Lens care

[DrM]

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Hi all,

I'm wondering how you take care of your lenses. Personally, I store them in a cabinet, not in my bag or the leather cases, don't pay attention to open or closed aperture or focus distance. I clean front and rear elements only when there is visible dust/fingerprints on them. I'm not a collector, and use them as tools. However, especially with the 50ASPH1 I have oil on the blades and had to service it twice (perhaps warm weather, bad service, or my lens care...?).

What are your habits? Any tips to prevent the oil on blades?

Best

Marc

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[a.noctilux]

Hello Marc,

On Leica M "oil on blades" has no effect on result, only esthetic effect.

On SLR, the aperture blades have to close quickly, with M system, these blades are always closed so no negative effect when taking photo.

As side note, many of my lenses have some marks on aperture blades, not oil though.

They work as they should for decades, giving satisfaction.

After decades of use, Leitz/Leica lenses are very tough for me, nothing special to do to keep them working.

I'm using them, that's all.

[M9reno]

Keep clean lenses in a clean, low-moisture environment/cabinet (doesn't have to be the ideal dry cabinet).

Some air circulation is ideal, so avoid storing in plastic bags, and especially avoid leather cases for long-term storage. For long-term storage my camera equipment goes in breathable cotton pouches.  Or better yet, don't long-term store.

I store lenses with aperture blades fully open.  Evaporation from oil on blades can otherwise haze the glass: this is one reason why lenses with visibly oily blades need a CLA.  Although I agree with a.noctilux that rangefinder lenses indeed do not operate like SLR lenes, I believe that any foreign substance or debris on an aperture blade could eventually cause damage to aperture blades through sticking or buckling.  A repairman would tell you this: visible oil on blades should always be cleaned off.

How to avoid oil on blades in the first place?  Don't put an excess of it there in the first place.  Most cases of lenses with excess oil are due to bad technicians or inexperienced DIY CLAs.

[spydrxx]

In 60 + years of using both RF and SLR cameras, I quickly moved from storing lenses or bodies in leather bags or enclosed cases/spaces and it has paid off in that I've never had fungal growth develop on the lenses or bodies. I typically provide lots of freely circulating air, periodically check my gear for signs of unwanted issues, and generally don't worry about it. However if I lived in a semi-tropical region, instead of periodically visiting them, I'd be much more concerned.

[Jeff S]

Loads of prior threads on storing.. and cleaning.

 

Search will bring up many more.

Jeff

[jakontil]

I always store them in dry cabinet right after each use 

[Kl@usW.]

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Am 20.10.2023 um 09:37 schrieb DrM:

Hi all,

I'm wondering how you take care of your lenses. Personally, I store them in a cabinet, not in my bag or the leather cases, don't pay attention to open or closed aperture or focus distance. I clean front and rear elements only when there is visible dust/fingerprints on them. I'm not a collector, and use them as tools. However, especially with the 50ASPH1 I have oil on the blades and had to service it twice (perhaps warm weather, bad service, or my lens care...?).

What are your habits? Any tips to prevent the oil on blades?

Best

Marc

Less is more in this case. A spec of dust will hardly ever leave a visible trace on your pictures, be it analog or digital. But wiping if not necessary will leave traces and micro-scratches on the coating, which eventually will lower contrast and--value of the lens. 

My procedure is blowing only during a trip, maybe a soft brush, but no wipes.  Home again, I will clean the lenses with blowing them first, then carefully brushing  and only if absolutly necessary  give them a wipe. Visible spots after beach-outings are particularly problematic: Most likely these are salt residues --never wipe them dry. Take the tip of a moist cloth and try to get rid of the NaCl-crystals first. 

The bayonet is a special thing: Leica puts a very thin film of vaseline on the bayonet of new or serviced cameras, so wiping the bayonet with a cloth will remove this film and increase the friction while mounting or unmounting the lens. So I don't wipe the bayonet if not absolutely necessary. 

I never had oil on Leica lens apertures- but I wouldn't mind as long as the lens surfaces don't get hazy. If so, you'll need a cleaning anyway. In my experience the haze on lens surfaces seems to be a problem of a certain kind of lube, used  for instance in the 35mm f 3,5 or 2,8 Summaron LTM or M. I was hunting a for a clean copy of this lens  some time ago, all of them had haze on the surface of the lens facing the aperture mechanism--but no oil on the blades. Repairmen told me, it is the lube in the mechanism, less the oil on the blades. The older Voigtländer LTM 28 and 25mm lenses seem to develop haze too.. also on the lens surface facing the aperture. At least mine did. 

To prevent oil on the blades: Nothing you could do. I agree with @M9reno, it´s usually the consequence of too much/wrong lube.  

Take home message: Leica lenses don't need much caring, use them and just don't put your fatty thumb on the front lens... 

K. 

Edited October 21, 2023 by Kl@usW.

[RayD28]

Does anyone still use camel hair brushes?  

[newtoleica]

I use a protective Uv filter simply to avoid having to clean the actual lens element. 

[Aryel]

I live in a tropical country so I wipe the body with a kimtech, use a dust blower back and front. I wipe the protective filter only if needed and put them in a dry cabinet… 

[pgk]

On 10/22/2023 at 12:22 PM, newtoleica said:

I use a protective Uv filter simply to avoid having to clean the actual lens element. 

Eventually my filters wear out.

[jaapv]

On 10/22/2023 at 12:35 PM, RayD28 said:

Does anyone still use camel hair brushes?  

No. Just the tail of my T shirt. 

[hoolyproductions]

On 10/22/2023 at 1:35 PM, RayD28 said:

Does anyone still use camel hair brushes?  

I have one that I bought from Fotoimpex in Germany a few years ago. Nowadays I have a lens cleaning 'pen' for my travel gear, but I still use the camel hair when I am at Home.

Ah I see they still sell it:

https://www.fotoimpex.com/cameras-accessories/delta-1-camel-hair-brush.html

[pgk]

3 hours ago, jaapv said:

No. Just the tail of my T shirt. 

That's what becomes of not wearing a shirt and, more importantly and usefully, a tie.

[jaapv]

I can just see it, a formal shirt and tie in the bush. Should crown it with a bowler hat. All in khaki of course. 

[DrM]

13 minutes ago, jaapv said:

I can just see it, a formal shirt and tie in the bush. Should crown it with a bowler hat. All in khaki of course. 

Well, the camel brush does fit your outfit then..

[jaapv]

True, but a bit dodgy collecting the hairs without getting bitten. 

[rpsawin]

On 10/22/2023 at 6:35 AM, RayD28 said:

Does anyone still use camel hair brushes?  

Well sort of…I use a camel to pack my gear around and he came with a tail/brush.

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Hallo,

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[kivis]

On 10/22/2023 at 8:45 PM, Aryel said:

I live in a tropical country so I wipe the body with a kimtech, use a dust blower back and front. I wipe the protective filter only if needed and put them in a dry cabinet… 

Pretty much the same, here.

[pgk]

Sometimes I'm not sure that I have a good ethos regarding camera care .....

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