The Hasselbird Project (a bold restoration attempt)

[Dave Colangelo]

Im new around here but have been reading for some time. It was time I shared one of my current project incase its of help or use to anything anyone else is working on. If this belongs in another forum here please move it appropriately.

Anyway, after a drawn out deal I recently obtained a Hasselblad 500C/M. I was overjoyed to get the camera however I was only able to get the stock 80mm lens in the deal (the seller did have some other lenses up for offer). The camera had been sitting for about a decade but was all there and a very nice complete set. The foam was shot and the the rear curtain was not actuating properly so after some searching I sent the camera out to David Odess for a complete CLA and repair of the rear shutter curtain. Knowing it was going to be some time before I saw it again i took to the bay to hunt for widgets for the camera. I really enjoy bird photography so I decided to see what was available in the tele range for these cameras and came across the 500mm F8. Generally being out of my budget for a nice t* coated one I found a completely fungus covered one for cheap and figured I would try my hand at fixing it. I know some fungus can irreparably damage lenses but the photos of the lens made it seemed like it could be saved. It arrived today and I got right to work.

The exterior of the lens is in decent shape however there is some very strange stuff on the focus ring.

you can see some of the extent of the damage here

The mystery gunk on the focus ring

The front element, as anticipated a big chunk of the fungus is superficially on the outer surface and I think will be easily cleaned.

Disclamer: Before anyone says this lens is beyond repair, I am well aware of the condition of the lens and that it may just be a total loss. I am doing this to see whats inside these lenses (as I would otherwise never attempt to fix something like this). I figured it would be a fun project until the camera got back and potentially end up with a really fun birding lens. The end goal is to fix the lens to the point of taking a passable if for nothing, nice, bird picture.

Regards
Dave

 

[Dave Colangelo]

The first thing I figured I would try is getting some of this gunk off. Scraping it with my nail seemed to work so I figured I would try some 0000 steel wool. Taped it off and gave it a shot,

The results were pretty good but I in fear of getting the dust in the mechanisms Im going to have to wait until I have the lens apart to finish it off. I still have no idea what the gunk is.

 

[Dave Colangelo]

Next up was the rear cap and shutter release mechanism.

The release mechanism was pretty rusty and in dire need of a clean and oil.

The 0000 Steel wool is taking care of most of the rust nicely

Cleaned everything up, oiled it and ready to put it back together

Oiled and ready to go

Regards
Dave

 

[limr]

I still have no idea what the gunk is.

It might be better not to know

I think it's great that you're taking on this project. Looking forward to seeing the progress!

 

[Dave Colangelo]

The focus read out ring took some wiggling to get off but eventually I was able to slip if around the knurled part. I was able to get it all the gunk off pretty fast with the 0000 wool

 

[Dave Colangelo]

The rear barrel had to come off so I could get to the rear element. The rear element is a doublet that is held together with Canadian balsam to my knowledge. Getting the back assembly off put my fingers to the test as my screw drivers were barely long enough to extend out of the barrel once on the screws.

Once the rear barrel (which is also the focus mechanism) is removed you have full access to the smaller assembly that houses the rear element. The issue here is that the way I removed it also removed the infinity focus adjust so i will need to recalibrate that when I put the lens back together. I have done this on some older cameras but this lens is going to a beast to get in line again.

The rear element has significantly more damage than the front element

The element is fairly dirty however this does not seem quite like fungus, much like the front element this is on the external side of the lens. The internal side is quite clean.

The smaller assembly comes apart to allow access to the element its self

This is the lone doublet out of all housing

After quite a bit of cleaning and some light polishing the rear element still shows quite a bit of damage. Im not sure yet what Im going to do about it but more research is necessary to see what I can do.

 

[Dave Colangelo]

The outer mechanism that drives the depth of field view display needed some major cleaning and some light oil. It was pretty interesting to see how its all driven on the inside when things are adjusted.

The gunk was pretty thick, it seems like mostly old oil and metal shards.

The top layer comes off pretty easily which allows access to the rings.

A bit of polishing cleaned the rings right up.

Oil and cleaning to get the assembly ready for the rings.

Assembly is the reverse of removal...

 

[Dave Colangelo]

I have some more tools on the way to remove the front element as well as the main body of the lens. Im going to keep working from the back end but the main components require a spanner and a rubber lens tool. Hopefully they will be in by the end of the week.

Regards
Dave

 

[spiralout462]

Awesome! I would LOVE to have this much spare time. Good luck to you. I will be following along.

 

[Watchful]

The lenses look like there is damage to the coatings, try some CLR to remove all the coatings completely, and then you can decide if you want to have them re-coated by someone else, or try yourself.

 

[Dave Colangelo]

The lenses look like there is damage to the coatings, try some CLR to remove all the coatings completely, and then you can decide if you want to have them re-coated by someone else, or try yourself.

Interesting method, Ill give it a shot tomorrow. I need to pick up some CLR to try.

Regards
Dave

 

[spiralout462]

The lenses look like there is damage to the coatings, try some CLR to remove all the coatings completely, and then you can decide if you want to have them re-coated by someone else, or try yourself.

Interesting method, Ill give it a shot tomorrow. I need to pick up some CLR to try.

Regards
Dave

Interesting indeed. I would think that polishing would be more effective. Least aggressive method first I suppose.

 

[tirediron]

First and foremost, WOW! Some great work here; can't wait to see how it progresses.

On the topic of that element, why not take it into an optical store and see what they can suggest? They deal with all sorts of coated lenses and may have supplies or techniques that we're not aware of.

 

[Dave Colangelo]

First and foremost, WOW! Some great work here; can't wait to see how it progresses.

On the topic of that element, why not take it into an optical store and see what they can suggest? They deal with all sorts of coated lenses and may have supplies or techniques that we're not aware of.

Are you talking about an eye glasses shop or a camera shop? There are not any optics specific stores here in Philly as far as I know but it would be interesting to see what they have to say as well. Id say there is a 60% chance the element is pretty severely scratched (I don't have much of a frame of reference). I did some looking around on polishing glass and it seems there are some simple methods with Cerium Oxide. My concern is polishing it and keeping the correct curvature. With that in mind very little material needs to be removed to get the lens to a good and a careful polish may yield useable results.

Regards
Dave

 

[tirediron]

Sorry, eye-glasses shop. I realize they're going to know zip about camera lenses specifically, but there has to be some commonality between lenses at the most basic level.