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Lens coating
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 03, 2013 9:11 pm    Post subject: Lens coating Reply with quote
Has anyone ever had an uncoated lens coated? There are a load of companies offering lens coating in the UK, according to a quick Google search, and I'd like to have my Ross WA Xpres f4 5" coated.


PostPosted: Sun Nov 03, 2013 9:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
From what I read at the companies that really do the coating, it seems at least very helpful to know which type of glass should be coated. Not every coating formula works good with every type of glass.


PostPosted: Mon Nov 04, 2013 12:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Hmm, somehow I doubt that there are " a load of companies in UK" that could cover a lens with a layer measuring a 1/4 thickness of a specific wavelength.


PostPosted: Mon Nov 04, 2013 7:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Quite expensive from what I have seen offered so far, $500 per glass surface.


PostPosted: Mon Nov 04, 2013 8:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Himself wrote:
Hmm, somehow I doubt that there are " a load of companies in UK" that could cover a lens with a layer measuring a 1/4 thickness of a specific wavelength.


From what I found in Germany there are a load of shops that offer lens coating for glasses - but as far as I understand they only do the coating when you buy a new lens for the glasses - and they do it in a manufacturing plant.


PostPosted: Mon Nov 04, 2013 6:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
The only coating service I've read about extensively was one offered by Arsenal (through ARAX) years ago. Many people took advantage of this and MC'ed some single-coated P6 lenses. That's how Hartblei made a start. It used to be like $30 a surface, which is incredible and shows how ridiculous the prices are elsewhere. I'd think about doing it if was still up-and-running. Here is an old thing about it: http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-5173.html and mention of another place in the UK towards the end.


PostPosted: Wed Nov 06, 2013 11:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Himself wrote:
Hmm, somehow I doubt that there are " a load of companies in UK" that could cover a lens with a layer measuring a 1/4 thickness of a specific wavelength.


I'm not expert in coating technologies, but there are indeed a number of firms in the UK who offer lens coating for spectacle lenses. I think that such coatings will often, if not always, be appropriate for the glasses used in uncoated camera lenses

And, to respond to Ian's query, I'm old enough to recall when 'after-market' coating of older lenses was commonplace and, even if the coating was 'only' magnesium fluoride, the resulting improvement to image quality was often substantial. In the mid-1960s I bought a 50mm f2 Summar that had been repolished and coated by the Jason Adams company; its performance on Kodachrome slides was absolutely 'modern' and had far more more sparkle than even a perfect uncoated example.

One thing to keep in mind is that any deterioration of surfaces will impair the effectiveness of coating, or even make its successful deposition impossible. Furthermore, cemented lenses will need to be separated first and then put back together afterwards. I think the Wide Angle Xpres is made up of a pair of cemented doublets but my memory may be faulty. If it does have just four air/glass surfaces, the improvement may not be as spectacular as one might wish for, particularly if some natural 'blooming' has taken place. At maybe £20+ per lens, it could be an expensive, though very interesting, experiment.

One talent that made1950s and 60s aftermarket coating so successful was the ability of the top class firms like Jason Adams not only to re-polish but also to make subtle changes to curves to compensate when optically significant amounts of glass were removed. I doubt those skills are to be found these days, so it must be sensible to ensure only near-perfect lenses are sent for coating.


PostPosted: Wed Nov 06, 2013 2:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
My guess is that Ian was trying to say that there are a lot of companies offering that kind of service.
It doesn`t mean they are doing it themselves but they are taking the lens/lenses and send them to Arsenal or some other 3rd party lens manufacturer.
How many shops could afford the investment into a coating machine? None, unless they are lens manufacturers.
Take a look here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mupkmkLPzk


PostPosted: Wed Nov 06, 2013 2:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
The WA Xpres is a plasmat, each half having a doublet and a single element, the doublets being on the outside.

It's a supremely sharp lens but contrast is very low and it flares like hell. With a hood and a yellow filter it's okay for BW, but I imagine the performance would be transformed by the addition of coating. I intend to use it for 5x7, which it covers amply and would be a nice wide angle. I also have a 5 inch Dallmeyer Wide Angle Anstigmat that is an uncoated double gauss - 4 elements in 4 groups, but with glasses less than half the diameter of the Ross, so maybe that will be a better solution for me, certainly cheaper, I just need to find someone to recut the threads so it fits in the spare Alphax shutter I have.

This is the sort of company I was referring to:

http://www.optimumcoatings.co.uk/anti-reflection.php


PostPosted: Wed Nov 06, 2013 3:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
iangreenhalgh1 wrote:
. . .
This is the sort of company I was referring to:

http://www.optimumcoatings.co.uk/anti-reflection.php


Yes, that's the kind of operator I was thinking about. I can't see why such firms can't do this kind of job easily. Have you checked their prices?


PostPosted: Wed Nov 06, 2013 5:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I haven't yet, I just wondered if anyone had used one of these type o coating services before I bothered to find out the cost.

I've just finished remounting my G-Claron 9/150 into a Compur 0, and I had my APO-Gerogon 9/150 front mounted on a Compur 1, sop my 5x7 shooting kit is coming together, I really want something wider though because 150mm on 5x7 is the equivalent of 35mm on 35mm so not really wide.



The other problem with the Ross WA Xpres is it needs either an Ilex #4 or Compur/Copal #3 shutter, neither of which is a cheap item.

All in all, I might be better off just buying a 120mm Super Angulon in shutter.


PostPosted: Fri Nov 08, 2013 9:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I've often come across this company when looking for coatings, but their price list would make you cough.
http://www.torrscientific.co.uk/index.php/services
Otoh, perhaps they'd be prepared to take in customer lens elements and do them in a batch of others for not a huge cost.


PostPosted: Sat Nov 09, 2013 9:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
themoleman342 wrote:
The only coating service I've read about extensively was one offered by Arsenal (through ARAX) years ago. Many people took advantage of this and MC'ed some single-coated P6 lenses. That's how Hartblei made a start. It used to be like $30 a surface, which is incredible and shows how ridiculous the prices are elsewhere. I'd think about doing it if was still up-and-running. Here is an old thing about it: http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-5173.html and mention of another place in the UK towards the end.

I have contacted them (Arax-Arsenal) some 2 years ago and they don't do lens coating anymore because they sold the coating machine... Shocked ... at least that was what they answered.
At that time the cheaper option I could find was ~100$/surface at a company in Australia, but I gave up.


PostPosted: Thu Dec 19, 2013 6:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Just bringing this back to the top, anyone out there doing this for less than an arm and a leg? I swear that one of these days I'm going to beg, buy, or build my own sputter coating machine and learn how to put a "simple" Magnesium Fluoride coating on lenses, should be able to make a killing on repair work. Too bad polishing is such a difficult task.
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