UV treat lenses to 'de-yellow' them
Mar 28, 2020 17:51:54 GMT
on Mar 28, 2020 17:51:54 GMT
Posted: Mar 28, 2020 17:51:54 GMT
I find myself in a small dilema, and for the time being I've decided to leave a lens as-is. I've successfully UV treated several lenses before - both for fungal cleaning and for Thorium 'de-yellowing', so this isn't new territory for me. Every one of those treatments were on very good, but abundant lenses that needed (or deserved) saving for what ailed them. This instance isn't quite the same.
An M42 Auto Revuenon Tomioka 55mm f/1.2, on a Yashica Electro-X ITS (more/larger photos)
This isn't exactly like zapping a Super Takumar 50/1.4 because it's 'too yellow' and degrades any image it takes with low contrast and difficult-to-fix color balance issues. Obviously this isn't a pristine sample in museum or collectables quality, and it's exactly the reason I went after it... to use it without worrying about any knicks or bruises happening while I do. The aging hasn't affected the results enough to worry abut whether they can be corrected, so it isn't a case of doing it as a neccessary rescue.
This is one of those times when rarity and it's future worth could be negatively affected with any alterations or 'improvements' to it's condition. It's also a question of it's artistic worth because of the character of images it can produce as-is, that no one can recapture if I bleach it away. Well... let it sit in a dark box for another 50+ years, and I assume it will come back, but who wants to wait that long?
To give an example of how it looks optically now, here's one of a series of tests I did. From 3 identical shots at f/1.2, f/8, and f/16... this is the f/16 shot.
Compared to the previous shot, you can tell how little yellow it adds overall, but at least it's obvious there's a difference.
Would you treat this one, or leave it be?
An M42 Auto Revuenon Tomioka 55mm f/1.2, on a Yashica Electro-X ITS (more/larger photos)
This isn't exactly like zapping a Super Takumar 50/1.4 because it's 'too yellow' and degrades any image it takes with low contrast and difficult-to-fix color balance issues. Obviously this isn't a pristine sample in museum or collectables quality, and it's exactly the reason I went after it... to use it without worrying about any knicks or bruises happening while I do. The aging hasn't affected the results enough to worry abut whether they can be corrected, so it isn't a case of doing it as a neccessary rescue.
This is one of those times when rarity and it's future worth could be negatively affected with any alterations or 'improvements' to it's condition. It's also a question of it's artistic worth because of the character of images it can produce as-is, that no one can recapture if I bleach it away. Well... let it sit in a dark box for another 50+ years, and I assume it will come back, but who wants to wait that long?
To give an example of how it looks optically now, here's one of a series of tests I did. From 3 identical shots at f/1.2, f/8, and f/16... this is the f/16 shot.
Compared to the previous shot, you can tell how little yellow it adds overall, but at least it's obvious there's a difference.
Would you treat this one, or leave it be?
