12 inch Velostigmat II with stuck aperature

[goamules]

You win some you lose some. I've been looking for a velo with the soft focus diffusion for a while, and bid on this one: 270268863193 The warning flags were there that it wasn't soft focus; poor pictures, evasive answers to the question. But I decided to take a chance anyway and bid and won. The lens arrived and is not the soft focus version. I also find the aperature is stuck solid at about f32. Useful. And the front glass is a little hazy.

I've had a couple emails with the seller, who is convinced it is soft focus "you should check cameraeccentric, all 12 inch are...." and that describing "could use a cleaning" was code words for "broken aperature". Or something. FWIW.

I'll fix the iris myself and try to clean it up. I have never left a bad feedback, and am still considering what to do. Was the guy confused? He just sold a $400 Celor that he really talked up too.

[Pat Hilander]

Nah, he wasn't confused–just being a shady seller. Ask the guy for a refund and if he refuses leave bad feedback. Sellers can no longer leave bad feedback on a buyer after receiving it, so you don't have to worry about getting bad feedback in return.

Velos without the fuzz-o-later are still nice lenses though, so give it a shot when you get the aperture unstuck. As for that make sure the blades are metal and then unscrew the glass elements from the front and real. Then try squirting lighter fluid around the ring that moves the iris from the outside of the barrel. you may have to repeat this process several times, but it has worked to get them unstuck for me. Good luck!

[John Kasaian]

"Regular' velostigmat IIs can be very nice lenses and demonstrate nice bokeh when wide open. They certainly aren't worth a great deal of money (underrated IMHO) and not as much as the version with the diffusion ring. If you "stole" the lens and can get the aperture unstuck and the front element clean you have a potentially fine lens. OTOH if you paid a fair price for a velostigmat II represented to be "with the ring" then you should get a refund or leave appropriate feed back IMHO.

[eddie]

try and get your money back. leave neg feed back! AND MOST important tellus who he is so we can avoid him!

good luck.

eddie

[Toyon]

Only the early 12" Velostigmats had the diffuser, the seller is wrong. You need to take it up with EBay. Velostigmats with or without diffusing devices are great lenses, but I wouldn't want one with haze. You should be able to disassemble the unit and carefully clean the glass. If you're lucky the haze will come off.

[cowanw]

If it cleans up and the and you get the aperture moving you have a steal at 100 dollars
Let us know what it looks like if you can get the lens apart. The flange is worth money alone.
Regards
Bill

[goamules]

Thanks everyone. I've gotten the aperature working. Still a little tight. I took off the "star" slotted ring that each leaf knob goes into, before I knew what I was doing. There was an anti-epiphany as I thought, "I'll never get all those leaves in the right place again."
But I carefully cleaned everything and got it back in. Still tight but works.

The rear element is crystal clear, inner lens of the front element is clear. But the front lens is hazy with micro-scratches.

Now here comes the awful question: Is there a way to polish the front and get some of these microscratch haze off? I read on another board there is a "last resort" way to do this. I've ground my own back glass, I could whip out the alum oxide...just kidding. But would any gentle polish fix this? I mean, they polished them originally, and I got the time. (Sending back a 100 dollar lens that I paid $16 shipping for is hardly worth it - I might as well try to fix the thing).

[W K Longcor]

Now here comes the awful question: Is there a way to polish the front and get some of these microscratch haze off? I read on another board there is a "last resort" way to do this. .

I once read ( but NEVER tried it) that some guy used tooth paste to polish haze off of a lens. I'm not sure I would experiment even on a hundred dollar lens -- maybe a junker box camera optic.

[John Kasaian]

I was thinking the micro scratches might enhance the softness (if you're after softness) Why not shoot with it first? Then if you want to play around with polishing, theres always Bon Ami!

[goamules]

Good point John, that I realized as I wrote the last about cleaning the haze. Haze=soft, so I guess he was right, it IS a soft-focus! I'll try it out.