Dust in J8M + Kiev4 info

[q97]

I've just read a post or two relating to disassembling lenses, and am wondering if that will help with my problem of a J8M which is full of dust and fibres. You can see them fairly clearly in the photo below.

Do you think it is worth trying (or possible) to clean the internals or should I just find a better lens?

If anyone has any links to CLA manuals, etc for Kiev 4's please let me know (I'm unsure whether any of the other camera manuals here are applicable in anyway).

 

[Nickfed]

I'm not familiar with the Kiev but I would be more inclined to suspect the shutter. Try exposing a frame with the lens cap on.
I believe dust will just degrade the picture all over and cleaning it out is a good idea. You may find that yoiu don't have to mine too far as it is most likely that the dust will be confined to the elements around the iris.

 

[oftheherd]

That dust is rather sharply defined for what is usually seen in photos. But I assume you have looked at the lens with a small flashlight and can see it, and it is always in the same place on your photos. I think the Kiev Survival Sight may have tutorials on lens assembly. Our own lens guru, Brian Sweeny has posted some threads on lens repair, and I think a couple of other people. I don't know how different the lenses between Kiev and LTM are, but surely only in the base for the different mounts?

Be patient and others who are familiar with post some urls for you to check. My expectation is that if you do have a bad dust/hair problem, and the proper tools, it should be too difficult. Good luck.

 

[q97]

But I assume you have looked at the lens with a small flashlight and can see it, and it is always in the same place on your photos.

Yep, looked at it with torch at one end - really quite bad. Some dust might be from my scanner or on the film (I didn't wipe it down), but the hair you see at the top is actually in the lens itself.

Any sites/ebay stores anyone would like to recommend or that I should avoid? I've been told Fedka are OK, and I've stumbled upon an ebay seller confdntart which seems to have a fair variety of stuff.

 

[brachal]

You want the Kiev Survival Site:
http://www3.telus.net/public/rpnchbck/index.html

fedka.com is probably the best you can get for buying FSU gear.

 

[Proteus617]

I could be very wrong about this, but...this doesn't look like a lens issue. A cruddy lens can result in reduced performance and reduced contrast, but I'm seeing artifacts that are fairly sharply defined. Think about DOF and your focus distance. Crud on the lens (like the little squiggly hair at the top of the photo) would be so close to the film plane that it would no longer be identifiable. Are the artifacts in exactly the same place in every frame? They would be if it's the lensI would look at my negatives and developing/scanning procedures first. One reason why I should develop my own stuff; my lab sends me scans that look exactly like this, every camera, every lens. Gimp works wonders.

 

[q97]

You want the Kiev Survival Site:
http://www3.telus.net/public/rpnchbck/index.html

fedka.com is probably the best you can get for buying FSU gear.

Thanks for that link!

 

[q97]

I could be very wrong about this, but...this doesn't look like a lens issue.

I'll look into cleaning my scanner up and rescanning them, though there does seem to be lots of spots and loose dust inside the lens itself...

 

[valdas]

I agree that it does not look at all like a lens issue. Dust particles usually do not affect image quality at all unless you have a thick layer of it (this will reduce contrast, but still will not be visible as dust on the print or scan)...
I could not find a link to an internet page where somebody posted the picture of the lens with a quite large insect inside the lens and the picture quality was still amazing (I think it was contax distagon).

 

[Proteus617]

I'll look into cleaning my scanner up and rescanning them, though there does seem to be lots of spots and loose dust inside the lens itself...

I usually assume that "black junk" happens in camera, during exposure. Most black junk is on your neg forever. White junk has been introduced during developing/scanning and can be removed by blowing/brushing/photo-floing. Also, if you only print digitally, it can all be Gimped out.

 

[xxloverxx]

I get these marks on some of my film scans (and I've scanned film that came out from multiple cameras (I've also had my lab do it)) and that looks like dust that got on the film itself during handling and scanning.

 

[q97]

Looking back over the negs I'd say you're right - it looks like dust on the neg. I'll wipe them over at some point and re-scan them...stay tuned.

 

[Proteus617]

With Brett's permission I took 5 minutes with Gimp to clone/heal the photo. I can still see a bit of the squiggly at the top but a few more minutes would set that right. If you're only printing digitally or sharing on the web that's usually all you need. Less to worry about and more time to play with cameras:

 

[q97]

That's really good, thanks. I'll settle this question once and for all by: cleaning the negs and scanner; fitting my J12 and repeating the exercise (looks much cleaner internally).