Nikkor-S.C 5cm 1:1.4 - technical question

[Niko]

I just got this lens today in LTM. It has quite bad fungus somewhere between the aperture and the rearmost lens element. I read somewhere that the rear group includes three elements. My question is: are these three elements cemented together or not ?

Why i ask ? Well if the elements are separate i could clean the lens by myself and ask the seller to reduce the price. If on the other hand the rear group lenses are cemented, the only option is to ship the lens back to the seller... That´s why i can´t just open the lens up and see by myself if they are separate or not.

Niko

 

[VinceC]

I don't know. The block diagrams make it look like they are cemented. See, for example Dante Stella's site.

 

[venchka]

The lens unscrews in the middle. Be careful. Don't let the iris fall out. You could then get to the front of the rear group. If the fungus is there, you should be able to clean it. If the fungus is between the cemented surfaces, send it back!

 

[Niko]

Thanks for the help ! I did not disassemble the lens at all. After looking at the lens again and again i decided the fungus is between the elements. It´s now on it´s way back to the seller.

Niko

 

[Niko]

I thought i´d share with you guys how the story went on after shipping the lens back. First, here are some photos of the nastiest fungus (and possible separation), i´ve seen (pics are 3008x2008, about 600-900kb):

http://www.kolumbus.fi/niko.koskela/nikkor_fungi.jpg
http://www.kolumbus.fi/niko.koskela/nikkor_fungi2.jpg
http://www.kolumbus.fi/niko.koskela/nikkor_fungi3.jpg

The seller wasn´t experienced at all with photographic gear, and hadn´t even heard about fungus inside the lens. Or separation, or whatever...
So, i told her about these things everything i know. She appreciated it so much that she offered the lens for me for free ! Just because i was polite and didn´t get mad about the defects. I guess it sometimes pays to be polite even towards Ebay -sellers 😉 She also asked KEH if they can repair it. We agreed that if the repair was successfull i would pay for the repair. And that´s what happened. She sent the lens to KEH, they repaired it and sent it back to her (as KEH doesn´t do repair jobs for foreign customers). Then it was again shipped to me. Today i picked the lens up from the customs and was amazed to see that the repair job had been a complete success !

Not even a smallest trade of the damages are left. It´s like new 😀

This was by far the strangest Ebay -transaction i´ve ever had. It will be nice telling the story of the lens´ history to friends and fellow photographers...

As a thank you, for the lens and several trips to the post office, i promised to mail her a print of some of my photographs. I think it will be a landscape photo from Finland printed on some quality paper.

Niko

 

[VinceC]

It sounds like everything worked out very well. It's helpful to remember that EBay sellers are people, too!

 

[jsuominen]

As a thank you, for the lens and several trips to the post office, i promised to mail her a print of some of my photographs. I think it will be a landscape photo from Finland printed on some quality paper.

Interesting story! I'm sure she enjoys a landscape photo from Finland. I have made my own prints from scanned images using my filmscanner (Nikon Super Coolscan 4000 ED) and a local minilab. The biggest ones have been about 30x45 cm - even from Olympus Pen F half-frame (18x24mm) negative... 🙂