How much trouble would I get into...

[pbromaghin]

How much trouble would I get into if I tried cleaning the inside of my 80mm taking lens for my Mamya Cxx?

I was looking inside my lenses with jeweler's magnifying glasses and found that the internal elements have lots of dust and junk on them. Would it be incredibly stupid to open it up and clean the first surface I encounter?

I know it would be incredibly stupid to go any farther in, as I am much better at destroying things than I am at fixing them.

 

[Wishy]

The Mamiya C TLR lenses, especially the older ones, are dead easy to take apart. The front element just unscrews. Its a 4 element lens so that should make 4 of the 8 surfaces accessible (Open shutter in B mode). These are the ones most likely to be dusty, you don't want to touch the others

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

Shooting a camera with dusty elements is better than not being able to shoot with a busted camera. Leave it to the pros. I doubt the dust will degrade the quality of your lens much.

 

[John Koehrer]

I agree with wishy, If you can open a bottle of pop you can clean those inner elements. If you want access to the sections in each group, You likely need a spanner, but there's no spacing concerns if you reassemble it in the same way they came apart.

 

[TimmyMac]

If the front cell comes off as easily as a view camera lens, I can't see a problem. Just make sure you don't lose any shims that space the elements correctly.

 

[pbromaghin]

Thanks to all of you, I think I can handle this. APUG is just great.

 

[CGW]

Can you afford a replacement? If so, try it. Otherwise, just consider the cost of failure as tuition.