Question about J9 lens after repair.

[RdEoSg]

I just got mine back from fedka today. I sent it in to be cleaned and have the focus adjusted. The focus was waaaaay off as is common I guess.

I haven't had a chance to do any shots with it yet so I can't say how the focus is, but I did notice that the oil that was present on the aperture blades before the cleaning is still there, and it is still very tough to focus. It's possibly a bit better than it was, but it definitely isn't smooth. I have to really tighten it down to the M adapter otherwise I end up unscrewing the lens from the adapter as I am trying to focus.

Any ideas on if this is normal or not. I want to see how the focus is before I send an email to fedka, but the fact that they were supposed to clean the lens up for me and yet the oil is still on the blades doesn't make me real thrilled. They also left a nice piece of dirt in between elements that wasn't there to begin with. It shouldn't affect things, but that isn't the point. When a lens is sent in for repair, it should come back cleaner, not dirtier!

I think I may send it back regardless, but I will wait to see the focus first.

Also the lens doesn't line up properly. It is off center when mounted on the camera. As in the line for focus are not right on top if you are looking down on the camera, they are to the left a half inch or so. This could be the lens or adapter and I am not worried about it, but I am concerned that the front aperture line on the ring is off center about a quarter of the lens the other direction. In other words, if you look down at the camera you don't see the aperture mark, but if you look at the side of the camera, you can see the aperture mark on the lens.

Anyone know if that is unfixable? i just assumed it would be corrected when they pulled the whole thing apart for repair.

 

[M. Valdemar]

Was there internal haze on the lens before you sent it that is no longer there?

Maybe they interpreted "cleaning the lens" different than you.

 

[RdEoSg]

No there was no haze. I sent it in for a normal cleaning and to have the focus adjusted. Regardless of their definition vs mine, cleaning a lens never means leave more dust than when you found.

 

[M. Valdemar]

Then I would return it with detailed instructions explaining what you find wrong and would like fixed.

 

[RdEoSg]

I got an email from Yuri at fedka and we are discussing the options. He's a great guy to deal with so I am confident we will come to an agreement that suits both of us!

He did say that it isn't uncommon for their to be oil on the blades, that they often came from the factory that way but that it won't affect anything. He said it can be cleaned, but isn't necessary and would be very expensive due to the labor involved in that job.

The dust is annoying, but things happen. It did get shipped across the country so who knows. I don't think it will affect anything so I am not overly bothered by it. I might even be able to get it out myself since that lens can be unscrewed pretty easily to get to the different lens groups. I don't want to do this though until I get an ok from Yuri that doing so isn't going to throw off my focus and all again!

He seems most concerned by the fact that the aperture dot isn't lining up properly so I am going to take some photos and send them to him so he can see exactly what I mean. Essentially the aperture numbers line up about 90 degrees from where they should! I don't think this would affect anything since the aperture still moves and stops down properly, but I'll see what his recommendation is, if he wants me to send it back for that or not.

 

[RdEoSg]

Well upon review of the negatives the lens is definitely out of wack in focus so it is going back again. Mailed it off today...

 

[Kim Coxon]

It may be a mute point as the lens is going back but the aperture marks being elsewhere is usually a sign that the focus has been adjusted which is what you asked for. The way infinity focus is adjusted is to change the shimming on the lens group to the main focus unit. As the lens group is screwwed into the body, any change in the shim will result in will result in the lens group stopping in a slightly different place henc the aperture mark being elsewhere.

What comncerns me more is the view that cleaning the blades is too expensive because it is labout intensive. It is actually quite a quick and easy job especially when compared with collimating a lens which takes far longer.

Kim

 

[RdEoSg]

Yea we do it at work sometimes and it isn't a terribly difficult job. I am just assuming for some reason it is more so on a J9 but who knows. If they don't get it right this time I may just ask for my money back on the repair.