Lens Fungus Removal on a Voigtlander Bessa 1 - vintage camera fungus repair and lens disassembly
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- čas přidán 21. 07. 2024
- If you have a lens that is showing signs of fungus, don't despair! Fixing it is not too complicated! You can do it!
In fact, by far the most complicated bit of the job is getting at the fungus in the first place. It's often buried deep in the lens, on one of the inner groups or elements. These are the ones that don't get reached by standard cleaning, and can remain untouched and undisturbed for years, giving them lots of opportunity to grow a thick covering.
I picked up a 70 (ish) year old Voigtlander Bessa 1, medium format folding camera, shooting 6x9 frames on 120 film. It was obvious straight away that there was fungus in the lens somewhere.
I didn't know much about the construction of the lens, so I was working it out as I went along. But that's often what happens when I look at lenses... because only very rarely do you find two lenses that are constructed the same. What tools you need and what you need to do to disassemble a lens really varies, and unless you can find a tutorial online, you're basically flying blind.
But have no fear... because as long as you follow certain rules (such as making sure you don't scratch anything and paying VERY close attention to which way around each element sits in the lens) then the job doesn't require masses of skill. It's more about patience, and taking care with it (IMO).
So I took this Bessa lens apart, cleaned each section with ammonia and hydrogen peroxide, and put it back together again, and it looks a million times better. Great result!
You'll see in the vide that there was an element that I couldn't get free from its housing. I tried a few ways, but in the end decided to simply clean it carefully in its barrel, rather than risk damage to the glass by continuing to attempt to free it. That's entirely up to you, it's your choice how you do these things, but there is ALWAYS a way!
In this lens I had to remove the focus ring to get at the front element. At the end I go through how to re-calibrate the focus ring to ensure the lens markings are accurate.
Drop me a comment below, let me know if you have any questions about what I did, or of course tell me if you think I did it all wrong!
And watch out for the next vide - the Voigtlander Bessa 1 review and shoot. Coming VERY soon.
I use H2O2 3% for cleaning the fungus. It also avoids a Infection of the other lensparts...If the infinity adjustment is ok, all the other ranges are correct as well. Greatings from Black Forest, Rainer.
I have since this video switched to using straight H2O2, but a 15% mix, and I don't bathe if I can avoid it, just swab with a cue tip. Works just fine on most fungus. I have recently come across a lens which clearly has fungus, but also a general haze, and the peroxide didn't touch it. So I might dig out the ammonia mix again for that. But damn, that ammonia is brutal stuff. If I never had to open that bottle again I would be a happy man!
Parchment, or baking paper, cut to the length and width of 120 film is a good way of getting tension, hence flatness, across the film plane. You wind it on same way as film.
I’ve also used thicker clear plastic sheets cut to fit after scuffing with fine sandpaper the side where you want the image to form. Cheap ground glass.
Trickier still is a bessa with rangefinder. Calibrate for infinity like you did then do the same with the RF. problem is the really tiny screws of the RF can strip easily, or simply disappear.
Nice job on the fungus. I never knew it was possible to do, or at least in some cases.
Amazing. Thanks for sharing the whole repair technic and the chemical solution used against fungus. I have opened before a pair of lenses for a "declick" adaptation (CZ Jena Pancolar 1.8/50 // Helios 44-2 2/58 )... but it was difficult to put it back on position again.
Yeah the mechanisms get fiddly when you start messing with the aperture blades or the shutter. I’m still not skilled enough to reliably dismantle a shutter… I’ve done a couple successfully… and I’ve done a couple UNsuccessfully! I’ll only start dismantling the shutter if I absolutely have to!
Excellent job, looking forward to the next video
Thanks! Won’t be long, I did the shoot yesterday, will develop tonight and video should be up in a couple of days 👍
@@the120istOOPS! That comment was from two years ago! What happened? Can you do a fail-video explaining what happened or did the footage get messed up or deleted?
