NikonGear'23
Gear Talk => Lens Talk => Topic started by: Zang on May 26, 2020, 07:25:19
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Hi all,
I found a local ad that says:
"Nikon 20mm 2.8 afd in good condition but the lens shows signs of some haze in photos, essentially just low contrast. Still sharp though."
Do you think it is something fixable? :)
Cheers,
Zang
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Could be interesting to see an image through lens wide open to check if it is dust or a kind of residue that covers lens surface. If coating is damaged it is not good. If lens has scratches it is not good either. I guess lens is cheap since you are interested :-)
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Could be interesting to see an image through lens wide open to check if it is dust or a kind of residue that covers lens surface. If coating is damaged it is not good. If lens has scratches it is not good either. I guess lens is cheap since you are interested :-)
Year, the posted price is 60CAD what is 40USD equivalence :)
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Ok.....then you can get it as a "spare part" lens. If contacts and chip works then just this may be worth to get so you can use that to maybe chip an AIS 20/2.8 in the future......if 20/2.8 AFD lens is not fixable :-)
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I doubt dusk can cause any dramatic hazing. Could be light leak or some glass damage.
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I was thinking of if water has come into the lens and has made a thin layer of residue on inner lens surfaces…..or maybe oil.
You are right that it will require a lot of dust to make images look hazy.
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It could be vaporized grease on lens surfaces if lens has been exposed to heat (laying out in the sun in Death Valley in August :-) )
Or maybe just inside a very hot car.
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Or an unsuccessful repair and reassembled again with the glass-elements in the wrong order...
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This lens is the ease fixable if the operator has some knowledge. Disassembling should begin from the front, remove the block in one peace. Check, then, what surface is damaged. The worse case is if the glue inside the block is attacked by any biological agents. In this unfortunate case you can't do anything. The rest is fixable. Do not forget to remove the aperture ring for cleaning. Try not to touch aluminum coulis set for proper optical compensating. There are some very thin scratches on the metal, showing how to put it back. The rear optical group is simply unscrewing, no problem. Good luck! LZ
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This is an interesting story. To cut it short, the lens is now mine (just bought it 30 minutes ago). The price went down to CA$40 and the offer was nearby so why not? In the worst case I'll turn it into a coffee mug.
BTW, I bought the lens without thorough checking. At home, tt turned out the seller lied :) The lens is probably fine, but the electronics malfunction. It works fine with maximum aperture number and the aperture close correctly when using shutter priority mode. The camera shows error FEE when the aperture ring is moved away from the green position.
Still, I think it was not a bad buy at all.
Cheers,
Zang
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Hmm... that's probably my ignorance ;) I cannot use aperture ring on AFD lens, right?
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Hmm... that's probably my ignorance ;) I cannot use aperture ring on AFD lens, right?
Yes, you can use it, but through the camera only! FEE signal is correct, the lens must stay on its closest position, while on the camera. Just clean it! LZ
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Depends on the camera, but it can be setup to use the aperture ring.
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Of course you can. No lies from the seller in that respect.
You just need to move settings of your camera away from the default so as to allow using the aperture ring on the lens instead of the dial on the camera.
The nice aspect is how Nikon implemented the feature. All "G" lenses without aperture control of their own will operate just as they did before.
Not all lower-end models will have this feature, however. It's missing from the models having only a single dial on camera.
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Can you tell me how? I have D300 and D800. D300 is currently with me upstairs so I'll try with it first.
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Custom menu -> section F on most Nikons.
Both D300 and D8xx will support this mode.
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Wow... I bought the camera new in 2005. I never looked into the menus. There is a jungle of them LOL
Thanks all!
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This is an interesting story. To cut it short, the lens is mine. The price went down to $40 and the offer was nearby so why not? In the worst case I'll turn it into a coffee mug.
BTW, I bought the lens without thorough checking. At home, tt turned out the seller lied :) The lens is probably fine, but the electronics malfunction. It works fine with maximum aperture number and the aperture close correctly when using shutter priority mode. The camera shows error FEE when the aperture ring is moved away from the green position.
Still, I think it was not a bad buy at all.
Cheers,
Zang
Remove the plastic ring from the front, then, the hood's bayonet. To proceed any further, special tools you will need. Only if you have skills, you may continue without tools! LZ
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Remove the plastic ring from the front, then, the hood's bayonet. To proceed any further, special tools you will need. Only if you have skills, you may continue without tools! LZ
I appreciate your hints, but hey, read all the posts. I do not think I have any issues with the lens now :)
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Just for the record, I did have a 20/2.8D with a true haze issue. There is a glued-up internal lens pair, and the adhesive used turned hazy. I tried getting a replacement from China but they sent the wrong part, and since they used the correct number for the wrong part, I decided it's not worth trying to get it all straight. My local camera repairman took a stab at re-doing it but apparently the adhesive used had a different refractive index from what one can now get, and the lens is now clear but unsharp. *
So I'm glad the OP got one that is not hazy. It's still something to keep in mind, though, when shopping for this lens, though I'd gladly have paid 40 bucks for it too.
*repairman, unhappy with result, did not charge despite considerable work done!
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Hey Matt, when looking through the (bad) lens, did you see the glue?
Mine looks crystal clear.
