I have several vintage chrome lenses that I am not satisfied with cosmetically. Although, they produce good results, I keep a lingering thought that they might be better is the slight fogging were gone.

Once a CLA is done, does the fogging return after some time, or do the various tech's replace all of the lubricant culprits(?). Are there any other causes for the surface fogging of the older lenses?

And no, I do not believe in glass/MgFl coating deterioration/degradation, being chemically inert.

-- chris chen (chrischen@msn.com), April 23, 2002

Answers

Chris:

I had two lenses CLA'd by The Focal Point recently. I can not attest to the durability of the cleaning, but the lenses look better internally. I had a DR cron CLA and the front element recoated, and a 3 element Elmar CLA'd. It cost me $250.00 for the DR and $85.00 for the Elmar.

FYI

-- Mark J. (logical1@catholic.org), April 23, 2002.

BTW, for more info on "The Focal Point" and also lens CLAs in general, see the following topic in the FAQ at: nemeng.com/leica/ 009e.shtml

-- Andrew Nemeth (azn@nemeng.com), April 23, 2002.

My strong suspicion is that the fog won't return (of course it depends on who does the CLA), or if it does it will probably take the same 40 years.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), April 23, 2002.

Or even longer in a smoke-free environment? (Just some wishful thinking.)

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), April 23, 2002.