said the "p-word". I hope that it does not send some RFFers into a downward spiral of panic and despair.
 
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dexdog said:
Raid, I have a Canon 50/1.2 that was pristine when I bought it (no haze or fogging), and remains so to this day. I had another one that I had to clean once a year to remove haze. No visible difference in the two lenses that I could see. I ended up selling the haze-prone one,and kept the other one.

oh-oh, I said the "p-word". I hope that it does not send some RFFers into a downward spiral of panic and despair.
Click to expand...

Mark,
I may also have hit gold with my example of the 50/1.2. Since DAG adjusted the elements, it is very sharp. I can shoot in scenes that may cause flare in somelenses, and I see no flare. In a recent thread with the lens, Gabriel MA commented on the lack of flare with my lens.
 
back alley said:
i remember mine being in the front.

but i agree that unscrewing the rear and cleaning would help.

many scratches, like something done with sandpaper, would affect the performance of the lens but a few distinct scratches would be much less prone to produce that effect.

http://homepage.mac.com/jlw/photo/canon_disassembly_pix/index.html
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link, but I have no such pincers.

The element was scratched while cleaning, the seller told me.
So I either going to buy another one or send it somewhere for polishing or changing. This will probably make the lens "platinum".

Does anybody know where such work can be done?

Anyway you should learn for money. It's a good lesson. The negative experience is experience as well:eek:
 
arvay, i used a metal ruler to open the back of my lens, it fit across the lens and set into the 2 small openings.

arax, is someone near you that might be able to polish your lens element, but i don't have his info.
maybe a search here would turn that up.

joe
 
Very lucky - well done. I have one of these with a similar problem. If the fungus is bad enough it secretes an acid which etches into the glass, leaving a haze that cannot be easily polished off. I sent mine to Essex (in USA), and it came back with scratches but the etching stubbornly in place. I've recently discovered Longman Optical in Tasmania, and sent them the element to see if they can tackle it. I'll let you know the outcome. The other person known to do this work is Focal Point / John Van Stelton.
 
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