Has anybody had a separated lens successfully re-glued? I have a Rodenstock lens coming with very bad separation over about 30% of the surface (on one side) and ideally I'd like to send it to someone to re-glue.
Failing that, I guess I'll try one of the diy methods available on the web, although even if I did manage to successfully separate the elements, I'm not sure how difficult it is to re-glue them in the right alignment. Assuming the edges are re-ground after they've originally been glued, I guess you could make a jig that aligns the edges.
I've also seen people suggest that you can use oil inserted by capillary action to fill the glue void, but I wonder if you can also do this with optical glue, since the oil wouldn't be designed to be transparent.
Re-gluing lens elements
-
Patrick Dixon
- Forum Hero
- Posts: 252
- Joined: Thu Apr 09, 2009 4:20 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00
- Location: Yate
-
Emmanuel Bigler
- Forum Hero
- Posts: 174
- Joined: Wed Jul 18, 2007 9:47 am Etc/GMT-1+01:00
- Location: Besançon, France
re-glueing a lens
Patrick
I've never done this myself and I have never sent a lens for re-cementing but I have two references of craftsmen who do this and who have good references from collectors & other photographic lens aficionados.
The first name is John Van Stelten in Colorado, USA
http://www.focalpointlens.com/fp_intro.html
The second name is Marc Nicolas in France in Bordeaux and Sarlat (the office is in Bordeaux, the job is done in Sarlat)
http://www.nicorep.fr/
The true question is the price to pay for this repair...
..and the language barrier if you go for the French solution !
(The rumour says that there are number of British citizen living in the SW of France, but I doubt that the reason is related to quick re-polishing and re-cementing services of their vintage lenses
)
Good luck !
I've never done this myself and I have never sent a lens for re-cementing but I have two references of craftsmen who do this and who have good references from collectors & other photographic lens aficionados.
The first name is John Van Stelten in Colorado, USA
http://www.focalpointlens.com/fp_intro.html
The second name is Marc Nicolas in France in Bordeaux and Sarlat (the office is in Bordeaux, the job is done in Sarlat)
http://www.nicorep.fr/
The true question is the price to pay for this repair...
..and the language barrier if you go for the French solution !
(The rumour says that there are number of British citizen living in the SW of France, but I doubt that the reason is related to quick re-polishing and re-cementing services of their vintage lenses
)Good luck !
-
Patrick Dixon
- Forum Hero
- Posts: 252
- Joined: Thu Apr 09, 2009 4:20 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00
- Location: Yate
Thank you Emmanuel.
I now have the lens and the separation is pretty severe. There's only about an f8/f11 sized un-separated area remaining in the center of the lens, and you can clearly see a yellow cast from the film's ptv, so I don't think it's worth shooting with as is.
The lens is a plain Sironar 150mm f5.6 which dates from 1973 according to the serial number, so it may not be worth spending the £100+ to have it fixed professionally. I'm not sure if the lens is MC or not.
However, I'm not too upset because it came in a deal with a 1980-ish Sinar marked Symmar-S 210mm f5.6, which looks in good condition (apart from a small dent in the filter ring which I'm sure can be straightened), two Cambo lens boards, and what I assume is a Cambo bellows - all for less than £150.
So I'm going to have a go at fixing the Sironar myself using the following guide:-
http://www.pairlist.net/pipermail/large ... 19094.html
I'm hoping that getting the two elements apart won't be too difficult since they are nearly there anyway!
Where's the best place to buy lens caps for these lenses, as I only have one front cap between the two?
I now have the lens and the separation is pretty severe. There's only about an f8/f11 sized un-separated area remaining in the center of the lens, and you can clearly see a yellow cast from the film's ptv, so I don't think it's worth shooting with as is.
The lens is a plain Sironar 150mm f5.6 which dates from 1973 according to the serial number, so it may not be worth spending the £100+ to have it fixed professionally. I'm not sure if the lens is MC or not.
However, I'm not too upset because it came in a deal with a 1980-ish Sinar marked Symmar-S 210mm f5.6, which looks in good condition (apart from a small dent in the filter ring which I'm sure can be straightened), two Cambo lens boards, and what I assume is a Cambo bellows - all for less than £150.
So I'm going to have a go at fixing the Sironar myself using the following guide:-
http://www.pairlist.net/pipermail/large ... 19094.html
I'm hoping that getting the two elements apart won't be too difficult since they are nearly there anyway!
Where's the best place to buy lens caps for these lenses, as I only have one front cap between the two?
-
Paul Mitchell
- Moderator
- Posts: 491
- Joined: Wed Dec 12, 2007 5:05 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00
- Location: Burnham, UK
- Contact:
Might be worth asking some of my chums on http://forum.manualfocus.org/ There's people here that even make their own lenses!
-
Patrick Dixon
- Forum Hero
- Posts: 252
- Joined: Thu Apr 09, 2009 4:20 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00
- Location: Yate
-
Emmanuel Bigler
- Forum Hero
- Posts: 174
- Joined: Wed Jul 18, 2007 9:47 am Etc/GMT-1+01:00
- Location: Besançon, France
Patrick : I agree that the lens might not be worth repairing taking into account the large amount of second-hand 150mm view camera lenses available on the market.
A comment, however : observed by reflection, lens separation always seem severe. Do no forget that what you see as reflected light is only a small fraction of what is actually transmitted into the lens. The colours are very bright, this is usual for reflected light interferences in this kind of thin air gap structure. Exactly like in a soap bubble observed by reflection against a dark background.
So, you should check by taking a picture and see what happens. In fact there is only a very tiny amount of unwanted air space between lens elements, this does not change very much the lens performance in terms of aberration correction, but of course generates some unpredictable amount of scattered light. Probably, ghost images as well.
Actually I have no idea whether your lens is useable or not, but just for curiosity I would try to make pictures with it and see what happens.
My guess is that if you look through the glass from behind, the effect of separaton will appear less severe.
Moreover after focusing the lens you'll actually use it at f/16 or 22 and you'll use the un-damaged centre.
A comment, however : observed by reflection, lens separation always seem severe. Do no forget that what you see as reflected light is only a small fraction of what is actually transmitted into the lens. The colours are very bright, this is usual for reflected light interferences in this kind of thin air gap structure. Exactly like in a soap bubble observed by reflection against a dark background.
So, you should check by taking a picture and see what happens. In fact there is only a very tiny amount of unwanted air space between lens elements, this does not change very much the lens performance in terms of aberration correction, but of course generates some unpredictable amount of scattered light. Probably, ghost images as well.
Actually I have no idea whether your lens is useable or not, but just for curiosity I would try to make pictures with it and see what happens.
My guess is that if you look through the glass from behind, the effect of separaton will appear less severe.
Moreover after focusing the lens you'll actually use it at f/16 or 22 and you'll use the un-damaged centre.