"Light fogging" Can this be fixed?

I purchased another Contax IIa from the fleabay last night and I don't

expect to place it in my hands befor Friday. The guy said that the

lens has some fogging....."Lens: The lens is a Carl Zeiss f1.5, 50mm

Sonnar Ser. No.: 2725189. The smallest f-stop is f22. The barrel has

no dent's, nicks, or scratches. The lens has no fungus, pits, or

scratches but exhibits some lite fogging. The diaphragm exhibits a

little oil - operation is in no way affected. The diaphragm adjusts

very smoothly throughout it's range and the blades open and close evenly."

 

My Question is "what can be done with the lens to correct the problem"?

Ron, If you are handy with tiny tools and want to buy a repair manual you could try to clean it yourself. It may be just oil residue from evaperation. If the camera is a keeper oterwise you may want to pay for a CLA. light fog will most likly not effect your prints a whole lot maybe lower contrast a tad heavy fog will most assuradly effect the print. If you do try yourself to clean it get the repair manual and get the proper tools like from microtools or you will most deffintly cost yourself more in the long run than a professional CLA.

 

Best of luck. Grinder

Ron, If you are handy with tiny tools and want to buy a repair manual you could try to clean it yourself. It may be just oil residue from evaperation. If the camera is a keeper oterwise you may want to pay for a CLA. light fog will most likly not effect your prints a whole lot maybe lower contrast a tad heavy fog will most assuradly effect the print. If you do try yourself to clean it get the repair manual and get the proper tools like from microtools or you will most deffintly cost yourself more in the long run than a professional CLA.

 

Best of luck. Grinder

Ron - I suggest that you wait and see.....it may just be a haze residue on one or more lens surfaces, in which case, as Donald has said, you can find plenty of advice on PN on how to strip and clean it yourself if you are able. If you are not, either send it to a pro, or replace it with another or with a FSU Jupiter, which will perform just as well if not better.

Ron,

Your lens seems to be a WWII era lens - if it is coated (red "T") be warned the coatings on the inside elements may be very soft and can wipe off in cleaning. WWII and early post-war f1.5 Sonnars have a variety of tricky lens element mounts; if it is coated, professional cleaning and collimation would be best. Henry Scherer is expensive but does a good job (about $125 or $75 if part of a camera CLA). Look at his web site: http://www.zeisscamera.com/Lenses/Prices.html

 

I have had good luck with Jupiter-3 lenses but many report problems getting a good one. In any event the J-3 is not a replacement for a CLA'd Zeiss lens