How to Fix a Vintage Lens Stuck Aperture

⇩↓⇩↓⇩↓⇩↓⇩↓⇩↓⇩↓⇩↓⇩↓⇩↓⇩↓⇩↓⇩↓⇩↓

🔴 To make my VIDEOS I use…

🎸 M U S I C ♫
For the best music and sound effects in my content I use Epidemic Sound, sign up for a 30-day free trial here.

More vintage Gear I Use :

MY VINTAGE LENS ADAPTERS SELECTION
🔴 M42 ADAPTERS

🔴 FD ADAPTERS

🔴 MD ADAPTERS

🔴 M MOUNT ADAPTERS

🔴 Lens cleaning tools :

SOCIAL

If you want to support the channel consider purchasing my color-grading LUT packs, or becoming a Patreon / Channel member!

[thehedgeknightnc]

Thank you very much. After watching this video I conducted my first m42 lens repair. I cleaned the stuck aperture blades and removed the fungus from a 55mm f/1.7 chinon lens. Please continue to post videos like this. Bravo..

[michielbuse]

If you're brave enough take the whole lens apart and give the helicoid the new grease it deserves after all those years of working and exposure to dirt and heat😅 I used Molycote EP lubricant on my own lens, which contains molybdenum. Use only a little and your lens will turn nicely tight, and this grease has very little chance of running to the diaphragm blades again! If you only clean the diaphragm you may have to do it more often because the grease has been degraded and keeps leaking out!

[kilgharrahxx]

Exact lens I was trying to fix, and it worked perfectly! Also gave me the chance to clean some spots off inside the elements. Thanks so much!

[maikolverasson]

Your video comes on the day I started researching that topic, yay!

[skyshorrchannel]

Excellent timing!!! I am trying out my Minolta collection on my new BMPC 4k today.
I still remember your Vid on the 45mm f2. weird lens... It's going to be first with a speed boost.
Thank You.

[kruno]

this is common issue with "auto" lenses, most famous with this problem is Carl Zeiss Sonnar 135mm f3.5. I have two of them repaired this way (i've used isopropyl) and they still working after 18 months

[LorSupra]

Fantastic tutorial. I managed to knock the ball bearing for the aperture ring somewhere on the floor, so now the aperture ring is smooth like a focus adjustment instead of clicky but oh well.

[DominikMarczuk]

This particular Minolta model is a bitch to work on if you end up disassembling the diaphragm and cleaning the blades separately. The reassembly requires a careful readjustment of the iris. If you don't do it right, the aperture will not correspond to the actual F value in the aperture ring. I had to open and readjust mine a few times before nailing it.

[sneakingelephant]

Thanks for this vid. I got a dirt cheap Leica 135mm lens but it has a stuck focusing ring which I wanted to fix but couldn’t figure out how. Do you have any tutorials on that you can make?

[kevin.itruth]

You don't re-lubricate the blades with anything after cleaning it with the lighter fluid?

[nilssieper]

nice one! i made the same fix a lot of times! Works on stuck shutter blades as well! Not always of course but often. One Canonet QL17giii that i found on a local flee market did not work at all. Just take out the back Lens-assembly, some drops of Naphtha and clean it. And just like that the canonet was working perfectly again!

[antontaranenko]

So much familiar problem😂😂
Especially for soviet lenses...
Some people using WD 40 to release them, which is causing even more disaster which leading to complete disassembly of entire lens including glass elements washing and diaphragm mechanism taken apart😅 But this way you can get really cheap over-greased lens. For little money but with lot of work, which I am personally enjoying...

[KNURKonesur]

Just got that lens recenly in my pursuit of finding a "nifty fifty" with great bokeh for my GFX. Think this will be a winner. I love my Contax Planar 50/1.4 but it's a touch too wide on a GFX. Tried a Canon 50/1.2LTM and absolutely love how compact the setup is, but the lens has huge vignette on GFX and the same issue with the angle of view happens. Was a bit antsy to try a classic 6 element design after working with 7 element lenses for some years, but I think the Rokkor will be a winner!

[uweinhamburg]

Some pretty old lenses have a tunnel filled with grease to hold the aperture control, which can be seen as the aperture ring is stuck. Sometimes this grease just dries up, and it can be revived by mildly putting some temperature on the lens - but be careful, i mean something like 50°C max...

[cliclactube]

J'avais l'exact même problème sur l'exact même objectif il n'y à pas longtemps. J'ai par contre été un peu plus radical en enlevant aussi le bloc optique avant et en utilisant du dégraissant en spray. Au final, le diaph refonctionne parfaitement ( dommage que ma lentille arrière soit "vérolée" - mais ça c'est un autre pb :) ).

[Midas]

Sometimes this is only a temporary solution. I have a Minolta rokkor 58mm 1.2, which is quiet complicated to open up. I took the aperture blades apart and cleaned them individually. 4 months later, completely stuck again. Its the grease from the helicoid that is shifting and making the aperture blades oily…. 😅

[TSGEnt]

Brilliant job cleaning. Those are quite classic Rokkor lenses. MC1 I presume. although the might be an MC2. Do you know? My minolta history isn't that good.

[rephaelreyes]

Can you do more content on putting black material on your lenses?

[mosesrodriguez]

I could have saved $152.00 in repair of my 58mm f/1.2 MC lens, if only I would've come across your posting two weeks ago.

[vme]

That lens is notorious for having stuck apertures. I ordered one from ebay and it came stuck despite the seller saying it was mint. I then went online and heard many stories of others having the same issue haha.