HELP!!!! Need advice lense cleaning service

vollie · Nov 11, 2007

I just discovered that the lense on my Nikon F100 has a matchhead sized spot of fungus in it. It is just on the underside of the outer glass. It is on the flat surface glass not the spherical glass . Could someone please advise me of a reputable lense service or shop I could send it to? The lense is nearly mint and I am desparate to take care of this.
Thanks.
vollie

Christopher Walrath · Nov 11, 2007

I don't know where you are from, but Cameras Etc in Newark Delaware has a camera guy in Maine they send their repairs out to. MOst camera shops, not film retailers, have a go to guy. Check out your local camera shop and see what they offer.

vollie · Nov 11, 2007

I live in Tennessee. Does the shop you mentioned have a website? How can I contact them?

mitica100 · Nov 11, 2007

http://www.focalpointlens.com/fp_intro.html in Colorado.

copake_ham · Nov 11, 2007

I'm confused when you say the fungus is on the inside of the outer flat glass. The outer lens piece should be curved. Are you certain you're not referring to a UV or similar filter attached to the lens? That would be flat and you can easily unscrew it and clean it yourself.

BTW: there is no such word as "lense". Lens is the singular; lenses is the plural.

JBrunner · Nov 12, 2007

copake_ham said:
BTW: there is no such word as "lense". Lens is the singular; lenses is the plural.

Uh, actually there is. It isn't used as much these days, but it means the same thing.

MattKing · Nov 12, 2007

copake_ham said:
I'm confused when you say the fungus is on the inside of the outer flat glass. The outer lens piece should be curved. Are you certain you're not referring to a UV or similar filter attached to the lens? That would be flat and you can easily unscrew it and clean it yourself.

BTW: there is no such word as "lense". Lens is the singular; lenses is the plural.

George:

I have owned at least one lens that had a front element with a flat surface. IIRC my original 28mm lens for my Olympus OM1 was constructed that way.

Matt

copake_ham · Nov 12, 2007

MattKing said:
George:

I have owned at least one lens that had a front element with a flat surface. IIRC my original 28mm lens for my Olympus OM1 was constructed that way.

Matt

Matt,

Could be, I guess. But the guy is shooting with a F-100. So, I "pulled" a couple of my Nikkors off the shelf to look at them before posting - and none of them had flat front elements.

What kind of "light gathering" would be achieved from a flat front element?

My thinking is that there is a filter on the front. Could be wrong - but....

copake_ham · Nov 12, 2007

JBrunner said:
Uh, actually there is. It isn't used as much these days, but it means the same thing.

JB,

You may well be correct but could you please provide a dictionary source for the word: lense ?

I have noted that this mis-spelling is common in parts of the U.S. - especially the Southeast and Texas - but I've yet to find any responsible reference text to concur that such a spelling is correct.

JBrunner · Nov 12, 2007

Looking quickly, I found this one, it is listed as a variant of the word:

Dead Link Removed

Murray@uptowngallery · Nov 12, 2007

I just unloaded a 28mm Nikkor lens and thought it had a flat front surface, under the UV filter I put on it. Might that be a front-located field flattener, usually seen at the back, analogous to reversed Tessar formulae - just designed differently?

copake_ham · Nov 12, 2007

Murray@uptowngallery said:
I just unloaded a 28mm Nikkor lens and thought it had a flat front surface, under the UV filter I put on it. Might that be a front-located field flattener, usually seen at the back, analogous to reversed Tessar formulae - just designed differently?

Of course this would come up when I'm here in Tucson and the 28 is back in NYC.

But I keep grabbing Nikkor and 3rd party Nikon-compatible lenses I have here (quite a few) and still cannot find one with a flat front element.

Now, here in Tucson I have for my aging D-100 a AF-S Nikkor 18-70mm 1:3.5-4.5G ED.

I pulled off the filter and the front element "looks" like it's flat by a quick "eyeball" - but I ran a cloth across it - and it's curved, as one would expect.

Now, this is a digi lens but I did once mistakenly use it on my F-100. So I know it will vignette all the pics. Thus, it's unlikely that the OP is using this kind of lens on his F-100.

Might make more sense to this discussion if the OP would tell us what the lens is on his F-100?

vollie · Nov 12, 2007

So maybe it isn't flat. I am not an expert, that is why I am asking you...the experts. If I had put my glasses on I would have seen it wasn't flat. It is the first group of glass on the front end of the lense. It is a Nikon AF Nikkor - 28-105 1:3.5 - 4.5D.

