Voigtlander Ultron 35/1.7 moisture cleaning front element

hello,

 

my lens has recently got some moisture inside.

 

any chance it will evaporate - or are these already marks left from it?

 

otherwise is there an easy way to disassemble and clean, or is it better to have a professional deal with it?

 

thanks in advance for helping.

 

kind regards,

michał

 

This happens to Leica lenses as well; it does not go away, but it should not affect your images.

I presume it doesn't, but I would still like to get rid of this. That humidity could be the basis for mold in the future.

 

It's there any guide to disassembly of this lens somewhere?

If the lens is one of your favorites and you plan to use and keep it, send it off for a CLA to a pro repair facility, especially if it has a few years on it.

It's only four years old.

 

But that's also what I'm thinking.

 

I like to do a little DIY if it's pretty simple and manageable.

very mild heat may help evaporate and "drive out" some moisture.

 

Of course, done wrong, you could spread oil vapors and such-like....

 

If I were you, I'd spend the money and have it done professionally.

i tried heating it and blow drying, but that didn't work.

 

I've only seen online one short description of how to open up the front element, but it was done for fixing a loose aperture ring not for cleaning the glass, so not as precise as I would like it to be and no pictures either.

 

35/1.7 Ultron - IT'S FIXED!!!!!~

This is a very common problem. Moisture gets trapped around the outer edge of the lens and causes the paint to separate from the glass. It has no effect on image quality whatsoever. I had a lens like this - I got a great deal on it due to this "condition" - and was planning to have DAG repair it, but he ultimately talked me out of it.

 

I suggest you ask Bill Blackwell if DAG gave him a CLA estimate for his lens.

I suggest you ask Bill Blackwell if DAG gave him a CLA estimate for his lens.

We had a long discussion about it, but didn't even get to the price for the repair. Don made it clear that, other than being ugly, the issue had no real impact. It was also clear to me - although Don never said so directly - he didn't want to do the repair.

 

Feel free to contact him directly - he's pretty good about responding to emails (just give him about 24-hours) - dagcam[at]chorus[dot]net

Edited January 9, 2021 by Bill Blackwell Images

We had a long discussion about it, but didn't even get to the price for the repair. Don made it clear that, other than being ugly, the issue had no real impact. It was also clear to me - although Don never said so directly - he didn't want to do the repair.

 

Feel free to contact him directly - he's pretty good about responding to emails (just give him about 24-hours) - dagcam[at]chorus[dot]net

 

Right, it seems like a straightforward issue and fix. Thank you for the info and contact.

Hadn't replied til now, because I couldn't make out from your pics exactly what was bothering you: something in the actual lens glass or the specs at the rim. Now that you've confirmed its the latter:

 

The slang name for this is "Schneideritis," in honor of the lens maker once unusually prone to this issue. There's often at least one lens in every mfrs lineup that tends to manifest these edge dots, for various reasons (typically paint defects or stress on the element edges from the barrel design). In your case, it was apparently artificially induced by moisture getting inside and flaking the paint.

 

As others above have hinted, its rarely worth the effort and cost to "repair"- better to make up your mind to live with it, as disappointing as that is with a once "perfect" lens. The fix is almost never straightforward or simple, which is why DAG, David Odess and other specialists prefer not to undertake unless absolutely necessary. It often involves a deeper disassembly of the optical cells than is prudent, esp with modern lenses: about half the techs out there won't open the cells under any circumstances, those that do will only agree if there is a major problem in the imaging area of the glass. Specs in the rim paint are cosmetically distracting but don't generally impact performance.

 

No harm in getting service estimates, tho. If this lens elements are easy to access for paint touch-up, it might not be too expensive.

 

As others above have hinted, its rarely worth the effort and cost to "repair"- better to make up your mind to live with it, as disappointing as that is with a once "perfect" lens. The fix is almost never straightforward or simple, which is why DAG, David Odess and other specialists prefer not to undertake unless absolutely necessary. It often involves a deeper disassembly of the optical cells than is prudent, esp with modern lenses: about half the techs out there won't open the cells under any circumstances, those that do will only agree if there is a major problem in the imaging area of the glass. Specs in the rim paint are cosmetically distracting but don't generally impact performance.

 

No harm in getting service estimates, tho. If this lens elements are easy to access for paint touch-up, it might not be too expensive.

 

Thank you. That is the question now - is it worth it, and does it involve opening the optical cells and could it affect the image quality?

 

Ultron is a simple and retro design, so maybe it won't be that difficult.

 

A professional tech could tell you for sure, but just zipping thru a couple youTube repair videos for this lens, it appears the front element group is sealed permanently within its cell: I did not see any way to get it open. The rear element group does seem to have typical retaining rings and nesting construction that could be opened with a spanner wrench, but not the front.