Schneider Symmar 5.6/240 lens repair

[brucetaylor]

Hello all, I'm new here, and new to LF. I just purchased a Linhof Color outfit with a Schneider Technika Symmar 5.6/240 lens on evilbay. The outfit is mint, but unfortunately after careful inspection I see that the front cell seems to have an oil mist internally, and the rear cell has a lot of haze and possibly some fungus-- also internally. Is there someone in the states you all would recommend for disassembly and cleaning? The archives have a lot of information on shutter repairs but not so much on optics. The lens/shutter assembly is so pristine I really hope I can save it. Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Bruce Taylor, Los Angeles

[BrianShaw]

Bruce, the Schneider repair center is in the Valley. I think the name is Century Optics, or something like that. It's behind the brewery (405 & Roscoe) on one of those north-south industrial streets. I got the name from the Schneider site quite some time ago. The manager at the time was a nice guy but took forever to get a resoponse from. I suggest telephone rather than email.

[BrianShaw]

OK... may be it once was "Century", or perhaps my memory just gone haywire. Here's what Schneider site says:


Contact Service

Our Service Department is located at our California office.

Who to contact:

Need help with service? Email or call:
• Mary Thomas, Customer Service Sales Coordinator, 818-766-3715 x107

Shipping Instructions

Ship your lens to us (carefully packed and insured for full value) with a written description of the problem. Specify whether a written or verbal estimate is required, and tell us how best to contact you.

Ship equipment to:

Schneider Optics, Inc.
Service Department
7701 Haskell Avenue
Van Nuys, CA 91406
Phone: 800-228-1254
Fax: 818-505-9865


Good luck.

[Frank Petronio]

John at http://www.focalpointlens.com/ is one of the best indy optical techs. But... it may be more expensive than what that lens is worth.

[brucetaylor]

Thanks for the information! I will make some calls on Monday. I fear that repairs may exceed the value of the lens. Good to know that Schneider service is so close-by.

[Frank Petronio]

Sometimes all it takes is a disassembly and a wipe. Or it's not worth it.

Perhaps you can use it as-is, consider it a portrait lens? Some people here pay thousands of dollars for pretty much the same thing....

Seriously, unless it is dim and nasty you can probably just use it. Expect more flare, less sharpness and contrast. But probably not so bad that it won't look nice. Put the money spent cleaning it towards a new lens. For $200 you can pick up one of the many fine 210mm Symmar-Sinaron-Fujinon-Nikkor lenses that are plentiful and inexpensive. So why not give it chance before deciding?

[Jon Shiu]

Hi, it's not clear to me if you have/have not unscrewed the front and rear cells to clean the inner surfaces? Easy to do if you haven't. Just grab cell and turn counter-clockwise.

Jon

[brucetaylor]

Thanks, Jon-- when I saw the haze I took the cells off and cleaned the inner surfaces which helped, but the problem is deeper. I like the idea of just trying it first, it may be a good portrait lens. Nice 210mm lenses are easy to find, so I will probably go that route.

[brucetaylor]

A quick update if it helps someone in the future: handed this lens to my local repair guy in LA, Ross Yerkes, who said sure, he could clean it up. $140 later the shutter was serviced and the internal haze gone. Lens looks and functions like new. BTW, I did shoot some tests with it when it was hazy, and the results looked fine as Frank suggested.