Author Topic: Fungus removal on a 1000mm Reflex-Nikkor  (Read 690 times)

mxbianco

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Fungus removal on a 1000mm Reflex-Nikkor
« on: May 25, 2023, 11:17:58 »
I bought for next to nothing a fungus infested Reflex-Nikkor 1000mm/11, NKJ first edition (the one with a filter turret)

By applying the suggestions from Richard Haw (thanks Ric!), I proceeded to remove the fungus from the lens. Only the front element was badly infested (see photos before and after treatment).
I used an ammonia solution where I treated the front element (10 mm thick!) for about 5 minutes. there were no evident fungus tendrils on the other elements and/or the barrel, but I suspected the presence of spores, so I did an additional thing to what suggested by Ric: I used an ozone generator, the type that is used to sanitize hotel rooms and the like. Using a small plastic pipe, I saturated a closed environment (plastic box) with ozone, with my lens inside it (3 min treatment, leaving the ozone to act for the next two hours).

Mounted the front element, the lens is now free from the fogging that affected it.

Easy and quick, this work falls in the EASY category. Only a large  lens spanner (110 mm span) is required.

Next modding on this lens: removing one of the B/W filters from the filter turret, and replacing it with a clear filter covered with a Baader solar filter. Then -maybe- extending the lens hood to a proper length, like I'm doing with the 400mm/3.5 ED lens, which had a very short 50mm long hood (more details on another article in this section).

Ciao from Massimo


Since evolution has given us TWO ears and ONE mouth, we are supposed (me included) to be doing more listening than talking.

Akira

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Re: Fungus removal on a 1000mm Reflex-Nikkor
« Reply #1 on: May 25, 2023, 11:59:17 »
That's a surprising result, Massimo!  Glad to know that you didn't damage the mirrors.
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Birna Rørslett

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Re: Fungus removal on a 1000mm Reflex-Nikkor
« Reply #2 on: May 25, 2023, 12:18:22 »
I've seen several of these old Reflex-Nikkors where the mirror silvering has started to deteriorate. If the issue is confined to he mirror margins the lens might still be useful, however  if damage develops further only DX format cameras will be usable (I have one of the problem lenses myself).

mxbianco

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Re: Fungus removal on a 1000mm Reflex-Nikkor
« Reply #3 on: May 25, 2023, 15:29:12 »
That's a surprising result, Massimo!  Glad to know that you didn't damage the mirrors.

I risked it, because the pics on the eBay ad looked really bad, but it was ok and the layer of fog came off almost instantly. There is some peripheral damage on the central mirror silvering (the orange disc), but it does not affect the image quality. The hardest part was tapping gently the barrel to remove the front element, it took a lot of tapping and patience, I had to squeeze some acetone drops to wet the lens and it helped a lot.

Ciao from Massimo
Since evolution has given us TWO ears and ONE mouth, we are supposed (me included) to be doing more listening than talking.