Oil on aperture blades

D

Dan95

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Hi.

3 years ago i purchased a 50 lux v2 for 1500usd at a local dealer. It has had oil on the blades since day one, though recently a friend told me i ought to get it cleaned as it might have some adverse effects on the elements.

So i sent the 50 to a local serviceman, and he told me i need not worry, as a little oil is needed to ensure smoothness when changing apertures ( we'll thats a first)

What do you reckon i should do? Should i take his advice? Or just spend 100 bucks to get the bugger cleaned?

Thanks :D
 
Aperture blades always should be perfectly dry. But the risk is small if it is a fairly modern lens and only a matter of slight oil creep from the original synthetic grease. On old lenses or if there is a risk of the oil being something inappropriate applied by the previous non-expert user, it however must be cleaned ASAP - you'll only notice that the stuff has gone sticky as the blades get bent.

I have a couple of relatively cheap newish lenses where I never bothered - but on a $1500 lens I'd get it cleaned to avoid greater damage.
 
Whatever you decide, may I suggest not to send the lens to any repairman that thinks that oil is needed on the aperture blades of a lens :rolleyes:
 
sanmich said:
Whatever you decide, may I suggest not to send the lens to any repairman that thinks that oil is needed on the aperture blades of a lens :rolleyes:
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+1


With it being such an expensive lens, I would get it cleaned. Chances are it will never cause a problem, but it is generally better to be safe than sorry!
 
I think at winter (lower temperatures, that is) grease can get thicker, increasing friction between blades. At least, be careful if using it now outdoors.
 
Im getting it cleaned this weekend! At another technician, who previously cleaned the blades of my 35 f2.8 Summaron.

Hope I can get it in 2 weeks, have a big shoot soon! Need the 50mm for close ups during Thaipusam ( Hindu Festival )
 
Not to disagree with the above comments, but until I found this forum a few years ago I never knew that oil on the aperture blades was a problem. In 40 years I never had a lens, manual or SLR auto, fail me because of oil on the blades.

I do believe though that oil vaporizing creates the haze on the internal elements, however I'm not sure if you always see it on the blades.

Get it cleaned, you'll sleep better -:)
 
I have seen oil on blades that, counter intuitively enough, restricts with the aperture blades and can end up wreaking havoc with the automatic stop down movement. The aperture can then be oddly shaped, or it will close down too slowly causing bad exposures, or in the worst case the blades can break.

On an RF lens this isn't a problem because there is no stop down action, but excess oil can end up causing deposits on lens surfaces. This happens a lot with Canon RF lenses for some reason, the inside of the rear element group will get a coating of haze. Sometimes it wipes clean with no affect to the glass; sometimes it ruins the glass surface.
 
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Am seeing some white specks on the rear end of the aperture blades. My only concern when sending the lens to be cleaned is the lens might be misaligned.
 
I guess ill send it off to the repair guy, and then mount the lens on my M8 ( recently calibrated by Leica ). Ill shoot a focus test chart or something.
 
Why not test it first?

As other mentioned, the oil phobia comes from the SLR crowd... not really a RF one.


FWIW - I'm still shooting a 1940-something Roleicord that has had oil on the blades for the 30+years I've owned it. Oil is only certain death - and not even always - to SLR instant return diaphrams.
 
Old thread but I'm looking for info. Specifically, who would you send a lens to to clean oil off aperture blades. I see Sherry above but who else.
 
wjlapier said:
Old thread but I'm looking for info. Specifically, who would you send a lens to to clean oil off aperture blades. I see Sherry above but who else.
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Any competent camera repairman.

This is as basic a task as what's the endodontic treatment is for a dentist. I just performed this on a prewar collapsible Sonnar in Contax mount (the cleanest example I had seen ever, but with, as usual, very oily and sticky aperture blades).

The remedy is to flood the aperture unit in the proper solvent several times and finish the job by gently wiping the closed diaphragm with a brush soaked in acetone (both sides). Sometimes though, given how the lens is built, taking the blades apart and cleaning them one after another has to be done.
 
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