Disassembly of Componon-S 300mm f/5.6 lens for cleaning? - fungus

I've not used this enlarger lens for a while and for some reason it has developed a fungal problem. I've not had this with any of my other enlarger lenses, but would like to get the 300mm back up and running; although I haven't yet checked on effect of fungus on performance. Does anyone here have experience of disassembly of this lens and getting rid of the fungus?

The lens is currently in a DeVere mount and the main issue is with the front lens cell as you can see.

I have a 360mm in the older mount. I cleaned all my lenses at the same time, so I don't recall exactly, but I think there is a ring under the ring with the letters.
Mine is shown here after cleaning. There is some permanent damage to the coating.

ic-racer said:

Mine is shown here after cleaning. There is some permanent damage to the coating.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply and photos. Have you noticed any significant degrading of performance, did the lens come to you with the fungus?

The 360 came to me like that. I cleaned it abut ten years ago and again recently, but that haze does not go away.
My main lens (300mm Rodenstock Rodagon) has been with me for about 12 years. It came to me perfectly clear and is still perfectly clear.

I got these two in poor condition. I used these two for many years and recently replaced them with newer versions, but I can't really say there is any difference in the prints. If you just look through these lenses (without the direct light) they appear clear.

The repair Guru Ken Ruth "Photography on Bald Mountain" taught me that the chrome Componon front cells come out in one complete cemented group, and the same with the rear. He also convinced me to acquire the entire set 40mm to 360mm in chrome, they were quite a deal when I got them. Anyway no rings or spacers to deal with. Remove the front ring and gently pop out the cemented front group. Then take it to your kitchen sink and use dishwashing soap and warm water to get 'em clean and take your time. Then reassemble the group into the front mount and do the same thing with the back. Some of my Componons were super milky cloudy and they are now as best possible. If they are seperating ask Jason Lane he cleaned a milky 240 Symmar recently for me and he is THE MAN.

No need at all to worry about cleaning milky Componons. As Ken Ruth said to me "anybody can do this easily". And Componons are great taking lenses as well and highly underrated for this purpose. "Schneideritis" can be cured to a great extent by repainting the back of the cell with India Ink.

8x10 to 5x7 Norma Special Bellows 1 by Nokton48, on Flickr

360mm chrome Componon on my 8x10 Sinar Norma. This lens is quite comparable to my 360mm chrome Sinar Symmar in use. This lens came with a Durst threaded rear mount that fit a flat Norma board with ease and fits perfectly in forward mounting position.

Where is the shutter, in the lensboard? I only use my 360 for projecting on the wall, which is not that often. Maybe I should use it on my camera.

I have multiple Sinar Norma shutters. Mechanical speeds from 8 sec to 1/50. See the lever above the lens, the shutter sits right behind the front standard

So this is the stage I've now got to. With regard to the part with the fungus, it appears to be on the underside (internal) of the frontmost element. I'm not sure what the best option is, clean up the front element "package"? see photos:




the rear lens set is of a similar design but doesn't show fungus:

Jason Lane is the expert on this. He did some nice work for me recently on my 240 chrome Symmar. Is the separation between the elements in the cemented groups? Even so Jason might be able to recement this? I would inquire if necessary

Nokton48 said:

Jason Lane is the expert on this. He did some nice work for me recently on my 240 chrome Symmar. Is the separation between the elements in the cemented groups? Even so Jason might be able to recement this? I would inquire if necessary

Click to expand...

I'm in the UK so don't particularly want to send large lenses over to the other side of the Atlantic ocean for repair. Perhaps Jason Lane would be willing to offer some brief advice though?

Update: Earlier this evening I cleaned up the lens elements in warm water with a standard detergent, remarkably this seems to have reduced the appearance of the fungus significantly, although there is still some residue; I'll rebuild the lens tomorrow.

In my case, after cleaning, the lenses were not much better to look at. So, one week after losing sleep over it I went on an epic search to replace three silver componon with three modern Componon-S in black barrels.

One thing I found is the new lenses won't fit on the extended Durst mounts of the old lenses. So getting all the new lenses mounted was also a little ordeal.

In the end my enlargements are no different.

ic-racer said:

One thing I found is the new lenses won't fit on the extended Durst mounts of the old lenses. So getting all the new lenses mounted was also a little ordeal.

Click to expand...

Is this lens turret on the Durst enlarger you showed earlier? My "compact" De Vere 5108 only has space for lens at a time.

The Durst uses either single large disks (for 300mm and bigger lenses) or the "Tripla" turret for the intermediate lengths, and a special recessed disk for 80 to 50mm.

I'm very fortunate with my 300mm Rodenstock that came with my first Durst enlarger. It is like new inside and out and even still has the Rodenstock quality seal on it and I have the original receipt for it from 1988. Maybe some lenses are more resistant to fungus or haze?

ic-racer said:

I'm very fortunate with my 300mm Rodenstock that came with my first Durst enlarger. It is like new inside and out and even still has the Rodenstock quality seal on it and I have the original receipt for it from 1988. Maybe some lenses are more resistant to fungus or haze?

Click to expand...

Great looking lens. On the fungus, perhaps that is the case, my Componon-S 300mm has a small dent in the side of the housing so perhaps has had some rough treatment at some point in it's life. I bought the lens 2nd hand in around 2008. Enlarger lenses for 8"x10" seem to be in very short supply over here.

I have even contemplated removing the 300 and storing it outside the darkroom. But when I checked it last winter, in my 12 years of ownership it was still perfectly clear. I don't know what people did to my old silver lenses. Every silver enlarging lens I have has scratches or haze.

ic-racer said:

I have even contemplated removing the 300 and storing it outside the darkroom. But when I checked it last winter, in my 12 years of ownership it was still perfectly clear. I don't know what people did to my old silver lenses. Every silver enlarging lens I have has scratches or haze.

Click to expand...

I've recently re-done the heating in my darkroom so it should run at a constant reasonable temperature of around 18c / 66f, which should hopefully keep everything better acclimatised. Very hot temperatures are not much of an issue in my climate apart from a few days over summer.

That does not look like fungus to me. I suspect the Balsam glue between the elements is failing. You might consider exposing only at smaller apertures to avoid the bad glue near the perimeter.

albada said:

That does not look like fungus to me. I suspect the Balsam glue between the elements is failing. You might consider exposing only at smaller apertures to avoid the bad glue near the perimeter.

Click to expand...

Thanks.

It works. I ended up using the lens spanner / wrench shown in the photos below, the whole contraption is not particularly robust relative to the forces applied but at least I now have a functional 300mm enlarger lens again. Haven't made a print yet but projection looks fine.

spanner at near maximum setting for Componon-S 300mm:
projected image from 10"x8" negative on De Vere 5108:

Looks great to me. Glad your Comp cleaned up in the dishwashing sink