As for the fellow worried about the speliing of lense/lens, I harbour no ill feelings towards him...my dad likes to argue with people about unimportant things too.

ehparis · Nov 12, 2007

"You may well be correct but could you please provide a dictionary source for the word: lense[?"

Oxford English Dictionary (a history of the English language). A subscription is available online at http://www.oed.com/. This is an older version of the word "lens" but is still in common usage.

Sirius Glass · Nov 12, 2007

ehparis said:
"You may well be correct but could you please provide a dictionary source for the word: lense[?"

Oxford English Dictionary (a history of the English language). A subscription is available online at http://www.oed.com/. This is an older version of the word "lens" but is still in common usage.

Good! Now I do not have to explain some of my typos!

Steve

vollie · Nov 12, 2007

fellow word nerds

As an English teacher I am amused and pleased with the etymological discussion of the word lense/lens. It shows there are intelligent people...peopling this board. Intelligent discussion is out of style now...just like film cameras. So, fellow nerds, any advice on the lense cleaning issue? It is not really a big fungal spot but I don't think or feel good about trying to dismantle the front of the lense myself. It is not on a polarizer or other filter, it is in the front element.
Thanks

vollie · Nov 12, 2007

Maybe someone could instruct me how to get the front element of the lense out and I can clean it with some denatured alcohol.

copake_ham · Nov 12, 2007

JBrunner said:
Looking quickly, I found this one, it is listed as a variant of the word:

Dead Link Removed

Yes!

And as any NY Times crossword puzzle nut will tell you dictionary usage of "variant" or "Var." in a clue is a nice way of saying "misspelling".

copake_ham · Nov 12, 2007

vollie said:
As an English teacher I am amused and pleased with the etymological discussion of the word lense/lens. It shows there are intelligent people...peopling this board. Intelligent discussion is out of style now...just like film cameras. So, fellow nerds, any advice on the lense cleaning issue? It is not really a big fungal spot but I don't think or feel good about trying to dismantle the front of the lense myself. It is not on a polarizer or other filter, it is in the front element.
Thanks

vollie,

If you're certain it's inside the front element - I would not advise trying to open up the lens. Others here, with experience doing such, might try it - but the only time I "opened" a lens was by mistake because I'd screwed the darn filter on so tight that when I tried to unscrew it I opened up the front element!

Before you send it out for cleaning - you might try exposing the lens to direct sunlight for a few hours. This may kill off the fungus - especially since it sound like it has not advanced too far.

The problem is that even if this works, Tennessee is a humid climate and it's likely the fungus will return after awhile.

So, unless you want to open it up yourself, beyond the "sunlight" trick all I could recommend is sending it off for a professional cleaning.

vollie · Nov 12, 2007

Thanks, yes the UV will kill the fungus but I am still left with the residual mold.
I am looking for a specific recommended lense servicing center. Should i send it to Nikon?

Variant doesn't necessarily mean misspelling does it? It means...variant...another way.

JBrunner · Nov 12, 2007

copake_ham said:
Yes!

And as any NY Times crossword puzzle nut will tell you dictionary usage of "variant" or "Var." in a clue is a nice way of saying "misspelling".

What's a "NY times"?

copake_ham · Nov 12, 2007

JBrunner said:
What's a "NY times"?

Just go to your local Starbucks.

Mateo · Nov 13, 2007

Good luck with your lens/lense.

I ain't smart enough to be no word nerd and when you talk about peopling this here forum I get all confused. Now when Caliban wanted to people that island place I thought that meant he wanted to get jiggy with Prospero's daughter. That's the only place I seen that thing word used like a do something word before.

JBrunner · Nov 13, 2007

Mateo said:
Good luck with your lens/lense.

I ain't smart enough to be no word nerd and when you talk about peopling this here forum I get all confused. Now when Caliban wanted to people that island place I thought that meant he wanted to get jiggy with Prospero's daughter. That's the only place I seen that thing word used like a do something word before.

I dint laya finger on that damned Miranda!

JBrunner · Nov 13, 2007

vollie said:
Maybe someone could instruct me how to get the front element of the lense out and I can clean it with some denatured alcohol.

I'm not really all that up on small format lenses, but I think it might be a bad idea to take apart a zoomer, without knowing for sure how it is put together. Spacing and all that. On the other hand, somebody who really knows is bound to pop by soon.

HELP!!!! Need advice lense cleaning service

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