Summar with black flecks

The black flecks are the paint around the edge of the inner groups coming off. Yes the front does unscrew, and you could shake them out. But you may let in more dust than you get black flecks out. Also, you want to screw the front back in exactly as far as it was in the first place, which can be tricky.

The black flecks will not reduce image quality in any way, probably best to leave them be. They won't show up as spots on the negative.

I'd consider a nickel Summar a bit too valuable for do-it-yourself repairs.
 
I just removed similar paint specs from my Summar that came with the IIIa acquired last week. It was easy to do and didn't introduce more dust than got out. I even wiped the lens surface of both inner lens surfaces with lens cleaning fluid. They were pretty hazy after 70 years and the glass now looks spic and span again. I didn't take special care when screwing the front element back in. It was tight when I opened it and it is equally tight now. This weekend I'm going to make some test shots to see if everything works as it should. I'll let you know the results.
 
HuubL said:
I just removed similar paint specs from my Summar that came with the IIIa acquired last week. It was easy to do and didn't introduce more dust than got out. I even wiped the lens surface of both inner lens surfaces with lens cleaning fluid. They were pretty hazy after 70 years and the glass now looks spic and span again. I didn't take special care when screwing the front element back in. It was tight when I opened it and it is equally tight now. This weekend I'm going to make some test shots to see if everything works as it should. I'll let you know the results.
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I've done it too -- Summar front cells come off easily, and as long as you mark the relative position of the front cell and the barrel, you should be able to get it back in the right position (as far as I recall -- it's been decades -- it was a multi-start thread).

Even so, I'd not recommend it. The flecks will do no harm: grease sputtered off the domed diaphragm, plus distilled lubricants, are another matter, and this is presumably what you had.

Nowadays, I'd be much more inclined to let Optical Instruments (Balham) do it, as they will return your lens as close to new as possible. They can even (single) coat it, if you aren't fussed about originality. Coated Summars can be very nice indeed.

Cheers,

R.
 
Roger Hicks said:
I've done it too -- Summar front cells come off easily, and as long as you mark the relative position of the front cell and the barrel, you should be able to get it back in the right position (as far as I recall -- it's been decades -- it was a multi-start thread).

Even so, I'd not recommend it. The flecks will do no harm: grease sputtered off the domed diaphragm, plus distilled lubricants, are another matter, and this is presumably what you had.

Nowadays, I'd be much more inclined to let Optical Instruments (Balham) do it, as they will return your lens as close to new as possible. They can even (single) coat it, if you aren't fussed about originality. Coated Summars can be very nice indeed.

Cheers,

R.
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Roger, I've taken a good look at my Summar (Nr: 468073) again and found the front part screws in in only one way, suggesting it is single threaded. After screwing the part on again the indicator for the diaphragm exactly matches the diaphragm settings on the ring on the basal part of the lens. (Don't try to unscrew the barrel of a Summilux, from experience I know that one is multi-threaded and a pain to assemble correctly!!)

Also, I think it's better to get the paint chips out as they can move around in the lens and could possibly interfere with the diaphragm blades.
 
The paint flakes are very thin and brittle, the diaphragm can easily smash them.

Do consider a CLA to have the black paint removed and replaced. As it fails, the flare of the lens will go up, and it's pretty flarey wide open with good paint. To do a proper cleaning requires pulling the rear group, which is a darned sight harder than getting at the front one...

An uncoated Summar should look "water clear" when you look through it. If not, it needs a cleaning.
 
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