Where oh where to send lens for fungus removal

brightsky

brightsky

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Hi there: I've got a dilemma with fungus on an old Leica lens and can't make the decision on where to send it. Of course I'm hoping the fungus can be removed and there's no damage to the coating, but I won't know that until it's apart of course. I've narrowed it down to these three and would appreciate any comments.

1. Focal Point (CO)
2. Essex (NJ)
3. Steve's Camera (CA)

I'll admit I'm leaning towards Focal Point in case of recoating. Any comments? Thanks in advance.
 
I once had Fungus cleaned at Steve's successfully. But John does great work, too.

Check also where the coating damage is. If it's in a duplet or triplet, recoating will be very expensive.

If "Sunshine State" means California, support the local economy and send it to Steve's :)

Roland.
 
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If you just want it cleaned effectively and safely, either FP (j. van stelten) or Essex. They've both done a number of afflicted Leitz lenses for me in the 50-70 y/o range.

If you want it re-coated or need re-cementing definitely John is the only one I've had experience with, would recommend without hesitation.
 
What lens is it? Often fungus attacks the coating and the cleaned lens, while sharp, will be very vulnerable to flare and low contrast. With anything worth under about $500 (many early Summicrons) with multiple elements affected it's cheaper to write off the lens than pay for recoating.
 
Focalpoint did a great job on my Early Summicron 5cm f2- front element was opaque from coating damage, picked up in a trade for a working lens.

It looks like new.

Which lens do you have?
 
I had to do a search to find my own thread..oiy vey!

Thanks, everyone! Appreciate your input. I ended up sending it to FP due to the possibility of recoating. FP will advise me before doing any work, so I'll decide how far to take it.

It's SO nice that we still have great people to work on these lenses, isn't it?
 
Sherry, the goddess of all things Leica. If it needs a new element she is the one who could find it - and also get the lens back to you in a reasonable period of time.
 
You have it all sorted out now, but I agree, John at Focal Point is just the best. Not taking away anything from the other folks, but my experiences w/ FP have been hard to beat. Of course, if you have fungus you have damage to the coating and in all likelihood the glass too, but I wouldn't let that worry me. Just bump the contrast up a little on your photos. The main thing is to get it out.

You certainly could run into flare issues, but I never did in my lenses after they were cleaned. Before the cleaning it was flare city! On a Summar I had, the difference in photos it took before and after the fungus was cleaned out was like night and day. Weigh the cost of fixing what you have against selling it and buying a better copy though.
 
From my experience between John, Don, and Sherry I would say that John is the best with optics. Whenever he's cleaned out a lens the glass comes out sparking. Maybe its the lubrication he uses but the focus and aperture feel a little lighter or less dampened than the ones from Don or Sherry.
The lenses I've sent to Don and Sherry so far have come back with very faint cleaning marks on the inner elements. (They were older single coated lenses with haze or fog so I don't hold that against them, they came back as better users so I'm not complaining.)
 
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