I hope you are ok…
This video comes at the right time as I just got a fungus infected lens for my bronica. I am looking forward to see that Voigtländer in action. Thanks for sharing
No problem! Good luck with the fungus. Which Bronica lens are you working on?
@@the120ist It is a Nikkor-Q 135mmf3.5 for the S2. It was too cheap to have no flaws :-). There is only very little fungugs so it didn't show on the fotos of the auction. Also the indexing of the aperture rings doesn't work (aperture blades work fine though) But since this lens seems to be coated I would like to stop it from spreading asap. Currently I am waiting for the rubber rings, as this is my first lens which can't be opened with a lens spanner.
I just saw that you dilute your hydrogen peroxide solution twice. Once with water and the other time with ammoina solution so you probably end up with a 5%ish peroxide solution (just a small remark form a nerdy type of guy :-))
@@marxoniomizu I haven’t worked on that lens, but I have dismantled a Zenzanon 150mm for the S2A, and it was pretty simple. Definitely worth fixing, if you know it’s there. Don’t wait. Those rubber rings will be your favourite tool! So useful, and they don’t scratch stuff!
@@marxoniomizu you’re absolutely right of course!! But as far as instructions on what concentration to use, my maths stand!! I think… ummm…. 🤔
Brilliant, i think i need to adjust the focus on a 6x9 i have just bought.
But of tracing paper on the back, really easy to check it. Provided your eyes work of course... which seems to be my failing at the moment!
Lovely job on the fungus removal. I use tracing paper for the infinity focus, since it's a little more transparent than regular paper, but whatever floats your boat. Looking forward to the results of the photo shoot. Cheers from Canada.
Ahh tracing paper would have been much better! I don’t have any but sounds like a good thing to keep in a drawer. Was quite difficult to see that image on the paper, even with bright sunshine outside. Photo shoot video coming very soon! 👍👍
@@the120istI came looking for the follow up video. I guess by Friday January 12, 2024 it was not here yet or at leist I could not find it.
Excited to see it!
Wow that is genius! Thank you for sharing! Subscribed.
Thanks for the sub! Glad you enjoyed it.
Hi there Like your video So if i understand you correctly All the lenses should be all in convex direction Meaning convex pointed toward the objective your about to shoot So pointing away from you Just bought a basket case and will assemble it soon
For calibration, the Bessa I lens stops AT infinity, so you could just have turned it all the way to that end and aligned the infinity with the arrow.
True, but I can only see a certain distance out of my back door! I reckon the furthest I can see is about 30m, which should be a good infinity... but to be safe I went for the multiple measurements. Plus I seem to enjoy making jobs more difficult than they need to be, so...
I know a lot of people and service manuals suggest setting the focus at infinity but I like to set the focus ideally at 10 feet or 3 metres because I don't know where infinity is for any given lens. I do know where 10 feet is away from the film plane because I can measure it. If it is set at infinity and the object is closer than infinity then the closer distances will be off. I have spare split-image focusing screens for 35 mm and 120 cameras which I tape to the film plane and get the focus spot on using magnifying glasses. If it is dark or horrible weather outside, I'll set the focus indoors at 6 or 8 feet.
That's a great tip. Thank you! Infinity varies, as you say, and I wasn't totally sure when I was doing this fix that what I was focusing on was even at the end of the lens! It was just the farthest thing with some contrast that I could see. But the shorter focus that I could measure gave me some confidence that I was in the right ball park!
Also a good tip to have a split image focusing screen handy to use. Thank you!
Thanks! Very informative.
No problem, glad you found it useful!
Outstanding mate a few months back I managed to repair stuck shutter blades on a canon QL went in through the film bay to say I was chuffed and full of myself would be a massive understatement but my efforts seems absolutely pitiful compared to your efforts congrats job well done. Sure my mums still got boxes full of bits I had left over from makin air fix models maybe ill send my fungy lenses to an expert 📷❤️📷
Genuinely, taking a lens apart is easy provided you have the right tools... and provided of course it wants to come apart! I've been defeated by a few lenses in the past, where I reach the maximum amount of force I feel I can give it without damaging it and it still doesn't want to budge. I also get stumped pretty regularly by elements like that inner one, where I know it should break down so you can get the individual pieces of glass out, but I cannot figure out how you do it!
