Ever Had A Warped Lens?

magkelly · 05-22-2011, 06:31 PM

I'm not sure of where to put this one. It's lens related but it's kind of general too. Just idle curiosity really.

While I was in SF my parents went to Goodwill and they found a Honeywell SPII in not so great condition. It was cheap and thinking I might want it anyway they got it for me.

The lens on it was your standard Takumar 55 for that era, and eventually I put it on the K-x to check it out intending upon sending it to a friend. But when I used it I started to notice that almost every pic I took with it was slightly blurred and distorted off to one side.

I don't actually know much about the innards of lenses so I took it to my teacher here and after my lesson today we opened it to have a look. What we found was interesting. One side of the lens sort of sloped and got thicker and there were tiny bubbles near the edge of the glass.

I couldn't really see that when I was just holding the lens up to a light on my own. It took actually taking it apart to see what I am describing. Seeing that one made me a bit curious though if anyone else had ever taken a lens apart and seen anything like it.

Clearly the lens was defective and yet they still let it go out on the SPII? It rather amuses me finding it on the old camera. I'm guessing that whoever had it actually either used it and ignored the blur for years or maybe got another lens and never used that one but then decided to donate the bad lens with the camera?

(This one is going to the local college and their photography teacher so he can show it to students, use it for a demo.)

Have any of you ever seen anything like that?

JeffJS · 05-22-2011, 07:04 PM

Can't speak for the actual lens but regarding "let it go out on the SPII".... Somehow I doubt, or reasonably so, that the lens and camera were shipped together.

magkelly · 05-22-2011, 07:53 PM

Why? That is the exact same lens that was on my Honeywell SPII when I got it and it's been on every SPII I've ever seen actually. I do believe it was the kit lens at the time? I gave both Honeywell SPII's to a guy who rehabs them for students. He fixes passes them on to a teacher here at a local college. I kept the lens off of my original Honeywell SPII though so I'd have a proper kit lens for my Asahi SPII. That one is in very good condition works very well, unlike this dud.

I can't see Pentax sending it out either, but where else would they have gotten it?

JeffJS · 05-22-2011, 08:06 PM

Simply because of the age of the thing and the tendency of people to mix it up when it comes to lenses.

Ratmagiclady · 05-22-2011, 08:18 PM

Originally posted by magkelly

Why? That is the exact same lens that was on my Honeywell SPII when I got it and it's been on every SPII I've ever seen actually. I do believe it was the kit lens at the time? I gave both Honeywell SPII's to a guy who rehabs them for students. He fixes passes them on to a teacher here at a local college. I kept the lens off of my original Honeywell SPII though so I'd have a proper kit lens for my Asahi SPII. That one is in very good condition works very well, unlike this dud.

I can't see Pentax sending it out either, but where else would they have gotten it?

I suppose there's also the possibility that lens element isn't original to the lens, as well: Pentax quality control was doubtless much better than that, but you never know where else it's been.

magkelly · 05-22-2011, 08:28 PM

Hmm, I didn't think of that. I wonder if they dropped it and had to replace that and whoever did the replacement really screwed it up? Seems to me it would have been cheaper to replace it but maybe they tried to do it themselves? Whichever it went this thing might as well have had an old coke bottle bottom put into it for what it's worth. It's a shame really because the 55 that I do have that's just like it is a sharp, sweet little gem of a lens.

wlachan · 05-22-2011, 10:36 PM

Good old Pentax primes were pretty well made and I am very surprised it was that severe. I suspect the glass wasn't original too.

Ratmagiclady · 05-23-2011, 08:31 AM

Originally posted by wlachan

Good old Pentax primes were pretty well made and I am very surprised it was that severe. I suspect the glass wasn't original too.

Yeah, the bubbles and unnevenness sound more like something that would have come out of a Russian factory on an off day, ...maybe wherever it came from, a tinkerer found it interesting or some such.

I'd sort of dismissed the possibility out of hand that it'd actually been *melted* by some extreme treatment, (Takes rather a lot of heat to make optical glass do that most of the time, probably more than the rest of the lens could take, ) but this morning I wonder if it might not have been subjected to that somewhere in science or industry in just the right way.

magkelly · 05-23-2011, 09:11 AM

My first silly thought when I saw it was that the camera it was on had gone traveling with a reporter or something and had gotten dropped too near steam vent on a volcano or left out way too long in a steaming jungle or something like that. The camera itself did look rather beat up, but I didn't expect what we saw inside the lens at all from the outside. From the outside the lens appeared pretty normal actually.

reeftool · 05-23-2011, 09:56 AM

My guess is that the lens was damaged and repaired or at least an attempt was made to repair it. The old Takumar's were the standard of excellence in their day.

