Tue Feb 09, 2021 1:06 am
I just received a couple of used Zeiss ZE lens that were having intermittent iris control issues with my BMPCC 6k.
I got them to work fine by cleaning the flat gold contacts on each of my lenses. I cleaned them in the same way I've cleaned (for decades now) other electronic devices that have gold contacts:
1. Blow and dry brush away any dirt from around the gold contacts (very careful not to brush dirt into the lens itself!) I use the Zeiss lens cleaning kit for this.
2. Clean a common pencil eraser by rubbing it against a cloth or other surface. (I've always used a clean blue jeans pant leg until the entire surface look clean and pink, or whatever color it is.) Note that it shouldn't remain hard and slippery or oxidized — it has to have some grab to it in order to polish the gold.
3. Gently rub the clean eraser over the gold contacts. Use a little pressure, but not too much. Make the entire gold surface look the same: even in color with no dirty oxidized spots.
4. Blow and dry brush again to get any eraser fragments out of the lens.
5. Use a lens cloth with a bit of lens cleaner on it, to wipe away any remaining contaminates on the gold contacts.
6. Repeat if needed.
Note that I ALSO cleaned the SPRING LOADED gold contacts on the camera body itself BUT ONLY BY GENTLY WIPING THEM WITH A SLIGHTLY DAMP LENSES CLEANING CLOTH and then polishing that a bit with a clean lenses cloth. DON'T ALLOW ANY CLEANER, OR ANYTHING ELSE, DROP ONTO YOUR CAMERA SENSOR! You should only need to do that once in a long while?