Lens repair
I have a very old set up I bought back in the early '70's and got something on my lens that pitted it. A couple of pictures following show the lens in question and the camera it goes to.
In the next blurred picture U can see the lens damage
And a side shot of the lens.
Really looking for a place I could take the lens out and send it to them and they make a new one or something of the sort.
In the next blurred picture U can see the lens damage
And a side shot of the lens.
Really looking for a place I could take the lens out and send it to them and they make a new one or something of the sort.
0
Comments
Unless the camera has some sentimental value I (regrettably) suggest that the lens has almost no real value and your money would be better invested in newer equipment.
If you decide to proceed, it looks like the lens fungus is very advanced and would require a complete disassembly. You are probably looking at around $150-$250USD as a guess, and then the problem can reoccur because any tiny spores remaining can cause a new outbreak of the fungus.
You might find an older shop that could remove just the outside elements and do a cursory cleaning for $50 or so, and that would allow basic usage of the lens.
Since the camera uses M42/Universal screw mount lenses, you can also just go to www.KEH.com and purchase a very nice Pentax lens of the same mount. If you get one of the Pentax SMC lenses it would probably beat the current lens in almost every category.
As a direct replacement KEH has a Pentax 35mm, f3.5 SMC TAKUMAR (49) in EX condition for $72 that would be lovely on that camera.
At the KEH site go to their 35mm section, then Pentax Screwmount, then choose either "Fixed Focal Length Lenses", to get genuine Pentax lenses, or choose "Non-Mfg Fixed Focal Length Lenses" for third party lens offerings.
If you haven't used the camera in some time the battery is more than likely dead and it uses a battery type that you may find impossible to find now. The camera should work without a battery so either use an external meter or an exposure chart instead.
Good luck.
Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
Kris
I'm afraid not.
The good news is that you can leverage your purchase dollar and buy a very high-quality film camera system for not very much at all.
A professional level film camera and older manual focus lenses can be purchased for a fraction of what they would have cost when they were new. I suggest staying with either Nikon, Canon, Pentax or Olympus just because there is a plentiful supply of bodies and lenses from which to choose and because there is still support for each of those manufacturers even today.
Perhaps the best way to leverage old technology in today's digital world is to use older lenses on modern digital SLRs. As a for instance, I still use my old Pentax screw-mount lenses on my Canon cameras via a simple adapter. Canon is somewhat unique and you can find lens adapters for older Leica R, Leica Visoflex, Nikon F, Contax/Yashica and Olympus OM too.
Here are some of my examples (I think all of these are using a Canon XT/350D host camera body, available for around $250 nowdays):
Vivitar 500mm, f6.3
Crop from above:
Vivitar 105mm, f2.8 used as a macro (with a diopter lens in front and using extension rings):
Pentax 50mm, f1.4 SMC @ f5.6:
Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
I'm surprised by and impressed with the image quality from the Vivitar lenses. Although, I suppose every lens has a "sweet spot".
Vivitar also has a lot of "mediocre" quality lenses. These, that I show, are among my better and even best lenses. Pentax SMC lenses in M42 mount are generally very good optical formulas and normally much better than any Vivitar.
I also have a very nice Soligor 28mm, f2.8 (M42) and a MIR 20mm, f3.5 (M42) that have tested nicely but I have no examples.
Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
Hence my surprise
Yes, I have one that I play with occasionally, using an adapter for my 40D. (For some reason, the adapters don't work properly on the DS2, even though nothing projects into the camera.) It is a very nice lens.
The older Canon 1D/1Ds series cameras (and I think the D30, D60 and 10D) have a little switch (microswitch) on the lens mount to detect when a lens is mounted and the camera will not operate unless the switch is actuated. It is presumed that part of the reason is to prevent someone from accidentally not latching and the lens would be in a precarious condition.
Unless you get an M42/EOS adapter with a pin/screw to actuate the switch, the 1D/1Ds cameras will not recognize that a lens is attached.
There is some similar discussion on the following page. Look about halfway down the page, specifically look for "microswitch":
http://74.125.93.132/search?q=cache:WKFbW1gjZz4J:www.bobatkins.com/photography/tutorials/mirror.html+lens+microswitch+canon+1d&cd=6&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
Interesting. Thanks for the pointer