Lens re-coating a risky business and a loser's game

[Platinum RF]

I have few old Leitz lense which have coating damage, I send to Kiev for recoating, one elemnts was damged and the other will not give a perfect image even I sent to leica expert to clean and re-collimate, my experince if you have old lens use as is or sell them as is. re-coat is a bad move waste money and time.

 

[merciful]

Perhaps the tech you used to recoat your lenses is a hack.

 

[Graham Line]

People elsewhere have reported success with John van Stelten's work at Focal Point. Haven't used the service personally.

http://www.photoethnography.com/ClassicCameras/index-frameset.html?repair.html~mainFrame

 

[Graybeard]

People elsewhere have reported success with John van Stelten's work at Focal Point. Haven't used the service personally.

http://www.photoethnography.com/ClassicCameras/index-frameset.html?repair.html~mainFrame

John van Stelten does a fine job recoating Leitz lenses. He recoated a Summicron for me and I'm more than pleased with it. There are many postings about the fine quality of his work on this forum and elsewhere.

 

[ferider]

I agree. Focalpoint did a great re-coating job on one of my lenses. But it's not cheap (around US 150 for one surface I remember).

Roland.

 

[peter_n]

Arax is in Kyiv. Surely you didn't send the lenses to them? DAG and others have a very high opinion of the work done by Gevorg Vartanyan and his crew...

 

[rxmd]

I don't know where you had your lenses coated. I have a Mir-3 65/f3.5 wideangle that had several surfaces coated by Arax, and I have no complaints whatsoever qualitywise. However, Arax does have a disclaimer on their web site that recoating is a tricky business.

Philipp

 

[dreamsandart]

Yes, you do take a chance with re-coating. In the process the lens elements are heated to separate and get old glues off and there are no guarantees that damage will not occur. The new coatings applied are a single fluorite layer, not multi-coated.

In practice the front element can look pretty bad without effecting the image quality, even clips of glass don't have any effect in most cases. The rear element is not so forgiving. And with coating deterioration a good lens hood does wonders.

That said, I've used Focalpoint myself on a Rolleiflex with lens separation and the work was excellent.

 

[nasmformyzombie]

Focal Point recoated the front element on my Rigid Cron. Absolutely fabulous job. As others state, it ain't cheap, $125-$150 as I recall.

 

[Leica Geek]

Do they re-coat with modern coating? What I mean is, does it change what the original coating was designed to do? For example, a summitar from the 50's was designed for B&W. Does the new coating work with modern color film?

thanks.

 

[Xmas]

The new coating will almost certaintly be better wearing than the origional Leitz one. The Summitar will still have its 'leica glow'. I'd be reluctant to have a collectors piece recoated.

Noel

 

[Leica Geek]

The image quality of my old lenses are just fine. When I shot color with the CV lenses it was like night and day. I would love my old lenses to render color like the modern CV lenses. The CV lenses are also have a bit more contrast. I regret selling my 35mm CV lens recently.

 

[peter_n]

Yes I also have a rigid Summicron and I've found that color isn't it's forte. I hardly ever shoot color but this lens is now strictly B&W. This particular lens was with DAG for a CLA and I asked him to send the front element to Arax for recoating. He said he would but that the front element was in the best condition he had ever seen on a rigid and he advised me not to bother. I actually wished I had gotten it done when I saw the color results from the lens.

 

[colyn]

I had Arax recoat a screw mount Summicron front element a couple of years ago and he did an excellent job.

The biggest problem with doing it this way is you have to remove the element and send it in. In the process it is easy to lose shims etc that are vital for proper re-alignment/spacing of the element.

As others have said Focal Point is the way to go if you are uncomfortable with disassembling a lens yourself.. He can do a complete CLA of the lens while he's at it too..

 

[peter_n]

Arax has to be good because Don Goldberg at DAG (a perfectionist) sub-contracts to Gevorg for re-coating services. Don will disassemble the lens and send the front element then reassemble it again when it comes back. It can take a while though as he sends lens elements in batches to Ukraine.

 

[Leica Geek]

Thanks. I'm going to check into it.

 

[Leica Geek]

I'd be afraid to try it. The coating is still pretty good on the lens, but when I compared the way it rendered color vs. my CV lens I thought I'd check into the possibility of re-coating my old lenses.

 

[Xmas]

Brian

You needed a 15$ kit to scratch your lens? you should have spent it on ice cream for the girl.

Noel

 

[clintock]

It seems a front element can be quite bad before showing ill effects;
http://home.rmci.net/deanw/dirty_lens_test.html

 

[Leica Geek]

Maybe I'll just leave them as they are and shoot black and white only. Unless I want that vintage look sometimes.

Ed.