Oil On Blades: What Is Your Opinion?

Jeff Zen · Joined: 17 Jun 2009 Posts: 262 Location: Northwest USA

I've slowly gotten use to the idea that some of my old lenses, particularly Soviet ones, are just going to have some oil on the iris.

How do you feel about oil on the blades of your lenses?
What is the biggest downside to this in your opinion?
How strongly does it affect resale value?
Does oil thicken in extremely cold weather?

Thanks in advance for any info!

scsambrook · Expire: 2011-11-18

Oil is good in an engine, less so in a lens Very Happy

But, oil in pre-set lenses isn't as bad as in auto diaphragm ones where it can slow down the speed of operation and give you inadvertent over exposure. In pre-set, or simple manual iris lenses it's a problem when there's enough to make the blades drag - sometimes they flex and can even jump off their mounting pegs. But that's rare. The worst is when the oil gets onto adjacent glass surfaces, then it means a strip and clean job. It certainly can thicken when it's really cold.

I suppose it must affect resale value, but how much will depend on the extent to which it's spread about.

luisalegria · Expire: 2018-01-18

Some lenses seem to have been designed to have oil/grease on the blades.
And it doesn't seem to matter much if a preset or plain manual aperture lens has oil on the blades. The worst downside I can see is that if it is new oil, there is some danger that the lens surface by the iris could get fogged by condensation. This is usually quite easy to clean on this kind of lens.

Auto lenses of course are not supposed to have oil, as this prevents the stop-down mechanism from working correctly. On these its a real fault, and sometimes is quite difficult to fix.

indianadinos · Expire: 2011-12-05

Hi,

I'm using MF lenses since five years, now. Oily blades are not an issue for me (well, unless there is a liter and half of oil), at least on old lenses. Those lenses required the diaphragm to be lubed to work properly, so a bit of oil is normal, IMHO. On the other hand, on modern lenses (i.e., those built from 1970 ... 1980) i would test them before buying, since these don't need too much lubricant as the older ones ...

For what concerns the extremely cold weather, sorry cannot be of help ...

Attila · Expire: 2025-11-18

Oil problem only on auto lenses on others just good to conserve blades against rust Laughing

koji · Expire: 2012-12-27

Attila · Expire: 2025-11-18

Yes.

You have nice avatar BTW seems Red Army is coming I am excited about your opinion , hopefully you will get them soon.

David · Expire: 2013-01-25

I'm actually having a huge problem with oil on the blades of my JCP 28mm. I bought it knowing the aperture didn't work, but I had hoped it was a missing spring (easy fix.) No dice -- the blades have so much oil they're frozen. I had it working for about 20 minutes, but then the oil locked up the blades again. So, now I get to take it all apart and see if I can clean the blades. Sounds like a *fun* Saturday.

As long as nothing affects the lens' function or capabilities, I'm just fine with however the lens wants to work. However, when something like oil causes the lens to cease proper functionality, then it needs to be fixed.

How does oil get on the aperture anyway? My JCP is the only lens I own with this problem.

LucisPictor · Expire: 2013-12-03

If it's only some traces of oil I do not really care.
But if it is a lot of oil, it might cause a problem, since it can drip on other parts or get greasy after some time.

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9097 Location: Houston, Texas

Pretty much what Attila wrote.

If the lens has a manual aperture -- or a preset one -- I don't care if it has oil on the blades. I have a Kyoei 135mm LTM lens that has oily blades. So what. It also has about 16 of 'em. Cool

But if the lens is an auto-aperture lens, then that's a different story isn't it? I have two zooms that are just sitting here right now, waiting for me to get around to dismantling them so I can clean the blades. The apertures do not work because of oil on the blades.

David · Expire: 2013-01-25

I just bought two lenses with oily blades, so oily the blades didn't functions. I had to take both apart, remove the blades, clean off the oil, and re-assemble. Both work VERY well now. This also gave me a chance to clean some dust/dirt/perhaps light fungus off the inside of one of the lenses' inner elements. I am -- decidedly -- anti-oil at this point.