M-Rokkor 28mm f/2.8 lens: White spots-- are they an issue?

[beans22]

I just purchased a clean example of this lens and am anxiously awaiting shipment. the glass is pristine according to the seller and from the look of the images of the lens glass he provided, with no white spots or haze. Should i be worried that it will eventually develop white spots over time? is there anything that can be done to prevent this from happening?

[sleepyhead]

I read somewhere that the formation of the spots may be caused or accelerated by heat.

My example of the lens is also pristine, but I decided to just use it and enjoy it and not worry too much about it. But, I don't live in a warm part of the world.

[astro8]

Probably not much you can do to prevent the spots or haze other than put it in a dry box and never use it...

[micromoogman]

Originally Posted by astro8

I just now opened up, cut the front element out and cleaned the haze out of my 28 M-Rokkor. It was useless the way it was...although the procedure is not for the faint of heart!

before and after surgery

Could you in detail describe how you did? Any pictures from the surgery?
What kind of solvent did you use?

Thanks J

[IEDEI]

i was thinking of buying this lens....but am honestly not finding it worth the trouble with all these stories of white spots, haze, etc......especially with so many other non-issue lenses around!

[krötenblender]

Originally Posted by IEDEI

i was thinking of buying this lens....but am honestly not finding it worth the trouble with all these stories of white spots, haze, etc......especially with so many other non-issue lenses around!

Well, then don't buy it...

I had mine fixed, after I got it with a complete Minolta CLE-Set. I opened a separate thread about it with before/after-photos (see post 11 in this thread). I did not see great improvement after the white spots where removed, because the lens was already good before.

OTOH I'm not a regular 28mm-shooter, but with the Rokkor, I don't really need another 28mm. It really is a nice lens.

[sleepyhead]

Originally Posted by IEDEI

i was thinking of buying this lens....but am honestly not finding it worth the trouble with all these stories of white spots, haze, etc......especially with so many other non-issue lenses around!

I partly agree with you, except last year I found one without spots for about 450 euros. Not cheap but not too bad either. And I gotta say it is my favorite 28mm lens (I also own the 28mm Summicron, and had the CV 28/1.9 and CV 28/2.0 before).

The 28mm M-Rokkor simply has a lovely mix of sharpness, medium contrast, good bokeh, and small size. And not expensive compared to my Summicron.

Last year I did a side-by-side comparison for my own curiousity between the rokkor and the summicron, and the results surprised me alot. The rokkor held it's own sharpness-wise, vignetted less, and actually has more pleasing bokeh (to me) than the Summicron.

So I guess this is why people put the effort into cleaning thes lenses up.

Once I can afford a camera such as the Sony NEX-6, it with the 28mm Rokkor will be my main take everywhere, all-around combo.

[krötenblender]

Recently I have seen some of them on ebay, and all of them were sold for less than 200 Euros - I guess, for some reason it gets bad reputation these days. Even if you send it in to fix the white spots you can get one for much less than 400 Euros, which is a bargain for such a good lens.

The few shots I did with it this summer on a M9 and Zeiss Ikon turned out very beautiful, although wide open it has heavy vignetting. But I liked that.

For some years it was my main lens on the R-D1.