Shutters are my weakness. I'm scared of them. Frikkin springs and tiny fiddly bits everywhere... how about we do a repair swap? I send my shutters to you, you send your lenses to me??
@@the120ist haha my shutter repair consisted of lighter fluid that was it spca to claim much glory from it at all.
Nice result! For calibrating infinity focus, you can place a piece of film at the film plane with an X marked in the center, and the back opened. You need some diffused light shining at the back of the camera. Then look through the lens from the front with a 35mm SLR camera with a wide open 50mm lens focused at infinity. If your folding camera lens is at infinity, you can see the X at the film plane in focus. For this method you don't need daylight or a far away object. Dennis Workman has a video about this method.
Right. I've heard about this before, I think it's called collimation, is the right? I tried looking into it, but my brain works in a very specific way - if I can't understand what's going on then I find it hard to follow a process. I spent a short time on trying to work out why collimation works, but I need to spend a little more time trying to get my head around it before I can start to pick it up properly!!
@@the120ist If the lens you are working on is focused to infinity, the "optical lines" at the far end of the lens are parallel. These parallel lines go into the lens of the camera through which you view through. So if both lenses are focused to infinity, the object at the film plane of the adjusted camera can be viewed in focus in your viewing camera. I hope this helps to get your head around it!
what must be done if image is not sharp? adjusting past infinity. how to do on reflex cams like p67 or there lenses adapted elsewere?
what next when adapter is longer than register? using a perfect one or shorter one. BE AWARE: analog lenses on digital never reach infinity since made for film which is IR-sensitive. Zeiss confirmed. so eighter adapter must be a bit shorter like novoflex new P676-adapter-system or lenses must go beyond infinity. here noflexar 200/3.8 follow focus. or newest zeiss otus batis mulvus, tout all going beyond. thats why i made a variable register adapter for MF lenses.
Another great upload mate! When I’ve seen fungus issues it’s common to see that it has etched into the glass! Does this process fix that too?
Hey, thanks! No, sadly, if the fungus has got so bad that it has eaten away the lens coating, I don't think there's anything you can do about it apart from grind away the coating altogether.
How weird. To get my Bronica, I recently sold my Voigtlander Bessa 2 on ebay. I had a very similar experience. Thanks.
Ha! I seem to be following your reverse journey! Took the Bessa put yesterday morning, was nice to shoot, haven’t seen the results yet. Hopefully they’re good. Watch this space!
@@the120istupdate please :)
Great video? 👍🏻 In Norway you are now allowed to buy only 3 % hydrogen peroxide. You can still get 6 % solutions in quite small bottles, but will then have to explain to the pharmasist what you will use it for and how.
Oh wow, they’re tight restrictions. Although 3% will do the job. I bought that bottle of 15% on eBay, no questions asked! And I’m pretty sure I’ve seen 30% on sale. That’s powerful stuff! I think perhaps we could do with some of your controls!
@@the120ist It is some nasty stuff, but what you can make with it is even nastier. So govermental control over sales and distribution is a good thing 😊👍🏻
@@1973sonvis controls are definitely a good thing! And I don’t mind explaining myself to a pharmacist occasionally. I’m all in favour of controls. If you are doing nothing wrong…
I'm cleaning the fungus out of mine at the moment, how do you take the shutter housing cover off?
Hey sorry, I've been away, did you get this sorted? If I recall correctly you don't need to remove the shutter housing to clean the lenses.
@@the120ist yes I figured that out, it's different to the voigtlander perkeo I rebuilt
i wanna see the shooting video. I have mine here together with my rolleicord 3 :)
Just uploaded it! So you have a Bessa 1 as well?
