Hi folks,
An aside to the story of the 35-70 lens that just turned up here the other day,
it had a Vivitar skylight filter on it.
Today as I was looking at the whole set-up more closely, I saw that the filter
was rather grubby. So I got out the box of Olympus tissues, huffed on one
side of the filter to moisten it, and tentatively rubbed the surface.
It was soon obvious that there was a thick layer of accumulated grease of
years on that glass. So I put some dish-washing detergent in the sink, added
some warm water, and immersed the filter. It had no perceptible effect on the
grease. So I applied some undiluted detergent direct to the wet filter and
rubbed it in gently with the pad of my fingertip. It seemed to make a kind of
emulsion. After not more than about 10 seconds of this I rinsed the detergent
off vigorously and then soaked again this time in fresh water, for about 10
minutes, to try to remove all detergent from wherever it had penetrated.
I was amazed to find that there was still a definite trace of grease. It took
about 10 - 15 minutes of gentle work with huffing and lens tissues to remove
all the smeary stuff.
I have no idea where that filter has been for the last 15 or so years. The lens
looks hardly used.. If the filter and lens have been together all the life of
the
lens, I'd better pay some attention to the barrel exterior. But it is also
quite
possible the two have led unrelated lives.
But just imagine the state that the outer surface of the front lens element
could be in had a filter not been on. And I would not use detergent on the
lens. Quite possibly the filter has given major protection to that lens.
Brian
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