Ilford Sportsman

[sparxphoto]

I would just like to say hi to everyone on this forum great site had so many good reads

here is my Ilford Sportsman i bought for £8 the other day sadly the inside of the lense has mould inside it which i am gutted about Can i fix this?? i would really like to try and fix it myself, is there any info i can read about getting into it ??

Jamie

[mickeyobe]

sparxphoto,

Before you do anything else, try leaving the camera with the lens pointing toward the sun for several days. It might work. But, if not see:
www.ehow.com/how_4927139_clean-mold-camera-lens.html
and its related articles.

Mickey

[daveh]

I had an Ilford Sportsman that was stolen some years ago. If you can't clear the fungus just tell everyone it's a special soft focus lens.

[PeterW]

Hi Jamie,

Sorry to hear you’ve got fungus in the Sportsman’s lens. Nasty stuff!

I wrote a piece here some years ago about getting into the lens and shutter on a Sportsman. It’s still in the archives somewhere but to save you searching for it here’s a direct link
cameracollector.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=repair&action=display&thread=2371

If the fungus is only on the rear element you won’t have to reset the lens at infinity, but if you have to take out the front element you will. The best and easiest method I know of is the two-camera method (the camera you’re working on and a film SLR. The SLR doesn’t have to working as long as it will focus).

Rick Olsen shows how to do it on his excellent website where he calls it Bringing Infinity Indoors. If you have any problems, say so and I’ll run through the method I use.

With regard to cleaning the fungus out, I like Pond’s Cold Cream the best. It lifts off the fungus and, being a cream, the spores stay in it and don’t float about as they might with a liquid cleaner. Remember to clean round the housing as well as the glass itself, and wash off afterwards with a lighter fluid like Ronsonol (actually naptha).

Ideally you should use lens tissue, but I have used cotton buds (Q-Tips) and soft toilet tissue with no ill effects. Work on a piece of newspaper, wrap the tissue up in this, put it all in a plastic bag and dispose of it.

If the camera came in a case I would advise throwing this away. There’s bound to be fungus spores in it, and sooner or later they’ll find their way back into the lens, or even into other lenses.

Sorry to sound over cautious, but IMHO you can’t be too careful when dealing with something as nasty as fungus.

PeterW

[sparxphoto]

Thanks for the help

Pete: i had a look at ur site the other day very good reading

cheers for all the help guys