SMZ-10 LENS POLISHING OR REPLACEMENT. I NEED HELP

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stjepo
Posts: 317
Joined: Wed May 23, 2018 10:25 am

SMZ-10 LENS POLISHING OR REPLACEMENT. I NEED HELP

#1 Post by stjepo » Wed Jan 25, 2023 7:12 pm

I am repairing a Nikon SMZ-10
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Apparently everything was fine, except for the fact that it was hard to see through the left lens and the right lens. The image was forming but had a white nebula around the image.
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When I bought it, they warned me that it could have a problem with fungus in the lenses. After opening it up, I tried to clean off the 'fungus' that was mostly on the end lenses of the zoom group. The problem was not fungus contamination but a pair of heavily scratched lenses, left and right. It was impossible to see anything through them.
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As I do not know if it is possible to buy a replacement for these two lenses...
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stjepo
Posts: 317
Joined: Wed May 23, 2018 10:25 am

Re: SMZ-10 LENS POLISHING OR REPLACEMENT. I NEED HELP

#2 Post by stjepo » Wed Jan 25, 2023 7:20 pm

... decided to polish both, I had nothing to lose I did it without any faith in the result of my decision. The result has been surprising now it looks perfectly.
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Anyway I keep trying to get these two crystals to replace them but I don't know where I can get them.
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If anyone knows the characteristics of these lenses it would be of great help.

Manually and in the absence of more information about the crystals of these lenses I have been able to determine (without much certainty) that have a magnification of 2X, diameter is 18mm, focal length is approximately 134mm which, if true, would give an aperture of 7.4f .

Everything is approximate (except the diameter since I don't have any equipment to do it exactly).

Does anyone know the characteristics of the crystals that the SMZ-10 has?

Where can buy them?


Regarding my reckless polishing of the glass of the lenses:

Each crystal was polished with a paste and cotton rotating in a circular clockwise direction and changing from time to time in reverse. Each received 30 minutes of polishing. The marks disappeared and now they are transparent and crystal clear. I did not observe any type of protection on them.

Regards

Steve

stjepo
Posts: 317
Joined: Wed May 23, 2018 10:25 am

Re: SMZ-10 LENS POLISHING OR REPLACEMENT. I NEED HELP

#3 Post by stjepo » Thu Jan 26, 2023 8:56 am

No one knows anything about the SMZ-10 Nikon lenses?


Regards

Steve

MichaelG.
Posts: 3976
Joined: Mon Apr 10, 2017 8:24 am
Location: North Wales

Re: SMZ-10 LENS POLISHING OR REPLACEMENT. I NEED HELP

#4 Post by MichaelG. » Thu Jan 26, 2023 9:12 am

Steve,

I expect that you now know as much about those lenses than anyone outside Nikon

Looks like you’ve made a good job of the clean-up
… just use it … with pride.

MichaelG.

.
Ref. http://183.181.162.36/about/feelnikon/r ... /index.htm
.
P.S. __ This, I believe, is the patent for the Zoom camera lens referenced in that article:
https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/ ... DGB967977A
… it should at least give you a sense of what’s involved
Too many 'projects'

Scarodactyl
Posts: 2775
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2018 9:09 pm

Re: SMZ-10 LENS POLISHING OR REPLACEMENT. I NEED HELP

#5 Post by Scarodactyl » Thu Jan 26, 2023 6:12 pm

These babies were not user serviceable on this level. You might be able to replace them with something close and get good results but likely not. Stereos are so darn picky about the finest points of alignment that you're usually better off cutting your losses on ones in this condition. If the head is functional it could be put on an smz-800 body or one of the many Chinese clones and you'd get improved planarity at low mags too.

stjepo
Posts: 317
Joined: Wed May 23, 2018 10:25 am

Re: SMZ-10 LENS POLISHING OR REPLACEMENT. I NEED HELP

#6 Post by stjepo » Thu Jan 26, 2023 7:00 pm

MichaelG. wrote:
Thu Jan 26, 2023 9:12 am
Steve,

I expect that you now know as much about those lenses than anyone outside Nikon

Looks like you’ve made a good job of the clean-up
… just use it … with pride.

MichaelG.

.
Ref. http://183.181.162.36/about/feelnikon/r ... /index.htm
.
P.S. __ This, I believe, is the patent for the Zoom camera lens referenced in that article:
https://worldwide.espacenet.com/patent/ ... DGB967977A
… it should at least give you a sense of what’s involved
Good advice. As always you are very kind and elegant in your answers.

I decided to polish the lenses when I saw that Nikon still uses manual polishing on their best lenses.

http://183.181.162.36/about/feelnikon/c ... /index.htm

Thanks for responding and the links.

Regards

stjepo
Posts: 317
Joined: Wed May 23, 2018 10:25 am

Re: SMZ-10 LENS POLISHING OR REPLACEMENT. I NEED HELP

#7 Post by stjepo » Thu Jan 26, 2023 7:28 pm

Scarodactyl wrote:
Thu Jan 26, 2023 6:12 pm
These babies were not user serviceable on this level. You might be able to replace them with something close and get good results but likely not. Stereos are so darn picky about the finest points of alignment that you're usually better off cutting your losses on ones in this condition. If the head is functional it could be put on an smz-800 body or one of the many Chinese clones and you'd get improved planarity at low mags too.
Yes, it is in very good condition. The other problem I had was that the spring that pushes the bearing was broken and out of place, it is now fixed. I am currently using my SMZ-1 mount but it is heavy and has forced me to squeeze the focus mount.
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Now my problem is taking good photos but the Microflex "SM" connection ring is missing.

Thank you for the answer.

Regards

stjepo
Posts: 317
Joined: Wed May 23, 2018 10:25 am

Re: SMZ-10 LENS POLISHING OR REPLACEMENT. I NEED HELP

#8 Post by stjepo » Thu Jan 26, 2023 7:53 pm

Image after lens polishing
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Regards.

stjepo
Posts: 317
Joined: Wed May 23, 2018 10:25 am

Re: SMZ-10 LENS POLISHING OR REPLACEMENT. I NEED HELP

#9 Post by stjepo » Sat Jan 28, 2023 10:48 am

Image using the trinocular tube:
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Imagen de WhatsApp 2023-01-28 a las 11.20.43.jpg
Imagen de WhatsApp 2023-01-28 a las 11.20.43.jpg (126.07 KiB) Viewed 1274 times



Regards

stjepo
Posts: 317
Joined: Wed May 23, 2018 10:25 am

Re: SMZ-10 LENS POLISHING OR REPLACEMENT. I NEED HELP

#10 Post by stjepo » Sat Jan 28, 2023 10:55 am

Mr. Yamagishi inspired me:
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