EBC Fujinon 50mm f1.4 Fungus cleaning.

[Kathmandu]

I bought this lens a few months back and was hoping to clean it as it was infested with fungus.



After scouring the web-I found nothing on opening this lens to access the necessary elements. I put the lens in a UV box for 2 weeks and then out in the summer sun for a few days-to no avail. Iwas able to open the filter ring by unscrewing the three screws on the side and that was the extent of it. I could see no way of unscrewing the front cell or the back cell. I used the lens with the fungus , and I was getting beautiful images with it even with the infestation. I put the lens away in a ziplock bag , and away from other lenses, in hopes of one day opening and cleaning.

Well that day has come and I managed to open to open it up through the front and dissassemble the front cell and clean it.

Heres what I did:

Took the name ring off by unscrewing the front ring, which was held down by three tiny screws.




I could see the front cell with 2 holes on the side. This is threaded and glued down. I applied a couple of swaps of acetone and painted in between the cracks with a pointed Q-tip soaked in acetone. I firmly placed the tips of my spanner tool(the pointed tips-mine has a sloted one and a ponted one )into the two holes amd turned the spanner tool anti-clockwise firmly pushing down at the same time- and est voila it turned .I was never able to do that previously.



I unscrewed the front cell and could now see that the fungus was behind the front element, and on the face of the element underneath the iris. I blew the dust off the opened parts and used a lens brush on the open parts gently cleaning loose particles off-and then using the blower again.
I opened the iris wide open and applied an antifungal cream on the element under the iris without disassembling that portion further. I dont even know if the back cell can be disassembled. I left it with the cream on for 20 minutes or so and later cleaned it off with a q-tip soaked in denatured alchohol, and a clean lint free lens cleaning cloth. I used vapor from my breath on the element and wiped it clean.



The front element was held down by a threaded and glued retaing ring. I applied acetone in the previously mentioned method, and used a knife blade tip to scratch ,break apart and clean some of the glue in the cracks. I used a rubber band to aid in gripping the lower part of the front cell and a latex gloved hand to twist the retaining ring (anti-clockwise) . I tried a few times , making sure I wasn't touching any part of the element, and managed to unscrew the retaining ring.
I used the same method in cleaning the fungus from the back of the front element.When the fungus was cleaned off ,I cleaned the threads of the retaining ring with de-natured alchohol ,and applied some naptha on the threads-before putting the newly cleaned lens elements back on the front cell.




I then applied some naptha on the front cell threads and used the blower one last time inside the lens to blow away any dust particles.

The lens was then put back and reassembled.



lens mounted on a sony alpha adapter .


I hope someone finds this useful-as I could on find anything on the wild wild web.

Regards
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kathmandu

Sony α 700 DSLR

[Excalibur]

Excellent report even though I don't have a Fuji 50mm f1.4.
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Nikon L35ad, EM & N2000, Canon A1, AV1, T70 & T90, Centon K100, Minolta X-700, X-300, SRT101b and AFZ, Pentax S3, Praktica MTL3, MTL5 & BC1, Konica Autoreflex TC, FT-1 & C35, Olympus Om10 & 20, Yashica T5D and FR1, Fuji STX-2, Bronica Etrs, Mamiya RB67 pro AND drum roll:- a Sony DSC-P92
.........past gear Tele Rollieflex and Rollei SL66.
Loads of lenses but nothing very expensive.

[tomasg]

Excellent, makes me want to buy lenses that i don t need, just to fix them...

Tomas
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my pictures:

www.pbase.com/tomasg_71

[indianadinos]

Great, thanks for sharing the tutorial ...
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Please visit my blogs Shooting with a Pentax K10D / FF Visions

Takumar: 24/3.5, 28/3.5, 35/2, 35/3.5, 50/1.4, 55/1.8, 85/1.8, 105/2.8, 120/2.8, 135/3.5, 150/4, 200/4
Pentax-K: M28/2.8, K28/3.5, M50/1.4, A50/1.7, M50/4 Macro, K85/1.8, K105/2.8, K135/2.5, M200/4, M70-150/4
Zeiss: Flektogon 20/2.8, 20/4, 35/2.4, 35/2.8, Tessar 50/2.8, Pancolar 50/1.8, Biotar 58/2, Sonnar 135/3.5, Sonnar 180/2.8
Meyer: Primagon 35/4.5, Domiplan 50/2.8, Oreston 50/1.8, Primoplan 58/1.9, Trioplan 100/2.8, Orestor 100/2.8, Orestor 135/2.8
Schacht/Steinheil: Travenar 90/2.8, Travenon 135/4.5, Quinar 135/2.8, Quinar 135/3.5
Russian: MIR 37B, Industar 50/3.5, Helios 44M & 44M-2, Jupiter 37A
P6: Flektogon 50/4, Biometar 80/2.8, Orestor 300/4
Nikkor: Nikkor-O 35/2, Micro 55/3.5, Nikkor-S 50/1.4, Nikkor-Q 135/2.8
Fuji: EBC 28/3.5, EBC 55/3.5 Macro, EBC 135/2.5
Misc Lenses: Kiron 105/2.8 Macro, Tamron SP90/2.5
... and a few other Vivitar, Tamron, Sigma and Soligor lenses ...

[Kathmandu]

[polarhei]

Your guide is very noticeable,although I have not the material needed, after a little cleaning internally, Improved a little.
The remain may need some liquid to do.

Although Some people seldom know what we are exactly doing(thinking I am destroying a len). Fixed focus length lens like fujinon 50mm may be the most simple to fix (as there are not more than 3 pieces of glass). Now I have some problem to fix my standard 80-200 M42 Tokina Lens.

P.S: I used to face similar thing before, a Model of Double-len camera,35mm format so Fixed focus len (Fujinon?) in M42 should be easy to maintain.