Haze removal went terribly---right!

[Sarcophilus Harrisii]

Hey Brett,

Yes I have also cleaned countless focusing screens and fresnel lenses using the same procedure. Ken said "Don't be at all afraid, just do it." And of course being the Guru Photographic Equipment Conservationist Expert that he is, he was and is 100% correct. Only issue I've ever had, was when I dropped a 135mm Schneider Symmar Convertible lens (squirted out of my hand! as I was removing the front cell), and it fractured into hundreds of shards on the concrete garage floor. Won't do that again 😱 Luckily I didn't pay much for it.

002 by Nokton48, on Flickr

Cheap or not, your heart would skip a beat at the sound of that glass shattering I reckon. Ouch.
Cheers
Brett

 

[Nokton48]

Cheap or not, your heart would skip a beat at the sound of that glass shattering I reckon. Ouch.
Cheers
Brett

Yes it did. And it took a while to find a replacement.
Needless to say, I am careful not to have a repeat of this!

 

[dougcee]

Hmmm, but you joined a few weeks ago. Some of us have read a lot of posts over the years from people asking what they should do halfway through the "simple" and "easy" job they were tackling...

And others have reported some dreadful bodges found in cameras.

Regards, David

Yes, you're right. Guess I should have included the line "your results may vary" when tackling this subject. I've had some flops also!

 

[drewbarb]

About the fresh air approach killing haze: I remember reading somewhere that exposure to UV light will kill some kinds of fungus (?) that can cause haze. I have "cleaned" a few old lenses of this kind of stuff by letting them sit out in sunlight for a day or two.

 

[David Hughes]

Yes, you're right. Guess I should have included the line "your results may vary" when tackling this subject. I've had some flops also!

Hi,

When my Saturday job included repairs I was horrified at what the fools would do. OTOH it kept me busy...

Regards, David

 

[pepeguitarra]

Radioactive Thorium

Radioactive Thorium

I have cleaned the yellow haze/cast on the lenses (Takumar 50/1.4) that has Thorium. I do not know how the yellowing happens, but it does go away by exposing the lens to the sunlight at the window for a certain period of time.

About the fresh air approach killing haze: I remember reading somewhere that exposure to UV light will kill some kinds of fungus (?) that can cause haze. I have "cleaned" a few old lenses of this kind of stuff by letting them sit out in sunlight for a day or two.

 

[pepeguitarra]

Clean dry cotton dries the elements completely. Never had any fungus??? All of my camera repair tools (I have quite a few) and my workbench, are in the garage. I've successfully cleaned dozens and dozens of LF lenses without any incidents like this. 🙄 And dust is not an issue, either. Really expensive 35mm lenses are another matter entirely, if I need to, I send them out (for example, recently the 58mm F1.2 MC Rokkor). I've done the same garage procedure with dozens and dozens of old Minolta MC Rokkors, and even the 50mm F1.2 RF Canon (before I sold it). The Canon I cleaned out several times, took twenty-thirty minutes each session.

I did not mean to be critical. I was just surprised because when I took my lens for cleanup to a technician in So. Cal, he was wearing a white gown with white gloves, respirator, and the air conditioning was off, etc. The truth is that I only did part of it.

 

[johnnyrod]

Lately I've taken to using both hexane and methanol in turn for cleaning lenses, to make sure the oil/grease is gone, if present, as methanol alone isn't so good for grease. Seems to be working! "Haze" is a bit of a blanket term though.

 

[traveler_101]

Lately I've taken to using both hexane and methanol in turn for cleaning lenses, to make sure the oil/grease is gone, if present, as methanol alone isn't so good for grease. Seems to be working! "Haze" is a bit of a blanket term though.

Right, some lenses advertised as having "haze" actually have a condition where the surface contaminant or condition has eaten into the glass ruining the lens' surface. It happened to me with a Summar and even professional cleaning did not help. OTOH I suppose one can weigh the risks against the price one pays for the lens.