oily aperture

[doctormark]

The aperture blades on one of my lenses are very sluggish and I can see oil smears on them. Is there a way to get in there and clean them, or is the lens toast? It's a great lens other than that.

 

[JerryPH]

My question is... how did anthing like that get in there in the first place? Now, taking apart a lens is not something that I would suggest for the average person to do. Either take it to a good place that can repair issues like this or send it back to the manufacturer for repairs.

This is not a job for the amateur.

 

[KmH]

I've cleaned primes myself in the past. You just need to make the right tools to disassemble/reassemble the lens and aperture mechanism.

I wouldn't attempt a zoom.

The safest bet is to let a repair facility do it.

 

[Soocom1]

Having cleaned aperture blades before...DONT do it!!!!
They are a pain to get re-aligned, and if not set up in a clean room environment, you'll make the problem worse, or ruin the lens all together.
BTW, the tools are specifically designed to lenses, as the fact that scratching the black paint on the inside of the barrel will cause great light scatter.

 

[SrBiscuit]

what lens?

 

[doctormark]

yeah ok good plan. but it is definitely the oil thats making them slow and sloppy?

 

[Dwig]

yeah ok good plan. but it is definitely the oil thats making them slow and sloppy?

Yes.

There may be other problems, but any visible oily film on the iris blades will casue them to operate too slow for reliable use. The usual source for this oil is the grease used to lubricate the focusing mechinism. The most common culprit is the grease used in Nikon's earlier floating element, aka CRC, designs. Even so, it can happen with any lens, but is rarer in modern (<15 years old) lenses.

 

[KmH]

No. It's more likely dust that gets caught in the oil.