cleaning oil on aperture blades CZJ

[FrankS]

Haven't gotten any help yet on cleaning haze in a Summar lens, apart from Joe's gerous offer of his expertise, so how about cleaning some oil on the aperture blades of a CZJ 50mm f2 lens? Can it be done easily, or is this a tough one?

 

[back alley]

maybe bump that other post up frank. i probably just got lost.

despite my last dreadful attempt at cleaning...i did a few of the canon lenses and they were pretty easy/simple.
even the summicron came apart easy. i would have been better off sending it off right away, when i found out that the haze was not accessible w/o better tools/knowledge etc.

wait for someone with some pics or well described explanation and then give it a try.

just leave the canned air in another room😉

joe

 

[FrankS]

Canned air? Who'd be foolish enough to blast those aperture blades with canned air? 🙂

 

[FrankS]

Just kidding! Thanks Joe!

 

[Ken Ford]

I've always wondered about this - who cares if a RF lens has slightly oily blades? It's not like it has a stop-down diaphragm or anything.

Of course, oil could migrate to the inner elements, so... is that the reason you'd clean them?

 

[Lemures-Ex]

Ken: Oil can also reflect light and do bad things to your images. Or so I hear...

 

[Ken Ford]

Ooooh. Didn't think of that!

 

[Stu W]

The oil can actually freeze up the aperture blades solid, probably due to surface tension.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

The rear module should come off easily enough.

This is for the Contax? Oil will not seep from the (nonexistent) helical. Is it heavy? On one J-3, i've seen it seep from the helical into the mechanism. But the Nikon's and Zeiss-Opton's are pretty well behaved.

The "cheeze-wiz" way I did it was to just sop it up from the back with the rear module removed. Open and close the aperture a couple of times. Hit it with a little Ronsonol to help it along. Sopped it up with lintless lens cleaning tissue. Not the best way by anymeans, just quick and dirty. Got "most of it" out.

 

[doubs43]

The oil can actually freeze up the aperture blades solid, probably due to surface tension.

Yes it can! I bought a 180mm f/2.8 CZJ Sonnar in Pentacon-Six mount that had been sitting for a long while from all indications. The aperture blades were frozen wide open and wouldn't move in automatic or manual mode. I wasn't sure it even had blades until I disassembled the lens! Now it works beautifully.

BTW, I've gotten pretty good at putting aperture blades back in. A little patience, a steady hand and a good vocabulary are all that's needed! 😀

Walker