Lens cleaning (internal)

Just wondered if anyone could help me out. I bought a vintage Sigma lens on ebay that was meant to be in superb condition - however it arrived today and the inside looked more like a petri dish!






Annoyingly my m42 adapter is still in the post so I've not been able to check the image quality, but I'm not holding out much hope. However, since the lens was pretty cheap, I don't mind too much paying for it to get cleaned up so I wondered if anyone had any experience how much this sort of thing costs? Or even if its been caught in time?

I am a little worried about those scratches, however, so this might yet go straight back to the seller!

IMHO straight back to the seller, unless the description was accurate.

Agree with John did you use paypal out of interest ?

Yes, back to seller first

If not, apparently fungus can be cleaned with Pond's Cold Cream
See here

Matt

I've also had a lot of luck with Naptha (lighter fluid) for cleaning lenses of fungus. What kind of lens is it? If it's a zoom, then I wouldn't use it as a "learning how to take a lens apart" lens - getting the helicoids correct on zooms can be tricky! On the other hand, old MF primes are often ideal for taking apart and seeing how things work

I did pay by paypal yes - the only reason I'm looking at my options really is the relative amount of money I'll get back once I've paid to have the lump of metal sent back..

You've probably guessed its a zoom.. there's also a macro focus ring as well so even more moving parts to play with! All in all I think it's looking a bit too intimidating for my first attempt at this sort of thing..

The seller really ought to reimburse your return postage - at least that's what I'd be demanding! Withhold your Feedback until this is resolved to your satisfaction. Due to the value of the lens, it's probably just a case of getting a refund and binning the lens. I doubt I'd consider cost or effort of cleaning that up worth it, unless its a particularly rare or desirable lens.

Has the seller got good history? and did the description state anything which might indicate not in good condition ?
What is his/her returns policies ?
Postage should be reimbursed,Not sure but thought I read something about this recently but cant be sure check paypal if it gets that far but for now contact the seller and see what they have to say or offer ,Good luck

Only try dismantling it if you are not afraid of losing it. I have succesfully cleaned some old Takumars but ruined a Takumar 200mm F4 as I could not re-assemble it. Best bet is send it back for a refund, or argue with the seller and get a load of money knocked off, then try cleaning it. If it cleans you've got a cheap lens, if it doesn't you've lost only a little money.

Regards
David

When you are talking to the seller, make sure you do not even hint at giving them negative feedback - if you end up having to get eBay to refund the fees they get really awkward and unhelpful if it looks like you've been threatening people with negative feedback.

Good point it will appear like you are blackmailing them and not worth doing unless at the end of it all you remain unhappy Neg feedback isnt a weapon its your experience

Who knows you may still give a green or grey ....hope so

Just contact the seller if it can't be resolved easily then just do a 'item not as described' through eBay they almost always side with the buyer

The seller has been entirely reasonable about it - I have a refund and I have the lens!

I suppose the next question is whether I should be worried about any spores from this and keeping it a country mile from everything else, or is that bordering on mild paranoia?

It might be worth saying here which Sigma lens it is and get an opinion on whether it is worth getting it cleaned/repaired.

There are some smaller local photography shops (we have one here in Scarborough) who might be prepared to give it a go. The chap here enjoys tackling such things! It could be you've nothing to loose.

John

The lens is a Sigma XQ 80-200 F3.5 - I haven't exactly come across a wealth of information about it online but I thought it looked interesting.

I was planning to take it into the camera shop here in York tomorrow to see if they had anything to say, but I'm not sure they do that sort of thing there.