Coating Lenses

[Ian Grant]

Yesterday I had a quote to coat a 135mm Eurynar lens, the minimum cost was $195 per surface, this lens has 8 air-glass surfaces so that's not even remotely practical. Maybe only the air-glass surfaces facing the light source actually need coating.

John Van Stelten from Focal Point was very helpful in his reply indicating that each surface wood need repolishing to remove oxidation etc, any cemented elements would need to be split, old cement removing etc. He also said it "We do this as a repair and it is far too expensive to coat an entire lens system"

Being rather more realistic I remembered coming across someone who had his old lens coated (he may have done it himself) at an opticians lab, using the coating process used for spectacles (glasses).

Has anyone tried this. A lens like the Eurynar would be ideal as the elements aren't cemented, and they suffer badly from low contrast due to this.

Is there a tame optical technician on APUG ?

Ian

[ic-racer]

Sounds like a cool project if you know an optician, though I suspect they outsource the coating. The glasses I have on now were coated, and they charged quit a bit for it.

Here is an overview of 'optician coating' and the machine you need:



http://www.perret-optic.ch/optometri...surface_gb.htm

[Mick Fagan]

Ian, this mob in Tasmania has been the duck's guts for odds and sods for years.

We (previous work) sent a lens that had been terribly rubbed on the front element after travelling for about 1,000 kilometres in a wooden box over corrugated dirt roads. It looked like throw away item. We sent it to this place and it came back with a new coating on the front element. They may have polished it as well, but it was far cheaper than anything else we considered by a long shot, plus it worked.

I believe at the time, they coated our lenses in their vacuum chamber coating thingy. Heavens knows what they have these days, but they are well known for doing all sorts of wonderful things around the world.

http://www.longmanoptical.com.au/index.html

You should check out the products page, scroll down to near the end and read about their optical coatings, there is an email click just there, so you can get a quote.

Worth a try!

Mick.

[Ian Grant]

Thanks Mick, email sent to them

Ian

[Ian Grant]

Longman Optical came back with an estimate and wow you're right Mick, the cost of coating is $180 AUS ($142 USD - £79 roughly) that's for all 8 surfaces. That assumes the elements are sent disassembled, otherwise there's an additional cost of $160 AUS.

This is for single layer MgF2 coating which they say is sufficient. This becomes a viable option at those prices.

Ian

[JPD]

Thanks guys for this thread. I also have a 135mm uncoated Eurynar that I will test some day, and maybe have it coated if I like the results. The elements are easily disassembled - just screw the lens mounts apart and out comes the glass.

Ian, I see that the also do reflective coatings, so remember to use the word "ANTI-" when you write the note that you send them with the lens elements.

[Ian Grant]

Longman Optical said they only offer single layer MgF2 coating, and as Mick says they regularly coat camera lenses. This seems to now be the only company offering an affordable option for lens coating now that Arax no longer offer a coating service.

Ian

[Mick Fagan]

Ian, if you do go ahead, I believe you will be pleasantly surprised at the difference and their service.

Mick.

[Ian Grant]

Mick I'll test the lens when I'm next in the UK, if it's sharp with good edge/corner coverage I'll get it coated and see how much difference it makes. Ole rates the Eurynar lens very highly and I guess it's similar in to the Goerz Celor in image quality.

Ian

[Paddy]

now that Arax no longer offer a coating service.

Ian

I'm sorry to hear that Arax is no longer offering their (re)coating service. I had a 270 G-Claron with dull outer surfaces redone by Arax, a couple of years ago. It came back pristine and Multi-coated!!!