05-22-2011, 06:31 PM	#1
magkelly Veteran Member Join Date: May 2010 Photos: Gallery Posts: 5,901	Ever Had A Warped Lens? I'm not sure of where to put this one. It's lens related but it's kind of general too. Just idle curiosity really. While I was in SF my parents went to Goodwill and they found a Honeywell SPII in not so great condition. It was cheap and thinking I might want it anyway they got it for me. The lens on it was your standard Takumar 55 for that era, and eventually I put it on the K-x to check it out intending upon sending it to a friend. But when I used it I started to notice that almost every pic I took with it was slightly blurred and distorted off to one side. I don't actually know much about the innards of lenses so I took it to my teacher here and after my lesson today we opened it to have a look. What we found was interesting. One side of the lens sort of sloped and got thicker and there were tiny bubbles near the edge of the glass. I couldn't really see that when I was just holding the lens up to a light on my own. It took actually taking it apart to see what I am describing. Seeing that one made me a bit curious though if anyone else had ever taken a lens apart and seen anything like it. Clearly the lens was defective and yet they still let it go out on the SPII? It rather amuses me finding it on the old camera. I'm guessing that whoever had it actually either used it and ignored the blur for years or maybe got another lens and never used that one but then decided to donate the bad lens with the camera? (This one is going to the local college and their photography teacher so he can show it to students, use it for a demo.) Have any of you ever seen anything like that?

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05-22-2011, 07:04 PM	#2
JeffJS Inactive Account Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Michigan, USA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 7,484	Can't speak for the actual lens but regarding "let it go out on the SPII".... Somehow I doubt, or reasonably so, that the lens and camera were shipped together.

05-22-2011, 07:53 PM	#3
magkelly Veteran Member Join Date: May 2010 Photos: Gallery Posts: 5,901 Original Poster	Why? That is the exact same lens that was on my Honeywell SPII when I got it and it's been on every SPII I've ever seen actually. I do believe it was the kit lens at the time? I gave both Honeywell SPII's to a guy who rehabs them for students. He fixes passes them on to a teacher here at a local college. I kept the lens off of my original Honeywell SPII though so I'd have a proper kit lens for my Asahi SPII. That one is in very good condition works very well, unlike this dud. I can't see Pentax sending it out either, but where else would they have gotten it?

05-22-2011, 08:06 PM	#4
JeffJS Inactive Account Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Michigan, USA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 7,484	Simply because of the age of the thing and the tendency of people to mix it up when it comes to lenses.

05-22-2011, 08:18 PM	#5
Ratmagiclady Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: GA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 13,563	Originally posted by magkelly Why? That is the exact same lens that was on my Honeywell SPII when I got it and it's been on every SPII I've ever seen actually. I do believe it was the kit lens at the time? I gave both Honeywell SPII's to a guy who rehabs them for students. He fixes passes them on to a teacher here at a local college. I kept the lens off of my original Honeywell SPII though so I'd have a proper kit lens for my Asahi SPII. That one is in very good condition works very well, unlike this dud. I can't see Pentax sending it out either, but where else would they have gotten it? I suppose there's also the possibility that lens element isn't original to the lens, as well: Pentax quality control was doubtless much better than that, but you never know where else it's been.

05-22-2011, 08:28 PM	#6
magkelly Veteran Member Join Date: May 2010 Photos: Gallery Posts: 5,901 Original Poster	Hmm, I didn't think of that. I wonder if they dropped it and had to replace that and whoever did the replacement really screwed it up? Seems to me it would have been cheaper to replace it but maybe they tried to do it themselves? Whichever it went this thing might as well have had an old coke bottle bottom put into it for what it's worth. It's a shame really because the 55 that I do have that's just like it is a sharp, sweet little gem of a lens.

05-22-2011, 10:36 PM	#7
wlachan Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Canada Photos: Albums Posts: 2,625	Good old Pentax primes were pretty well made and I am very surprised it was that severe. I suspect the glass wasn't original too.

05-23-2011, 08:31 AM	#8
Ratmagiclady Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: GA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 13,563	Originally posted by wlachan Good old Pentax primes were pretty well made and I am very surprised it was that severe. I suspect the glass wasn't original too. Yeah, the bubbles and unnevenness sound more like something that would have come out of a Russian factory on an off day, ...maybe wherever it came from, a tinkerer found it interesting or some such. I'd sort of dismissed the possibility out of hand that it'd actually been melted by some extreme treatment, (Takes rather a lot of heat to make optical glass do that most of the time, probably more than the rest of the lens could take, ) but this morning I wonder if it might not have been subjected to that somewhere in science or industry in just the right way.

05-23-2011, 09:11 AM	#9
magkelly Veteran Member Join Date: May 2010 Photos: Gallery Posts: 5,901 Original Poster	My first silly thought when I saw it was that the camera it was on had gone traveling with a reporter or something and had gotten dropped too near steam vent on a volcano or left out way too long in a steaming jungle or something like that. The camera itself did look rather beat up, but I didn't expect what we saw inside the lens at all from the outside. From the outside the lens appeared pretty normal actually.

05-23-2011, 09:56 AM	#10
reeftool Pentaxian Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Upstate New York Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 9,420	My guess is that the lens was damaged and repaired or at least an attempt was made to repair it. The old Takumar's were the standard of excellence in their day.

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