[Aka Steve]

I just got a Vivitar 28mm 2.0 along with a bunch of other lenses. The 28 has oil on the aperture blades as well as what seems to be a slippery substance on the outside of the lens itself.
I managed to take the lens apart enough to wipe down the center part of the blades, avoiding actually taking the whole thing apart.
Before I wiped it off, the oil was causing the blades to stop, The blades are moving better now but more oil continues to get on them.
Do people use Armor All on lenses to make them look nice in order to sell them?
It seems doubtful that it was done by the place I got it from but, you never know, and there's no telling where it was before that.

[vonBaloney]

I just got a Vivitar 28mm 2.0 along with a bunch of other lenses. The 28 has oil on the aperture blades as well as what seems to be a slippery substance on the outside of the lens itself.
I managed to take the lens apart enough to wipe down the center part of the blades, avoiding actually taking the whole thing apart.
Before I wiped it off, the oil was causing the blades to stop, The blades are moving better now but more oil continues to get on them.
Do people use Armor All on lenses to make them look nice in order to sell them?
It seems doubtful that it was done by the place I got it from but, you never know, and there's no telling where it was before that.

Is that a Kiron one with serial #22xxxx? The Kiron 28s and 24s have a huge problem with oily blades -- every single copy seems to succumb. Armor All unlikely, in any case. Just grease breaking down...

[Aka Steve]

Uh yeah, 22XXXX is exactly right.
Any suggestions?

[SOldBear]

It's best if you can dissemble the aperture blades and wash them with naptha (available at paint or wood finish department of your home centers). As you know, this involves some risk that you may not want to take.

An alternative is to give the aperture blades a good treatment of naptha. Use a syringe, spraying naptha on to the blades and let them dry overnight. Then assemble the lens.

[thazooo]

Continuing with what soldbear said..........when cleaning rangefinder blades I operate the blades while they are wet with
naptha (lighter fluid). Almost to the point of the blades being dry. Works everytime.

[Tom S.]

Another alternative would be to send the lens to Eric for cleaning - but it may not be worth it dollar-wise.

[pacerr]

The naptha treatment works as well as any to degrease the leaves if you can get easy access and leaves no residue.

Note that Ronsonal brand cigarette lighter fluid is naptha, is available in a much more convenient and economical size container, and is available where ever tobacco products are sold.

If it seems necessary to re-apply some sort of lubricant to the leaves after de-oiling, very lightly apply/stroke a line of graphite from a soft lead pencil to the accessible surface of the aperture leaves while stopped down. The intent is to just leave a visible pencil line and no graphite dust. Some references recommend using a small artist's paint brush and powdered graphite but that seems a bit extreme for any but the older, large format lenses. The soft lead pencil works well for my M645 lenses and causes no dust problems.

H2

[mikeSF]

i've made a point to always avoid Kiron-made #22XXXX Vivitar lenses because of this common issue. I had the same lens and it was so stuck the only solution was to remove the aperture and clean off the gunk. After that it worked, but i still prefer Komine or Tokina made Vivitars. Oh, you should also inspect your elements for separation (little "bubbles", bumps, irregular areas in the glass). You may have that issue too. good luck.

[SOldBear]

i still prefer Komine or Tokina made Vivitars.

I had several Komine-made 28mm and 24mm Vivitar lenses (28xxxxxx). All of them suffered from the same "oily blade" problem.

[vonBaloney]

It just seems to be those 28/2s of that period and also the 24mm (don't know the aperture) Kirons that are really bad -- did they have longer lenses as well with the same problem? I have an older Vivitar/Kiron 28/2.5 in m42, which is excellent, no problems (one was in the marketplace recently, might still be there) and I've had a few other Vivitar/Komines in 28, 135, & 200 and those were all gems. Any old lens might be susceptible, but every single 28 or 24 Kiron of that series I've seen has had sticky blades -- often the aperture won't close at all -- just gets stuck wide-open -- so whatever substance they were using has a limited life and then that's that. I'm not sure of the years in question -- too lazy to find an example right now (you can tell the year by the serial # though). But they have a particular look that is recognizable...

[Aka Steve]

Thanks for all the info. This lens was bought as part of a lot, although it was the one I had highest hopes for.
I didn't have lighter fluid but I did work some alcohol into the blades several times, as described, with a bit of wiping off in between. At this point the aperture seems to be working pretty well.
I also cleaned the outside of the lens body with alcohol since there seemed to be oil on that too.
If I continue to have problems I will definitely try the naptha or lighter fluid - Thanks for the advice.
With the lot that I bought, if you figure the cost per item, I paid just about five dollars for this lens, and I didn't even have to pay shipping so... If I can do this quick fix on this lens, I can't complain too much
Thanks again all!!