alcoholīlow out any dust and fuzzies from cleaning before reassembly. here is the aperture blade unit in the lens tube. now clean backside of front element and both sides of rest of the group.Īgain, I used the 50/50 mix ammonia / hydrogen peroxide to clean the haze from all inner elements except the lens behind the aperture blades as I didn’t want to risk damaging the aperture unit/blades. Mine came right off, I’ve read it could be difficult and a good soaking of the front element in isopropyl alcohol might help. The entire front knurled ring, nameplate and front element are attached together.
make a loop and wrap it around the rear of the front lens group behind the front element ring Firmly grip your tool around the group housing and firmly grip the front ring and unscrew ‘ccw’. Not clear here but, the front lens group housing extends backwards with a nice metal tube to grab onto with your tool just behind the front element ring. any cable with a rubbery shell will work. ‘Fire Wire’ cable I used as by grip tool. I used an electrical cable, about the same diameter as a pencil or slightly smaller but not too small. Now you need some kind of grip tool to aid in holding the front group housing while removing the front element. NOW is the time to unscrew the set screw ‘ccw’ in the nameplate (red arrow) so it will separate from the front lens group. Mine could use some new black paint around the edge of the element (red arrow) hold the outer knurled ring in one hand and the base in the other (with lens tube fully extended) and turn ccw (counter-clockwise) I came up with a way to easily remove the front element.įirst unscrew the front lens group from the base, just above the aperture ring. Extent the lens tube fully so it won’t spin in the base and grasp the outer knurled ring and turn it counter-clockwise ‘ccw’ it should unscrew fairly easy. It was also stated several times to unscrew the front element right from the lens base and people were having trouble because it would just unscrew the front group. Now I must say, while searching for tutorials and methods of cleaning the haze, it was kind of confusing because it was rarely stated that, in fact, the front name plate is attached to the front ring and the element itself. I had to repeat twice, as is usual, but a nice clean outer lens now with just a few true cleaning marks. It immediately started working, almost foaming around the edge where it was thickest. A 50/50 mix of household Ammonia and Hydrogen Peroxide then rinse with tap water. I knew conventional cleaning wouldn’t work so I tried the method for removing Fungus on a lens. Perhaps a buildup of years of cleaning fluid? here is my 1939 Summar with back light showing the mystery crust I scratched at it with my fingernail and sure enough it flaked slightly. I looked at it with a loupe and could see it was raised, some kind of crust or crystallization.
my former 1936 Summar with mystery crust around front element This time it was more crusty, uneven looking that led me to believe it wasn’t just the glass itself. I had seen it before on my former 1936 Summar and other people complaining about their’s calling it cleaning marks, so it must be a somewhat common thing.
Some desire it for using as a portrait lens or other such use as the effect is warranted.īefore I show you how I got my 1939 Leica Summar lens apart to clean the haze, I first cleaned some kind of dried gunk on the front element that resembled very bad cleaning marks. Leitz Wetzlar “Summar” 50mm (5cm) f/2 is notorious for having internal haze, clouding images sometimes giving a desired warmth called “Leica Glow”.