All of the above (FD 300/2.8L) and these 3 below (FD 300/4L) are pretty close to 100% crops too if not actually.

(These are HTML scaled so to see the ~100% crops unscaled (in Safari for example) just right click and select "Open In New Window" or Tab.)









Of these Oly 300/4.5T shots most are also heavily cropped:








I hope no one minds the image flood. That's my fun for the week anyway. O :-)

Hi folks:

I'm the eBay seller with the grease! Thanks for the links.

I brought these in from Japan as it is pretty much impossible to find decent lens greases in small quantities. One company you mention above has them but they are charging an arm and a leg for them...
So I figured why not get a few kilos and sell them in small quantities. No complaints so far. Also, it was a bit of a challenge to find this stuff, and I like a challenge.

Re the composition of the greases, and for the sake of expanding the knowledge on the black art of lens greases, the only data I have for them is below, extracted form the MSDS. The main thing I get from this is that there seem to be no organic components (i.e. oil), unless "Synthetic hydrocarbon base oil" is a way of saying "we made oil in a lab, because it is better." Wikipedia says you can make synthetic oil from non-hydrocarbon chemicals, or from real oils... and that "Synthetic oil is used as a substitute for lubricant refined from petroleum when operating in extremes of temperature, because it generally provides superior mechanical and chemical properties than those found in traditional mineral oils."

In any case, here's the only data on the composition that I could get:

• FC-4 (thickest, used for Helicoids and cams and the like)
40-50% Synthetic silicone base oil
40-50% Synthetic hydrocarbon base oil
< 5% Lithium soap thickener
5-15% Additives(Fluoropolymers, etc.)

• GE-8 (lighter than FC-4, for cams and slots)
75-85% Synthetic hydrocarbon base oil
5-15% Lithium soap thickener
5-15% Additives(Fluoropolymers, etc.)

• I-40 (used for metal gears mostly, as in the AF "drive train")
55-65% Synthetic hydrocarbon base oil
10-20% Synthetic silicone base oil
5-15% Lithium soap thickener Additives
10-20% Additives (Fluoropolymers, Molybdenum disulfide, etc.)

Daniel

thanks for the link to the Nikon grease.

I've read all about the nyogel and microtools grease. From what I gather the microtools grease is similar to the Dow brand Molykote greases. It's just a PAO grease with extra PTFE. However, microtools wants a fortune for the stuff. I found Molykote on EBAY for 3$ and tried it. It works but it does not offer much metal/metal protection. I could still feel the metal grinding with both small and large amounts of Molykote.

Personally I tried to find the lightest lubricant that would not allow the helicals to grind while still being very easy to turn.

Dampening greases tend to be hard to turn. It's fine for still photos but when you start using still glass on video cameras you start to notice how hard it is to turn when you start using things like follow focuses.

I just read your 3rd post svart. That's good info - thanks!


VK, yeah, some retaining rings are inset and of a larger diameter that the opening we're working through so that angle is sometimes needed. Thankfully not too many are like that but some are.

I just followed svart's link... that looks like the "gorilla snot" I was talking about. It's a heavily dampening grease so be sure that's how you like your lenses to behave - or how they behaved originally if restoring to original.


EDIT:
I just noticed his description reads:

"I-40 is typically specified as the grease to use on the AF drive gear components." So probably not what to use on the helicoid threads. ;)

EDIT EDIT:
Oh, jeez, there's two different kinds. FC-4 is the helicoid grease. OK, got it. :D

hehe...

Most probably second wrench uses some kind of coating.
Plus most people will be using it on one-two lenses, so steel used is not very important.

I have wrenches from first post myself and they are working fine.

A couple of things from me... I've rebuilt 62 lenses in the past 16 months according to my spreadsheet. :)

1) Oils are generally not a good idea because in a heated condition like on a summer's day, the oil can actually evaporate and then condense on the glass (lens) surface. Also some oils will spread out to one molecule thickness by nature. If this gets on a coated lens or a doublet/triplet/quadruplet there is a chance it can get in-between and cause coating or lens separation. Silicone based oils are known for this - others may also be. Best case - unless you really know your oils don't use oil.

2) Of all the lenses I've opened (62) all but a tiny minority used just plain old white lithium grease. It's not thick (although there are different weights) but as many of you will know, it can dry up after about 10 or 20 years - depending on the environment and storage conditions. Well kept, it can last very much longer - maybe 50 years or so. If you're regreasing a lens I've found it best to use a Q-tip lightly saturated and apply sparingly re-dipping the q-tip for about every cm^2 you cover.

Of the ones that were not white lithium grease I can possibly identify some as molybdenum disulfide grease. Molybdenum is a metal-like substance (something like graphite) which they suspend in emulsified thixotropic or "shear thinning" fluid: AKA grease. :)

Some lenses use only fluoropolymer parts with no other lubricants at all. Fluoropolymer it that (usually) white translucent plastic used for parts or linings when parts need to slide smoothly. Like in your DVD drive or on the bottom of your mouse. There's many kinds of fluoropolymers.

A couple of (old) lenses have had monkey snot in them but it's unclear to me if that was added later by some repairmen or was used originally by the factory. I dunno the make-up of monkey snot or gorilla snot but in a office equipment factory I worked in (as a security guard) where copy machines were made, there were large drums labeled "GORILLA SNOT" and "MONKEY SNOT" which were two different weights of dampening grease - black-ish green, odorless, and looking just like their namesakes. I think I recognized that stuff (whatever it is) in two lenses that I took apart. They were very stiff - but very smooth too if you get me. I didn't replace it in those cases. That was probably it's original design and the snot was still snotty so I just left it - I mean besides cleaning all of the other surfaces for the rebuild.

3) If you need spanner wrenches try to find black ones. Black is usually an indication that high-carbon steel is being used. High carbon (tempered) steel is preferred as the tips will stay sharp - thus won't jump out of the slots, thus will reduce the likelihood of scratching the glass or marring the ring faces - etc. If you already have silver ones you can temper them yourself. Get a propane torch (can) and heat up the tip areas to /juuuust/ red glowing. Then immediately submerge it in cold water. Wala - hard tempered! And now black too! ;) I have the ones similar to those shown in VK's first post BTW but with curved tips - which is critical for some lenses.



For the ID face rings try to avoid using these all together though. Instead use those rubber doughnut things. Orders of magnitude safer and there will be no signs of entry at all! I have this set and they work great:

Other interesting spanner wrench.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Pro-Spanner-Wrench-Lens-Repair-Tool-Stainless-Steel-/260769561268?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0

I still prefer separate wrenches as you do not have any dangerous things on top that can hurt you while you screw or unscrew things.

Thanks for the link. I'm gonna try it on my Hexanon AR 40mm 1.8.

@svart

I can't even say how I am interested in all this.
I have lens spanners and fixed few lenses, plus destroyed (not completely :-) ) other few :-)

Helicals are complete nightmare.

>Super Lube 51004

Problem with this is that branded lubes are generally completely different in each country.

I think that few photo, or even video guides of most common operations will be extremely useful.

For, example I want to see fixing helicoids on Vivitar 28-90mm.
Many of them have oil.
As far as I know it is one of the worst lenses to fix :-)