Exakta's Xenon 1.9's Aperature Blades Stuck; Fixable?

[katie_pype]

<p>It's been a long time since I've been on this forum! I recently went on a bout of camera buying at a yearly rotary rummage sale where they were selling beautiful film cameras for pennies on the dollar. I got a number of great cameras that I am in the process of cleaning them and getting them ready to shoot and play with. One in particular I got was an Exakta VX/Varex with a Schneider Xenon 1.9 50mm lens. The camera itself is something I've been curious about for a while, and was ecstatic to find it for a price that I felt like I was stealing it. The camera itself is in great shape, and the lens is almost flawless. However, I did notice that the aperture blades are stuck at about f/8. I know when you press the shutter, the blades will close or open quickly, then go back to being wide open. If I were to fire the shutter at a smaller aperture, like f/11, the blades quickly close to the right stop, then go back to f/8. If I were to fire it at f/3, there is no movement at all, not even a twitch. <br /><br /><br />I've been looking to find info on this, but haven't seen anything very specific or exact. The only real repair I've done was occasional repairs to my Minolta Hi-Matic 7's leaf shutter which sticks sometimes. This would be a little bit more of a risk, obviously, but I'm wondering if it's fixable? I don't see any visible grease or oil on the blades, but I've also haven't seen it wider than f/5.6. (It got stuck more to f/8 now...don't want to mess with it anymore). Any help would be very much appreciated!<br /><br />Picture of my Exakta VX:<br /><br /><img src="https://scontent-sea1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/10169447_1303987039663732_1628043358517381845_n.jpg?oh=2f1dc8f955150d762da7878982309b1a&oe=5615BF87" alt="" width="632" height="421" /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Aperture blades looking from the front:<br /> <br /><img src="https://scontent-sea1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xft1/v/t1.0-9/11412361_1303987012997068_740371557461266792_n.jpg?oh=0456e10c3eb2e3834fd8622aeb0875c2&oe=561F6A92" alt="" width="621" height="413" /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Blades from the back:<br /><br /><img src="https://scontent-sea1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xta1/v/t1.0-9/11402938_1303987019663734_221943103534873125_n.jpg?oh=88904bdb8183c476443b93a3a8a71e79&oe=55E94CD4" alt="" width="618" height="411" /></p>

[subbarayan_prasanna]

<p>Congratulations on a lovely camera and lens. Most lenses of this age will have a good amount of fine dust deposited on the iris blades. These are not visible to the eye. They may not show any oil or grease and will appear normal. In most of these lenses the rear element, single or group, can be removed to expose the Iris. Use a cotton swab or Q-tiip dipped in petrol or Naphtha and clean the Iris blades. work the blades after each round of cleaning and drying the solvent. After several rounds the Iris will work smoothly. You will see the grime coming out on your Q-tips until the Iris is clean.<br>

If the deposits are heavy this may take a long time and a number of rounds. I have spent a couple of hours on each lens, on several occasions. Please do the cleaning with a gentle touch. The blades are very thin and will bend easily under pressure. Good luck. sp.</p>

[walter_degroot]

<p>with the miranda d f g sensorex<br>

50mm f/1.0 f1.8<br>

there are two modules front and back.<br>

sumply unscrew and ser asu=ide and gently clean the remaining mecahanical parts with swabs and a safe solvent<br>

lighter fluid<br>

us out doors it is very flamible.<br>

alcohol does not workl.<br>

even ehtyl alcohol or grain alcohol<br>

vodka of gin.</p>

<p>it must be repeated several times.<br>

my 35mm and 135mm lenses require a smanner wrench.<br>

noty the design of the 1.8 and 1.9 requires NO screws ro be removed<br>

nothing to do with the focusing helix.<br>

I hope the exazcta lens is as simple.<br>

tou may nees a rubber sheet or thick rubber band to grip the element groups.<br>

I cannot offer any guarantees if the lens construction is silkilar<br>

but it is wirht a try.<br>

a sealable plasyc bag and a shake /swich in alcohol<br>

afterwards will remove some residue<br>

and should not seep into the focusing helix<br>

and a good shake and a air dring should finish to job if it can be done at all.</p>

<p>different exacta lenses shou;d or may be construted fifferently.<br>

I cleaned a 50mm f/1.8 miranda lens<br>

and it required a secont procedure the following year.still ok though.<br>

it is unfortunate that some repair persons will not touch certin brands<br>

and charge large fees to do anything at all.</p>

<p>I would appreciate any positive comments went to my personal email<br>

wdegroot@ptd.net<br>

I cannot seem to access photo net mail.<br>

and my questions go unanswered.</p>

<p>good luck.</p>

[John Seaman]

<p>Wow that's a lot of aperture blades!</p>

<p>This may help - scroll down to the post by dcamin:</p>

<p>http://forum.mflenses.com/schneider-kreuznach-xenon-50mm-f1-9-in-exakta-mt-t45518.html</p>

[John Seaman]

<p>Another thought, could it be a pre-set aperture? Some old lenses have a ring which you either push forward or pull back, then turn to set the taking aperture.</p>

[katie_pype]

<p>Thanks all for the help! No, it is not a pre-set aperture from what I've read from other forums and the manual. Should retract all the way from the selected aperture after engaging the shutter. And thank you for the post, although I didn't have to take it apart to that extent. Loved the sample photos; could be used for interesting results.<br /><br />There were no screwed I needed to undo--thank goodness, they were the smallest screws I ever saw!--just needed my spanner wrench to undo the rear element, and there it exposed the aperture blades. It was about two hours of using lighter fluid and Q-tips, gently circling the blades and working them each to gently open to get the fluid around, and half a dozen black-tipped swabs to get them clean. After letting it dry for about half an hour about three times, they began to respond like they should, retracting to wide open after the shutter button was disengaged. After an overnight, seeing they still worked, I screwed the rear element on after cleaning everything up and I've got a good as new lens! Thanks again all, hopefully I can get some pictures up soon.</p>

[chuck_foreman1]

So pleased it worked out for you!! Please do post some pictures. What a bokeh that will deliver.. both open

and closed!! I suspect!