Haze Be Gone

[thuggins]

I was cleaning the Voigtar lens on an old Bessa, which had significant haze on the rear of the middle element and the front of the rear element. This is fairly typical and is certainly associated with the proximity of these surfaces to the shutter mechanism. Given the appearance of water borne mineral deposits, they are most likely caused by condensation that leeches contaminants out of the shutter and onto the lens. These deposits cannot be removed with a typical cleaning, so normally I leave them and hope for the best.

On the Voigtar these were heavy enough to significantly impact the image. The first roll shot thru it it has a soft, "retro" look. It wasn't objectionable; in fact, it was kind of a nice look. But it wasn't what the designer had intended or what the lens was capable of.

Long story short... I had some Lime-A-Way, which is made to remove hard water scale. I put a little on a cotton swab and gave the lens a gentle cleaning. Holy crap, Batman!! I have never gotten a lens this clean before. Literally crystal clear! The next roll of film showed an amazing difference.

Granted, the Voigtar is uncoated and this cleaning would most likely remove any coating on the lens. But these sorts of deposits would destroy the coating anyway. Given the preference between an unusable, coated lens and a pristine, uncoated one, I'll take the latter any day.

 

[AgX]

Modern coatings are very resistant to a lot of cleaning solutions.

 

[David Lyga]

I have suffered with this dilemma many times and the information you just gave just might be valuable, but I have to try it. I have used lighter fluid or glass cleaner and sometimes it works well, But sometimes that damn haze will not come off with anything because it is so ingrained into the glass. - David Lyga

 

[AgX]

If there is some "etching" one might only see the effect in reflected sight, the change of the coating. Otherwise one will see the effect at transmissive sight too. But this is only about the image of a lens surface.
So even the latter still does not mean that an image transferred through the lens is affected visibly too!

 

[jim10219]

I prefer vinegar. Soak a microfiber cloth in vinegar and let it rest on the lens, or soak the whole lens element in vinegar. The acetic acid in vinegar will remove calcium and lime, though it might take it a bit longer than Lime-a-way. Lime-a-way uses sulfamic acid, which is a bit stronger. I'm not sure if either will harm a lens's coating, but vinegar is weaker, cheaper, and works just as well, just not as fast.

I even use vinegar to clean hard water stain in the shower. If they're bad enough, you may have to soak a rag in it and lay the rag over the faucet or whatever you're trying to clean for a while. But it'll safely clean even the worst hard water deposits with minimal scrubbing, given enough time.

 

[BAC1967]

I tried lime away on a lens last night, it didn't help much. Maybe I'll try the vinegar method next.

 

[guangong]

I bought a 100mm Canon Ltm lens from Japan that had dreadful haze, a common problem with older Canon lenses. Unsuccessful with lens cleaner, so I bought another. Last month I picked up lens, unscrewed head and tried Windex...walla, crystal clear!

 

[Kino]

Windex is good.

A 50/50 mix of ammonia and hydrogen peroxide is great for killing and removing fungus.

 

[Patrick Robert James]

I might give this a whirl. I just replaced a scanner lens and the lens I took out had white stuff that wouldn't clean off (hence the replacement). I tried vinegar and it did help some but didn't clear it. I've got nothing to lose since I don't need the lens, but it would make a nice DSLR scanning lens if I can clear it. I have some Sulfamic acid for alternative processes so I guess I'll just mix some of that. I'll put it on the list of things to do...