"42mm Screw Thread" OR "M42" Lens Help

[Harnum]

Hello all,

My friend recently let me borrow an old film SLR that he had kicking around. He never really ever used it, nor did his family. Upon taking a look at it tonight, I realized that... hmm, how do I put this? The pieces inside the lens that make the aperture bigger or smaller had come off track or something? The little pieces that are supposed to rotate and allow in more light have kinda dislodged themselves and the start to bend when you twist the aperture ring. Watching the pieces begin to bend actually hurts me. Is there any way for me to fix this lens at all?

(I hope you all understand what I'm trying to say here. If not, I can take some pictures of the lens and send them along!)

[OsmosisStudios]

Pictures would help greatly.

[Harnum]

Alrighty, got 2 kinda shifty images of the situation. Yay for dimly lit rooms and high ISO!

[inkista]

How good are you at fixing delicate spring-loaded mechanisms?

If your answer is "good", I'd say google up the lens name with the word "repair" and see if you can find some instructions or exploded diagrams to guide you through assembly/disassembly, and pray you don't need new parts. You may need to buy specialty tools.

Or. You could try and find a vintage lens repair person with a good reputation and find out how much they'd charge to fix it. I would really recommend not messing with the lens any more--you may be bending/damaging those shutter leaves.

When I purchased a vintage Olympus OM-mount 50mm f/1.2 lens, it worked pretty well, but the aperture leaves were slow to recover (they didn't come loose like yours, though). I didn't even attempt to fix it. I took it to a used camera store, where they were Olympus nuts, and had a great reputation. They charged me $85 for a CLA, and when I got it back, the aperture was completely snappy, and the lens has been great ever since.

[Harnum]

UPDATE: I called the owner of a local shop, and he's gonna see if he can repair it. But first, I'm gonna try to get some pictures with the lens actually broken. It still lets in light, which is cool, so I'm gonna see if the camera itself is even worth using and then go ahead and spend the money on repairing the lens.

I have one more question regarding the camera. It's an old Chinon CS and it takes a mercury battery, which of course you can't get anymore. I was just wondering if the battery necessary to expose a picture, or is it just used for the light meter?

[inkista]

Usually with older cameras, it's just for the light meter.

One more thing. You can get an M42-to-Nikon F adapter (Fotodiox makes 'em but you can find 'em on Amazon, B&H, Adorama...). It'll have a glass element in it so you can focus to infinity which will cut into the lens's sharpness, but if you just want cheap thrills....