Lens CLA cost in australia?

[pixelvandal]

recently inherited a bunch of Nikon Ais primes from my fater in law. unfortunetly, they all have a touch of fungus in them, and some have stiff focusing rings....
these include the 85mm 1.4, 24mm 2.8, 35mm f2, 50mm f1.4 and the 180mm ED f2.8.
can anyone recommend a place to get these fixed in australia that isnt ridiculously overpriced? obviously this cost varies on the lens, and amount of work needed etc.. can anyone recommend a place to get this done in australia? have a few quotes but they are all around $300 dollars...
does anyone know any people who work from home that do this sort of work?
any help would be much appreciated..

kind regards.

Paul

 

[Yamaotoko]

We used to use Camera Clinic for work, wouldn't recommend them to my worst enemy! Since the boss (semi)retired the place has gone to the dogs. Try nagamicamera.com.au in Mooroolbark.

 

[Barry Kirsten]

Thanks Steve, handy to know. Another I know of, but never used, is Camera Clinic in Collingwood.

 

[Yamaotoko]

Thanks Steve, handy to know. Another I know of, but never used, is Camera Clinic in Collingwood.

Like I said, maybe ten, or even five years ago I would have recommended them above all else, but since Laurie isn't running the show anymore, it's a different story

 

[Andrew K]

to be honest $300 to clean and re-lube 5 lenses is a fair price. I've done lots of Canon FD lenses, and even when I was in practice (that is a full time camera tech) it could take 2 hours per lens to do what you want done.

Cleaning the fungus out of a fixed lens is not so bad as you can usually pull the groups out in a set and then pull each group apart to clean the fungus as needed.

On the other hand to re-lube a helicoid correctly you need to split both parts of the helicoid (unles sthe lens is internal focus - they are much quicker), clean aned re-lube the 3 parts, and then re-assemble them correctly so that everything lines up the way it should and the lens still focusses to infinity...

Some techs have been known to put a solvent (or oil) into the focus threads to "loosen" the focus, but it's not the right way to do it and you may have focus problems again 12 months down the track...

 

[SMBooth]

Andrew, what do they use to clean fungus?

 

[Andrew K]

soapy water will work (dishwashing liquid)

spit will also work (I'm not kidding!) - and it tends to remove most of it

You can also buy a fungus cleaning solution from Japan, but it is expensive and hard to get....

 

[pixelvandal]

Haha no it was 300 per lens!! 300 total I would have been ecstatic. I have found someone to do them at a decentish price. But since the 50 1.4 wasn't too bad I thought I'd give it a try myself. Got most of it clean. But I am trying to remove the very front element with the sink plug.... But it won't rotate. Any thoughts?

 

[pixelvandal]

Aha! Done. I got the front set of elements out and upon reading online... Dropped one or two SMALL drops of wd40 into the thread of the name ring. Then put the group back into the lens and tightened it up. Then put small pieces of double sided tape on the name ring, attached the rubber sink plug, and twist. And off she came. Now my len is clean and clear and I have the satisfaction of having done it myself. Thanks everyone