Nikon 20mm f2.8 AF - haze issue

[Zang]

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

[MEPER]

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 :-)

[Zang]

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

[MEPER]

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 :-)

[Zang]

I doubt dusk can cause any dramatic hazing. Could be light leak or some glass damage.

[MEPER]

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.

[MEPER]

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.

[John Geerts]

Or an unsuccessful repair and reassembled again with  the glass-elements in the wrong order...

[longzoom]

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

[Zang]

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

[Zang]

Hmm... that's probably my ignorance I cannot use aperture ring on AFD lens, right?

[longzoom]

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

[Bent Hjarbo]

Depends on the camera, but it can be setup to use the aperture ring.

[Birna Rørslett]

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.

[Zang]

Can you tell me how? I have D300 and D800. D300 is currently with me upstairs so I'll try with it first.