About the service
I service manual-focus lenses from the film era: the ones that still draw beautifully but have spent twenty years in a cupboard. Work starts with a lit inspection. A point source shone through the barrel shows every speck of dust, every bloom of haze and the first threads of fungus on the inner surfaces, and an oil film on the blades is visible long before the aperture actually starts to stick. I show you what I see and tell you, in plain words, what can be brought back and what cannot.
Then the lens comes apart. Elements are cleaned of dust and of fungus traces, the aperture assembly is degreased so the blades snap dry again, the helicoid is stripped of old hardened grease down to the metal and packed with fresh damping grease chosen for that thread pitch, so focus turns evenly under one finger instead of catching. I take up the slack in the mount, replace perished light seals and felt, and finish by checking sharpness against a resolution chart wide open and stopped down, so the focus travel is confirmed by measurement rather than assumed.
Honest limits, stated before I open anything. Fungus that has already etched the coating leaves a permanent mark: the glass can be made clean, but full transparency will not come back, and I say this before disassembly, not after. Keep lenses in a dry, ventilated place; a sealed bag locks moisture in and fungus grows faster there than on an open shelf. Radioactive elements used in some old series I do not take into work at all, and I strongly advise against opening such lenses at home.
What the job includes:
— lit inspection and a verdict given before any disassembly
— full strip-down, elements cleaned of dust and fungus traces
— aperture degreased, blades left dry and snappy
— old grease removed, fresh helicoid grease matched to the thread
— mount play taken up, light seals and felt replaced
— resolution-chart check of sharpness and of the focus travel
— second-hand finds bought as-is brought back into order
— advice on storage and drying for a damp flat or a dry one
— turnaround of about ten days, longer if a seal has to be cut by hand
Then the lens comes apart. Elements are cleaned of dust and of fungus traces, the aperture assembly is degreased so the blades snap dry again, the helicoid is stripped of old hardened grease down to the metal and packed with fresh damping grease chosen for that thread pitch, so focus turns evenly under one finger instead of catching. I take up the slack in the mount, replace perished light seals and felt, and finish by checking sharpness against a resolution chart wide open and stopped down, so the focus travel is confirmed by measurement rather than assumed.
Honest limits, stated before I open anything. Fungus that has already etched the coating leaves a permanent mark: the glass can be made clean, but full transparency will not come back, and I say this before disassembly, not after. Keep lenses in a dry, ventilated place; a sealed bag locks moisture in and fungus grows faster there than on an open shelf. Radioactive elements used in some old series I do not take into work at all, and I strongly advise against opening such lenses at home.
What the job includes:
— lit inspection and a verdict given before any disassembly
— full strip-down, elements cleaned of dust and fungus traces
— aperture degreased, blades left dry and snappy
— old grease removed, fresh helicoid grease matched to the thread
— mount play taken up, light seals and felt replaced
— resolution-chart check of sharpness and of the focus travel
— second-hand finds bought as-is brought back into order
— advice on storage and drying for a damp flat or a dry one
— turnaround of about ten days, longer if a seal has to be cut by hand
