How serious is a little oil on aperture blades Olympus 28mm

[junk250]

I just found a nice Olympus Zuiko auto-w 28mm 2.0 lens,but one problem.Upon close inspection there is a little oil on aperture blades(spot here or there),I was wondering how big of a problem is this?Blades do not stick and seem to move freely,but I'm not sure how serious a problem this is?I am going to sell the lens,and I dont want to misrepresent,how much would a tiny bit of oil on blades affect the value.Thank's in advance!

 

[mrsid99]

Depends...straight 30wt or multi-grade?

 

[photobug]

If the aperture blades still operate smoothly it shouldn't be a problem as long as you state that fact in your ad text.

It may knock the price down a bit, but it's hard to say.

 

[junk250]

Thank's big Bug,so someone that is spending several hundred dollars on a lens,might accept a spot or two of oil on a rare high quality vintage lens?After some research,seems this is one of the best(fast/small/light/quality optics) wide angle lenses ever produced.I cant seem to find another for sale,any idea what it's worth?

 

[Mitica100]

I just found a nice Olympus Zuiko auto-w 28mm 2.0 lens,but one problem.Upon close inspection there is a little oil on aperture blades(spot here or there),I was wondering how big of a problem is this?Blades do not stick and seem to move freely,but I'm not sure how serious a problem this is?I am going to sell the lens,and I dont want to misrepresent,how much would a tiny bit of oil on blades affect the value.Thank's in advance!

From my own experience with lenses, I try to stay away from any lens that shows oil on the aperture blades. Usually means that the previous owner had removed the elements and put some oil on the sticky aperture blades. That's not a big deal as long as the previous owner knew what kind of oil to put in there. I have found a cheap piece of lens once that was oiled with cooking oil, that's what the seller told me because he's done it! I bought it for a mere 2 bucks and took it apart to experiment with cleaning it. I found that lighter fluid cleans the best, although I don't recommend you do this with that Olympus lens. Aperture blades are made to function without any oil, at least the more modern ones. In your case, the very small drops of oil might mean nothing or might mean more oil will come down. Can you ask the previous owner what he/she did with the lens? Was it cleaned professionally? What kind of oil did they use if they cleaned the lens? When was it oiled?

I'm thinking that if the oiling/cleaning occurred some time ago you're pretty OK with the lens, since no more oil will come down. But again, what if they used the wrong oil? Hmm...

The value of the lens shouldn't be affected much, if any, for two minor spots of oil, though. I don't know, I'm babbling here... :roll:

 

[junk250]

Mitica,
Thanks for the input,I doubt the lens has been cleaned/tampered with,extremely clean on inside.I bought from estate sale(for 4.00!).I doubt someone would work on it,then sell for 4.00!Old lady said hasn't been used for a long time.Maybe has something to do with long storage.Thanks