[Leica] Re: impurities in lens

[Jim Brick <jimbrick@photoaccess.com>]

At 04:59 AM 6/29/00 -0700, Ted Grant wrote:
>
>Hi Chris,
>Don't be a nervous nellie about little "impurities," simply because if
>you hold any lens at the right angle to the light you'll find what you
>think are "impurities."  They're not and at one time the "real old time
>photographers" looked for "bubbles" in the glass of a lens, as that was
>a mark of a better lens.
>
>ted

My first Hasselblad Zeiss 50mm Distagon had a H-U-G-E bubble in it. It was
a dynamite lens!

Don't ever shine a bright light through a "new" lens while looking through
the other side. You will reject every lens you look at. All of this stuff
that you see is normal and does not in any way effect the lens'
photographic capabilities. If you see "stuff" laying around in there
"without" shining a light through the lens, well, it should be checked out.
But forget about bubbles. From past experience, it's the sign of a great lens.

Do shine a light through old lenses to see if they have fungus.

Jim