Lens cleaning in the UK

gwatson · Nov 15, 2005

Hi

Does anyone have any contacts for lens cleaning/maintenance in the UK?

The lens is a 210mm/370mm Symmar and has, what looks like, small, thick fibres within the front element (about 4x normal hair thickness). It's an ebay purchase and the glass is almost mint, so I'm reluctant to go for a refund, but I'm slightly concerned that the 'fibres' are in fact the housing starting to disintegrate. Any/all ideas welcome. Many thanks.

Geoff

philldresser · Nov 15, 2005

Sounds like fungus

gwatson · Nov 15, 2005

Thanks for reply. Almost definite this is not fungus. Had a look under a loupe and it looks like, well small pieces of thick hair. There are about 4 of them, all close to the edge of the lens, between 2 and 4 mm in length, and I believe I can see one sticking out from the edge towards the centre of the lens. But having said that, I've never had a lens with fungus, so I have no frame of reference.

John_Brewer · Nov 15, 2005

Lens fungus looks like this http://www.chem.helsinki.fi/~toomas/photo/fungus/hal-3-bw.jpg or this Dead Link Removed

gwatson · Nov 15, 2005

Thanks John. This is definitely not fungus - it looks like someone had a shave after 4 days growth. I'm sure it just needs a clean, but I'm curious as to how it got in there. It suggests the possiblity that it has come from someone pulling the thing apart and chards of housing has resulting from them screwing it back together.

It was cheap, but not cheap enough to pay £150 to have it cleaned.

Cheers

Geoff

philldresser · Nov 16, 2005

Geoff

You mentioned it was a convertible lens 210/370. To make the conversion you must remove one of the lens cell assemblies. Thats probably how the 'muck' got in. I beleive its the front cell grop that you remove but I'm sure someone here could tell you.

If the 'muck' is between the actual lens cells then you might have problems

Phill

gwatson · Nov 16, 2005

I'll try and get someone to look at it. It does look like the inside of the casing is starting to flake. Thanks Phill.

Geoff

David H. Bebbington · Nov 16, 2005

If the lens requires cleaning on surfaces that can be accessed by unscrewing components, almost any competent repairman can fix this. My personal favorite repair service is:

Newton Ellis & Co.
35 Victoria Street
Liverpool L1 6BG

Tel. 0151 236 1391

If the lens needs to have a group dismantled, repolished. recoated, recemented etc., it is much harder to find someone. I have used:

Optical Instruments (Balham) Ltd.
Unit 39
Neville Court
27 - 43 Neville Road
Croydon CR0 2DS

Tel. 0208664 9799

They are very good but not cheap or quick (I think they wait until batches of work accumulate for certain operations). I have used them to save rare lenses, for example recently a Ross Expres (6 1/2" f2.9).

gwatson · Nov 16, 2005

Hi David. Many thanks; it's always good to get a recommendation. I'm sending the lens to Newton Ellis tomorrow to see what the damage is. They've moved, by the way: 29 Cheapside, Liverpool, L2 2DY. Same phone number.

Phill. Yes you remove the entire front element, right down to the shutter apparently. Sounds a bit risky to me, but that's what I've read.

Thanks all. Geoff

Lens cleaning in the UK

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