HELP!!  We have a Nikon 60X1.4na plan apo DM phase lens hardly used which
now will not give an image.  The local Nikon rep says it has oil inside
and that this is a common problem.  They want CDN$ 3,000 to fix it.  A
new one costs CDN$ 4,700.  The lens has no obvious damag and has always been
treated very gently.  There is visible oil when the screq on cap is removed.
The rep says this oil can get into the elements!!  To me this is just
faulty design.  A simple skirt of plastic film could have prevented oil from
running down the objective into the spring mechanism.  Mostly the lens was used
on an upright microscope so oil had little chance.
        Do any of you also have failures of Nikon 60X lenses?  Did Nikon
take any responsibility for the failure?  Are there any reliable lens
service shops who would disassemble and clean objectives?
        The Nikon rep says these lenses are known to accumulate oil inside
even when used only in upright scopes.  Is this really true?
I would apreciate hearing any comments on oil ingestion by these lenses.
Thanks.
 
Milton Charlton
Physiology Dept.
University of Toronto
Faculty of Medicine
Toronto, ON,  M5S1A8
Canada
 
[log in to unmask]