DIY lense clean/dismantle, ye or ne

[BananaRepublic]

I was at a mud run the other day, a wet day, so I cleaned and dried the exterior of the lens when I came home. I noticed that the inside of the lens was fogged up and there seemed to be a fungus on it, specks not a spiral looking thing, these might have also been just dust I suppose.

I any event I have been looking at some YouTube clips on dismantling a lens in order to clean it. I that something I should avoid doing?

The lense is a 55 200 nikor AF & VR.

Thanks

 

[tirediron]

I've disassembled older, mechanical lenses, but I would hesitate to tackle a modern lens with all the plastic, electronics and such in it. It's not at all unusal to have dust inside a lens, and unless it's extreme, it will have NO detectable effect on IQ. It's unlikely that fungus would develop so quickly - that said, the 55-200 is an inexpensive enough lens, that when bought used, might make it worthwhile have a bit of a go at it.

 

[Mr.Photo]

I never needed to attempt pulling apart my 55-200 VR when I owned it, but I've pulled the front element out of my Tamron 17-50 2.8 to clean a few specs of dust from the inside. Most lenses it is usually a few screws located under an adhesive name plate on the front of the lens around the front element. Once you remove those screws the front element usually just lift's out.

 

[BananaRepublic]

I'd be thinking the same about electronics that's what would put me off. I figured that it would not have developed that day but when I saw the specks they looked like more then dust, would you notice early stage fungus in photos?. The lens was bought new.

 

[KmH]

You need to take a look at this if you want to disassemble a Nikon zoom lens.:
LensRentals.com - 24-70mm f/2.8 Lens Teardown Comparison

Warning: DO NOT TOUCH the - GMR position sensor - with your fingers.

 

[bratkinson]

In 1971, Clint Eastwood, portraying "Dirty Harry" coined these immortal words -
"Do you feel lucky?...Well do you, punk?"

These days, the designs of electronic gear is a 'masterpiece' of packing a zillion circuits, wires, and whatnot into a very tiny space. Zoom lenses, and to a lesser degree, prime lenses, add a particularly delicate level mechanical gears, motors, and sensors into the fray as well. I suspect that even a 0.01 mm (about 1/200th of an inch, I'd guess) misalignment of an internal lens, or its movement mechanisms, will result in out of focus pictures, that MFA may not be able to correct.

Perhaps 10 years ago, I tried to replace the battery on my cheap Timex watch. After removing the back cover, there was a very thin, stamped, cutout, 'tin foil' layer that had to be removed to access the battery. It was held there by something, I never did find out what it was. I replaced the battery and reassembled it, it didn't work. Unscrewing the back, the tin foil thing got 'crinkled', so I flattened it out and put it all back together. After repeating the process an extra 2-3 times after that, and ultimately, went to Walmart and bought another one for $20 or so. Dead battery problem solved.

I also remember the words of a plumber I called to repair the kitchen sink drain in the 50 year old house I moved into less than a year earlier..."I always charge extra to un-do the home owners attempts at D-I-Y plumbing". I managed to convince him I didn't do it, it was a former owner.

So, take your pick...get lucky, replace it, pay extra for it to be repaired, sell it on ebay as-is for a loss, or live with it.

 

[BananaRepublic]

Thanks for the advice, I am not keen on doing it really, I just wanted opinions