Separated Element Fub

[Fixer]

I was messing around with my meopta anaret earlier and tried reinstalling the rear element which I took out for cleaning when i hear a sharp crack. When i looked at the element, it seems that it got detached from the element it was glued to. Anyone know what can I do with this destroyed enlarger lens now? Paper weight?

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

I was messing around with my meopta anaret earlier and tried reinstalling the rear element which I took out for cleaning when i hear a sharp crack. When i looked at the element, it seems that it got detached from the element it was glued to. Anyone know what can I do with this destroyed enlarger lens now? Paper weight?

Hmmm, a brand new 'crappy lens' - see what effects it gives you with enlargments or build it into a custom 'crappy cam'.

Sally Mann made a series pictures around Las Pozas Mexico with delaminated lenses - old Kodak Anastigmats and Rectilinears taken from #1A folders.

 

[phenix]

Meopta’s Anaret is a Tessar formula lens. So, the rear elements were soldered together and after cleaning, while you tried to mount them, they got separated. Now you have 8 reflection surfaces instead of 7, which is not a big loss. The real problem is to avoid scratching the two previously soldered elements, while tightening them together. And you can avoid this by using a liquid, which won’t dry, so won’t leave marks. I suggest you a very fine oil (like the one used in nailing machines or mechanical clocks), but put very few of it and only on one element. Would you have an optical distortion from this oil layer? I don’t think so, as the layer will have parallel surfaces (where the optical elements were soldered, the curvature is the same). On the contrary, things might even improve, as this layer will also play the role of an antireflection coating.

Although, the Anaret is a cheap lens, good only in 50mm (the 80mm is crap) and only for small contrasty enlargements (less than 6x). I suggest you to replace it with a better, 6 elements lens, and use the Anaret as a magnifier (enlarging lenses are not only the best magnifiers you can find, but also the cheapest ones). For a paperweight, the Anaret is to light.

 

[jimgalli]

Clean the surfaces with acetone, then soap and water. Glue it back together with that cement that reacts to UV light.

 

[fschifano]

You need to be careful about any cement used to glue two lens elements together. The refractive index of the material has to be right or the thing will probably be no good. As a magnifier (loupe) it will be fine. Use it to inpect negatives for dust, etc before enlarging with a new lens. An excellent quality 6 element, f/2.8 lens from Nikon, Schnieder, or Rodenstock won't set you back much, and will deliver much better quality. There are still plenty of good ones out there on the used market. Shop around and you'll get one at the price you want to pay.

 

[Fixer]

Thanks for the information, thelens is a old one that i picked up somewhere years ago. It has a thread that is too small to be used on contemporary enlargers anyways.

 

[ntfreelancer]

you should clean up it with chemical solution and find out the transparent surface of lense and then stick its parts with glue.