Some restorations ask a little more of you than a clean and a polish. My 20-inch / 16-inch Ross Combination lens was one of them. Behind that beautiful brass barrel, the glass was suffering from severe balsam separation. Bringing it back meant completely stripping the lens down and tackling the problem between the elements.
I’m delighted to have this restoration finished. It was a nerve-racking job, but seeing the Ross back together makes all that patient work worthwhile.
More than a surface clean
The main challenge was the old bond holding the cemented glass elements together. With severe balsam separation, cleaning the outside of the lens was never going to address what was happening inside.
The lens was completely dismantled so I could work on the affected optics. The elements had to be separated, the deteriorated balsam removed, and the glass prepared for re-cementing. Having an antique lens apart on the bench is quite a different feeling from admiring it on the front of a camera!
Back together with Canadian balsam
Once separated and cleaned, the elements were re-glued with Canadian balsam. This was the heart of the restoration: dealing with the failed bond and bringing the glass back together before reassembling the lens.
I filmed the process, including the separation, removal of the old balsam, re-cementing and final optical test. There is a lot more to this job than the finished photograph can show, and the video follows the work at the bench.
Keeping old equipment working
For me, these restorations are part of the pleasure of wetplate photography. The cameras and lenses deserve to keep making photographs, and getting an old piece of equipment back together is enormously satisfying. This Ross certainly made me work for that moment.
Watch the restoration
The full film, The Most Terrifying Lens Repair I’ve Ever Attempted, follows the restoration from the damaged optics through to the final test.
If you’d like to focus on the glass work, there’s also a separate edit: The Most Terrifying Lens — Just the Balsam Repair.
You can find more restorations and life in the darkroom on the Tintypeman YouTube channel, or read about my completed Tachihara 8×10 restoration here on the website.