Is it possible to clean off front element haze?

[Dennis]

I have a very nice 135 Planar in a linhof shutter that unfortunately has developed a slight bit of haze apparently on the outside of the front element. It looks like you could just wipe it off. It kind of looks like a bit of dust on the lens but there doesn't seem to be anything I can do to remove it or affect it. I have tried various lens cleaners and alcohol and vodka and even magic tape but nothing works.
Does anyone know of anything that would clean it or is it only fixable being polished. The yellowish planar coating still looks fine. I am not sure what the nature of this haze is.

thanks
Dennis

[Old-N-Feeble]

I would drink the vodka and not worry about it.

[LabRat]

Some of that era's flint glass (used on front elements) was suspect to environmental issues, such as moisture, mold, fungus, etc, and could be slightly "etched" after attack...

Look at the surface under reflected light with a high power lupe, and look for little pits under the surface... That would be from fungus attack... And look if the haze is even or slightly patchy...

Focal Point would polish and recoat if needed...

But often a lens with this will still shoot OK, so do some tests...

Steve K

[Joe Smigiel]

You might be able to use some whiting in alcohol and a PEC pad to remove haze if you are willing to take a chance. If the haze is impacting your images negatively (sic) I would think it might be worth a try since I've heard re-polishing is cost-prohibitive. I've removed haze on old Symmar elements with no damage as far as I can tell. If you have another lens that has this problem and is expendable, you could try it there first. I would assume a camera shop or repair might have a garbage lens they would give you to test with, or there is always Craigslist or eBay.

Astronomers also use collodion to clean lens elements and that might possibly work. I believe the procedure involves placing some cheesecloth on the element and then saturating it with collodion. Once the ether and alcohol evaporate, the cloth is removed taking any gunk along with it. Googling should turn up the exact procedure.

[EdSawyer]

Post a pic if you can, haze can take many forms - some can be fixed, others not so much. I've had good luck cleaning haze from some older lenses, notably Pentacs and other aerial lenses.

[Kevin Crisp]

My experience is that if it won't come off with a lens pen it won't come off. But a lot of time it looks like it is on the outside when it is on the inside.

[Dennis]

Thanks. It would be difficult to photograph but I will try. I had the same sort of thing with some very old Schneider enlarging lenses. I don't know if it is progressive or how to stop it being progressive. At this point it isn't too bad.
I have to sell the lens so I am putting it through some tests so that I can describe it accurately. The lens is part of a set of 3 Linhof lenses, the 75mm Zeiss Biogon and the 240 Zeiss Sonnar are the other two lenses that also must be sold with it and they are in much better condition.
Dennis

[DrTang]

But a lot of time it looks like it is on the outside when it is on the inside.

I have always found this to be the case

what looks like it is just on the inside back surface is actually in the cement of a glued element.. and then I'm: ' DANG!'

[EdSawyer]

Selling all 3 of those lenses separately will be better than trying to sell them as a group.

[Jac@stafford.net]

Selling all 3 of those lenses separately will be better than trying to sell them as a group.

Just to +1 that. I watched several attempts of people trying to sell the Linhof 'dream set': 75mm Biogon, 135mm Planar and the Sonnar. Years past with no sale. It is apparently just too much as a set.