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Donald Qualls
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, April 09, 2004 - 08:02 pm: | 
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I have a Varexon 135mm f/2.8, M42 mount, that has become unreliable in terms of stopping down for DOF preview, metering, and exposure -- sometimes it does, and sometimes it doesn't. In addition, I've noticed that it's not quite in focus at infinity -- if I point it at the Moon, it's still fuzzy when it's against the stop, and it doesn't get sharp if I bring it back a little.
The infinity focus problem is obviously because the optics aren't retracting quite far enough toward the camera body, and can probably be corrected by resetting the infinity stop (I've already checked that the mount hasn't backed out of the lens barrel). It's the same on both of my Ricoh Singlex II bodies, and on my Spotmatic SP; it's most noticeable with a tele-converter in place (because the image is magnified), but definitely detectable without.
The stop down looks like a bigger problem. There's nothing visible on the diaphragm blades, and as far as I know (I've had this lens for close to twenty years) it's never had anything spilled in it, been dropped, etc., but it has sat idle for most of the years I've owned it; I probably haven't shot two full rolls of film with the 135mm in the past ten years (I've used it for a shot here and there, often with macro rings for a long close-up).
Clearly, it's senseless to pay to have a generic lens of this age fixed, when I can buy them on eBay for as little as $10. So, question is, first, how would I disassemble things to clean whatever's getting sticky (I presume it's oil that's gummed up somewhere), and second, where is the infinity stop in this lens and/or how would I adjust the infinity setting? |
Donald Qualls
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, April 09, 2004 - 08:04 pm: |
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(Or should I just start shopping eBay for an M42 135mm lens?) |
Bill Salati
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, April 12, 2004 - 08:06 pm: |
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I'd say go shopping for another 135 and experiment on the Varexon. |
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