Dropped Lens...

[Cluster]

Hello,

Yes I made the worst darkroom mistake ever by having my APO Rodonar pop out of my lens board and bounce off the table and onto the floor. Bang, bang boop. My eyes popped out of my head and I hit the roof. When I eventually calmed down and managed to put it back on the enlarger I noticed that the grain was not sharp anymore like it use to be. I made a test print to confirm that this lens was now toast. I guess it became misaligned from all the bouncing. My question is: is it worth having it fixed at a competent repair shop or just buying another one? Has anyone had any success with having one of their enlarging lens re-aligned?

Thanks,

Joseph

 

[Claire Senft]

I have never had, thank God, a need to have a lens realigned. I do not know the expense involved. I believe that alignment is very important in an enlarging lens. It therefore follows that I would be very concerned that the alignment be done properly. Unless I was given a recommendation by some one who had has a good deal of experience in having lenses realiged and in whom I had much reason to trust their judgement I would return it to the distributor..Schneider or Rodenstock.. for realignment making certain I was first given a quote.

Frankly, given the number of people that are leaving darkroom practice very fine used enlarging lenses are inexpensively available. If, for instance, the lens I was interested in getting as a replacement was a 90mm Apo-Rodagon, I would view Ebay sales history to see what they have been bringing for mint- examples so that I could make an informed decision.

Good luck.

 

[Cluster]

Thanks Claire. I am investigating the Ebay option, as you said. There is a reputable lens repair service in Toronto, where I live called "Toronto Camera Service" and I hear they realign lenses. They are open Saturdays, so I will check them out today.

Joseph

 

[Cluster]

Just an update. I don't recommend this to anybody but I actually took the lens apart. The front and rear elements come apart quite easily. The front and rear elements have there own housing. I noticed the outer-inside rear element of the rear housing (the one that faces the aperture blades) had popped up and was out of alignment. I don't recommend this to anyone but I took my soft lens pen, place the element housing on a soft lens cloth, resting on a mouse pad and applied gentle downward pressure to the protruding element. With a slight increasing pressure I felt/heard the element snap back into the housing. I inspected the element and bingo it was perfectly aligned again. I put the lens back together and will test it tomorrow. I will post my results then. Wish me luck.

Joseph

 

[Cluster]

The lens works flawlessly now. Excellent sharpness, corner to corner.

 

[Paul Sorensen]

Wow, congrats, you are now a lens repair man! I guess if the repair was going to be pricy, you may as well give it a try. It sure beats just tossing it.

 

[Donald Qualls]

There's my repair philosophy in a nutshell -- "what the heck, it's already broken."