about the Elmar's coating

Y

Yvon

Established
Local time
6:37 AM
Joined
May 12, 2009
Messages
54
Location
Singapore
View My Gallery
Today I dropped by a camera shop on my way to get my shoe polished. I asked the shop keeper if he could clean my lens because there was dust on it. I saw him cleaned another lens with some sort of liquid(I had no idea what it was), but with mine, just gentle swab with paper(I guess it was specific for lens cleaning?). He told me that my lens has a single coating, so it's better not to clean it too much, or may cause damage to the coating.
My lens is Elmar 5cm f3,5.
Could anyone tell me more about this coating thing? Thanks.🙂
 
Not sure if it matters so much about single coat/multicoat, but earlier Leica coatings are soft and easily damaged, so try not to clean it too much!
 
When there is only dust on the lens, you better blow it away with a blower or whipe it off with a soft brush. Put a hood on your lens and on top of that a lens cap. Don't forget to take the cap off when taking a picture.

Erik.
 
I agree about the early Leitz coatings. Very poorly done and susceptible to coming off quite easily. It has no effect on the sharpness of the image.

However, the glass on uncoated lenses can be scratched by aggressive cleaning much more than a coated lens.
 
I don't know how old your Elmar is but be particularly careful with non factory coatings. Some of these (which often look quite blue) are very delicate and damage easily.

Also, sometimes on old, old uncoated lenses, you can see a bluish haze that looks like a coating but isn't. I have read an explanation of this but can't it anywhere. Not a problem...but not a coating either.

Ruby Monkety is right. Best left alone. If you want to see what agressive cleaning can do, buy an old Summar off Ebay!

Michael
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom