Schneider Angulon I Purchased - Is This a Problem?

[stephenmcateer]

I bought this Angulon 90mm / F6.8 on eBay a couple of days ago. [It's coming from abroad so I don't have it in my hands yet.]

Can anyone tell me if the yellowish ring on the circumference of the element is a problem? [Looks like it might be glue but I haven't seen this sort of 'Gunk' in a lens before.]

Thanks.

[Jody_S]

Separation of the optical elements around the edge. Can be fixed but that looks like it's not in the optical path at shooting apertures so it should have no effect on images.

[nitroplait]

I am familiar with this golden "droplet" phenomenon from Leica viewfinders (from the late 50's early 60's).
It is normally considered early stage of separation of the canadian balsam used to cement together the optical elements of the viewfinders.
You can typically see it when looking at the edges through the viewfinder from the front, but not when looking through it the normal way.

However, I have seen the phenomenon on a number of friends Leica cameras more than 20 years ago, yet none have deteriorated further to this day, thus I suspect it is not a critical problem - if a problem at all.

[stephenmcateer]

Separation of the optical elements around the edge. Can be fixed but that looks like it's not in the optical path at shooting apertures so it should have no effect on images.

Okay thanks for that. I paid a fair price for it and want to be sure it's going to perform reasonably.

[stephenmcateer]

I am familiar with this golden "droplet" phenomenon from Leica viewfinders (from the late 50's early 60's).
It is normally considered early stage of separation of the canadian balsam used to cement together the optical elements of the viewfinders.
You can typically see it when looking at the edges through the viewfinder from the front, but not when looking through it the normal way.

However, I have seen the phenomenon on a number of friends Leica cameras more than 20 years ago, yet none have deteriorated further to this day, thus I suspect it is not a critical problem - if a problem at all.

Thanks Niels. This lens dates to about 1960 I think. If it performs okay I'll keep a hold of it.

[Bernice Loui]

Test this lens, make some images with it then decide. Back then lenses often had variations. This plus the unknowns of what happened t o this lens with the passage of time.

If this is at the very edge of the lens glass element, a black sharpiee marker could blacken-"fix" this.

Bernice

[stephenmcateer]

Test this lens, make some images with it then decide. Back then lenses often had variations. This plus the unknowns of what happened t o this lens with the passage of time.

If this is at the very edge of the lens glass element, a black sharpiee marker could blacken-"fix" this.

Bernice

Thanks Bernice. I'll test it and see what the images are like.

[domaz]

I have no idea what the melting point of Canada Balsam is, but definitely don't leave it in a hot car. I could see this getting worse very quickly in that case.

[stephenmcateer]

I have no idea what the melting point of Canada Balsam is, but definitely don't leave it in a hot car. I could see this getting worse very quickly in that case.

Thanks — hadn't thought of that.

[Neal Chaves]

It looks like someone has had that rear element out already, and not very expertly.