I'll take some test picture soon after my work, but it seems like you guys will not see the coffee mug.
Thanks,
Zang
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Just for the record, I did have a 20/2.8D with a true haze issue. There is a glued-up internal lens pair, and the adhesive used turned hazy. I tried getting a replacement from China but they sent the wrong part, and since they used the correct number for the wrong part, I decided it's not worth trying to get it all straight. My local camera repairman took a stab at re-doing it but apparently the adhesive used had a different refractive index from what one can now get, and the lens is now clear but unsharp. *
So I'm glad the OP got one that is not hazy. It's still something to keep in mind, though, when shopping for this lens, though I'd gladly have paid 40 bucks for it too.
*repairman, unhappy with result, did not charge despite considerable work done!
By moving the aluminum coulis left or right, mm by mm, you may try to restore its sharpness, what I've done with great success. Nobody will do it for you, because of a great time-consuming. But, if a new field of adhesive is thinner or thicker then needed, nothing will help. LZ
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(https://live.staticflickr.com/4113/34832322223_9d1ed2f27d_k.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/V51KRH)2017-06-23 001-1-2 (https://flic.kr/p/V51KRH) by lo[url=https://flic.kr/p/V51Jsa](https://live.staticflickr.com/4132/34832317493_c718707795_b.jpg) (https://www.flickr.com/photos/longzoom/)2017-06-23 001-1-2-1 (https://flic.kr/p/V51Jsa) by longzoom (https://www.flickr.com/photos/longzoom/), on Flickrngzoom[/url], on Flickr. That's an illustration to the topic. Restored myself lens, at f5.6, crop. The D810. Not bad at all for this ancient technology. LZ
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Look good to me :) Thanks LZ.
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I did a few non-scientific tests. You guys tell me if you see anything wrong here :)
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... and a few more:
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Nothing is wrong, but 1 more image to infinity, wide open, and the same, at 5.6. LZ
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We are surrounded by trees so no infinity :) Will do some during afternoon biking.
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So to sum up.....there was no Haze issue?
The lens is optical perfect but electronics does not work and to overcome this you have set camera to treat the lens as a lens without chip.....so just as a normal AIS lens?
If the electronics made to much troubles and made the camera show "ERR" a way to avoid this was to completely cut the connection to chip. Then lens should work as a normal AIS lens without changing anything in the menus? …...you should just not lock the aperture ring to f22?
But if you can use the lens now as a G-lens with aperture ring locked and manuel focus this is of course the best solution but that requires that some part of the electronics work?
I am a bit confused of what the fault was on the lens?
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So to sum up.....there was no Haze issue?
The lens is optical perfect but electronics does not work and to overcome this you have set camera to treat the lens as a lens without chip.....so just as a normal AIS lens?
If the electronics made to much troubles and made the camera show "ERR" a way to avoid this was to completely cut the connection to chip. Then lens should work as a normal AIS lens without changing anything in the menus? …...you should just not lock the aperture ring to f22?
But if you can use the lens now as a G-lens with aperture ring locked and manuel focus this is of course the best solution but that requires that some part of the electronics work?
I am a bit confused of what the fault was on the lens?
Hi there,
I know there were too many posts :) The haze issue was claimed by the seller himself. The electronics has not issue, it was just my bad knowledge. The lens looks news and functions as expected. The pictures are as shown.
Cheers,
Zang
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Ok....then it was a pretty good buy :-)
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Yeah, I can't believe... the deal was just unreal.
Even if the lens breaks tomorrow, I have had lots of fun with it today :)
And I still can turn it to a cool coffee mug LOL
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Hey Matt, when looking through the (bad) lens, did you see the glue?
Mine looks crystal clear.
I'll take some test picture soon after my work, but it seems like you guys will not see the coffee mug.
Thanks,
Zang
I presume it was the glue I saw. It was quite cloudy, and immediately obvious that there was a problem. I had hoped initially it was fungus on the outside of an element, but it was not. There was certainly no mistaking this for a clear lens. When I looked through it it was really awful.
As for continuing to try for clarity (other post) maybe I'll try one day, but I don't need the focal length that badly, and I'm pretty sure the repairman did all he could to try to get it right. He's cemented lenses before, and though he doesn't like doing it, he's likely to have done it right.
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I presume it was the glue I saw. It was quite cloudy, and immediately obvious that there was a problem...
I see... Before I bought the lens, I tried to imagine all possible bad cases. One of the worst one I was thinking of is issue with the inner surface of the objective assembly. It turned out it is not the case.
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Nothing is wrong, but 1 more image to infinity, wide open, and the same, at 5.6. LZ
Infinity does not look bad to me but you tell me :)
#1 infinity at 5.6
#2 infinity at 2.8
#3 another candid shot
I notice the lens flare very easily, even with a brighter object.
Look at picture #4. There is red-ish haze around the boy.
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It is a good copy, of what it really is, especially for the money you paid. If possible, avoid using it wide open, f4.0, at least. Yea, there are some optical imperfections, but anything looks worse than any old lens of its kind! LZ
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It is a good copy, of what it really is, especially for the money you paid. If possible, avoid using it wide open, f4.0, at least. Yea, there are some optical imperfections, but anything looks worse than any old lens of its kind! LZ
Yeah, the final price was merely 30usd. I expected it as unusable lens.