@@the120ist I'm gonna check it. Yes buddy with the telemeter view finder in the top. The most beautiful set up. Yesterday night i just bought a pair or rolleinars for my rolleicord
@@the120istwhat is the name of the video? Couldn’t find it. Sorry to bug you.
After how many years do lens get fungus
It's not related specifically to years... it's all to do with the environment in which the lens is stored. I'm pretty sure that a lens stored in a warm, dark, moist atmosphere in a hot country could probably develop fungus in a matter of months.
I've seen fungus in lenses that are 15 years old, I've seen fungus in lenses that are 100 years old. The severity of the fungus will depend on conditions.
@@the120istfungus need moisture and something to eat.
Sometimes the organic based grease, oil and lubricants break down as the volatile compounds evaporate and the organic compounds rot. The moisture in the air coupled with all the moisture humans release in a house (cooking, bathing, breathing) is enough for the fungus to thrive and eat the organic bits that were carried away by the volatile compounds evaporation, and of coarse they land on every surface on their way out of the concentrated area where it came from.
Many oils & greases came from whale oil and blubber before the refinement of petroleum and modern synthetics became the normal source.
Hello, my name is Maulana, I come from Indonesia, I have 1 BESA 1 camera but i don't understand how to use it for now I want to sell it, are you interested in buying it?
Hey, I wouldn't be interested in buying it myself. But they're great cameras, I'm sure you'll find someone interested. They're not too complicated if you change your mind and decide to try using it!
😜😁😁😁🥰
Agreed
YO !! I found you by recommendation from Paul Taylor of New Zealand . I have a BESSA 66 -- uncoated Voigtar lens 'hazy' inside I got a lens spanner given to me and I have a microscope slide ground for me by a technician at UC London when i was a Photographer there. I cleaned off the haze -- now the definition seems to be worse ! It was great but hazy before -- i gently tightened to retaining ring at rear -- I did not take out the whole shutter as you did, only took out the rear lens element and got inside through opened aperture to clean rear surface of Front lens group -- do you think i have cocked it up when i screwed back the retaining ring at rear ? i did a VIDEO on my BESSA 66 here :
czcams.com/video/IVcE4XQMXcY/video.html
Hi Peter! Lovely to hear from you, I’m a big fan, I watch all of your vids! Im flattered that you think there any chance I know anything you don’t already know!
That said, I’ll offer my best guess as to what might be going on. If the lens that you cleaned looked, to the eye, cleaner, and you’re not seeing visible muck anywhere else through the lens, then i would guess that something is out of alignment to give you the loss of definition.
Hopefully not an insulting question, but did you put the rear element back in the right way around? Getting the rear element reversed will mess with the image it projects.
Also worth checking that the shutter is still seated flush against the front plate that it mounts through. If you’ve been gentle with the retaining ring, is it possible that the shutter is not fully seated in the hole? The retaining ring on the back holds everything in place, and if you removed it entirely then the shutter and front lens elements would have been free to remove, if you had wanted to. So it may have moved a little and be stuck out of position. Give it a good jiggle, see if it moves. It shouldn’t!
Next question, is the retaining ring back under all the bellows? There shouldn’t be any folds of the bellows between the retaining ring and the front plate…
Hope something here helps. And I very much hope that I don’t sound like I’m teaching you to suck eggs! Good luck with it, let me know how you get on. 👍
@@the120ist dear Mr 120ist -- i have subscribed as you know w lot I don;t know ! Well -- had a look at my BESSA 66 -- the rear element comes out fixed to the retaining ring so cannot be put back the wrong way. Nothing caught in bellows folds -- all checks Sharp with a ground glass so will try another film next . Thanks for your LONG and HELPFUL reply !
the worst lens spanner. wobbly. dont use.
no wonder you just confessed. this spanner is crap!!!!
I know! I have several spanners and they are all no good. Do you have a recommendation?
@@michaelprzewrocki4195 It's dangerous to use, I have to be so so careful!
ever other only not this one. even when very tight its wobbling/moving!!!wrong design.
@@the120ist waste dont use.