Summitar air bubble / lens separation?

[ra1nforest]

Dear friends,

I recently purchased a copy of an old 50s Summitar about a month and have been loving it ever since. Today when I took a glance at the lens and happened to see an extremely tiny air bubble like sphere somewhere along the front elements and was wondering if it could be symptomatic of a lens separation problem.

I never noticed the air bubble till today, and pictures looked perfectly fine for the few rolls I've shot so far. I'm just curious to know if the appearance of the air bubble has anything to do with the way I handled the lens, or I could have possibly missed it during my purchase. Also, will this have any significant effect now and in the future on image quality per se?

All advice and afterthoughts are much appreciated. Thank you very much!

 

[John Lawrence]

Many early lenses had air bubbles in them due to the manufacturing process. Whether it affects performance of the lens or not is one of these emotive subjects with some saying it does and others it doesn't. I'm in the second camp, as I've never had any problems with any of my "bubbled" lenses.

 

[John Lawrence]

There's a bit more information about air bubbles here (you'll need to scroll down almost to the end of the page):

http://www.glennview.com/lens.htm

Apparently, years ago they were considered a sign of quality!

 

[dave lackey]

🙂Bubbles are good...they are like fingerprints so you have a lens with it's own identity without remembering the serial number!

If you want, place a dot on your lens with a marker and see if it shows up on your images...then, try a bigger dot...and even more dots. Then, I think you will have your answer.

On my Summarit, the special quality of the lens is it's softness and a tiny bubble, which it has, is of no consequence other than serving as a reminder that it truly is my lens.

Enjoy!

 

[xayraa33]

Don Ho had a song about bubbles.
bubbles in optical glass was considered a sign of high quality optical glass in the past.

 

[jmcd]

Air bubble often occurred when brewing quality glass. My 9-1/2 Dagor (large format) has a bubble, and it is a great lens. No worries with a bubble! Seriously, be happy you have an air bubble and do your best to make great pictures.

 

[VictorM.]

From The New Leica Manual, 12th Edition, 1951, Page 53:

 

[ra1nforest]

Thank you for all your advices, encouragments and assurances my friends! Appreciate it aplenty. Have a good day! =)

 

[Melvin]

My Summitar has a bubble and a spot of separation.

 

[yelofngr]

Melvin,
I just picked up a summitar and i have two spots of separation, they look like clear fingerprint smears near the edges of the lens.
will this cause problems?
does your spot cause noticeable problems in your shots?
thanks.

 

[LChanyungco]

you just made me hug my collapsible Summicron 😀

🙂Bubbles are good...they are like fingerprints so you have a lens with it's own identity without remembering the serial number!

If you want, place a dot on your lens with a marker and see if it shows up on your images...then, try a bigger dot...and even more dots. Then, I think you will have your answer.

On my Summarit, the special quality of the lens is it's softness and a tiny bubble, which it has, is of no consequence other than serving as a reminder that it truly is my lens.

Enjoy!

 

[John Shriver]

There's three cemented pairs in a Summitar, so there are sadly many places for the Canada Balsam optical cement to fail. Separation will probably affect results at wide apertures.

 

[Melvin]

Melvin,
I just picked up a summitar and i have two spots of separation, they look like clear fingerprint smears near the edges of the lens.
will this cause problems?
does your spot cause noticeable problems in your shots?
thanks.

No, no problems, it's too tiny. The best way to know is just to use the lens. If you like the pics then no problem.

 

[HuubL]

My Summitar is top notch high quality. Proof is TWO bubbles!

 

[Mr_Flibble]

Aaw, mine's only got one 🙁

But it does have a little separation at the edges.