De-clicking lenses

If you are up for it declicking is less than a 5 minute job. It involves removing a small ball bearing that is visible usually when you remove the back mount on most manual focus lenses. I've done all of my C/Y Zeiss and my friends that want it done. That said any lens repair shop in your town will do it in the same amount of time and should cost next to nothing. The hard part is explaining why you would want to as they tell you you are wrecking a lens..... but they can always re-click it.
 
+1 for DIY, I performed this surgery on all my Nikon lenses. Less than 5 minutes per lens to pull out the 'click' and put in some dampening grease.
 
Resurrecting this thread to ask:

heavyG, thekreative, I am looking to do this for my lenses. That kit you linked to looks great, but I'd only need the heaviest grease I think, right? Do you know where I can get just one viscosity for less outlay please? Also, does one apply it around the entire ring, or just in the ball-race area of the ring?

Many thanks
 
I just did a few Canon FDs, with some Nye grease, and now they're as silky as the focus helicoils, and I much prefer it for video - MUCH!

Thanks for the advice.
 
I apologize for my ignorance, but may I ask what is declicking a lens. I am new to all of this and I came here trying to learn some things. So any sound simple explanation would be much apreciated.
 
De-clicking: Opening the back of a lens and removing the ball bearing from the aperture control on a manual focus/ manual aperture lens, so that it no longer clicks to whole or half stop increments (de-clicking) and then damping the loose ring so that it is silky smooth, using special damping grease (often Nyogel) like the stuff used in the focus helicoils of the same manual lenses. This allows an infinitely variable aperture, rather than one limited to whatever increments the lens had it's bearing set to.
 
Lucas Adamson said:
De-clicking: Opening the back of a lens and removing the ball bearing from the aperture control on a manual focus/ manual aperture lens, so that it no longer clicks to whole or half stop increments (de-clicking) and then damping the loose ring so that it is silky smooth, using special damping grease (often Nyogel) like the stuff used in the focus helicoils of the same manual lenses. This allows an infinitely variable aperture, rather than one limited to whatever increments the lens had it's bearing set to.
Click to expand...

Very good description.

G.
 
I just did one of my old Nikons...worked like a charm! It wasn't a ball bearing though, it was a little metal 'tab' with a nub that would stop in little troughs in the ring.
All I needed was a good jewelers screwdriver. Thanks for the info.!
 
ZazaCast said:
I just did one of my old Nikons...worked like a charm! It wasn't a ball bearing though, it was a little metal 'tab' with a nub that would stop in little troughs in the ring.
All I needed was a good jewelers screwdriver. Thanks for the info.!
Click to expand...
Most of the newer (Plastic) Nikons have this tab 'melted' into place in the plastic and you have to break it off. Not a problem, you just have to be careful.

G.
 
bnewb123 said:
I apologize for my ignorance, but may I ask what is declicking a lens. I am new to all of this and I came here trying to learn some things. So any sound simple explanation would be much apreciated.
Click to expand...

Nearly all still camera lenses that have manual aperture rings have "click stops" that lightly lock the aperture in position at the standard full f-stops (1.4, 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, etc.). Some lenses have in-between clicks as well at 1/2 stop intervals. You can both feel and hear the clicks when moving the aperture ring from one to the next. This makes it easy to insure that your lens is set to exactly a full stop aperture as indicated on a light meter, and by counting clicks as you move the ring, with a little experience it is easy to make adjustments while shooting without having to take your eye off the viewfinder and look at the markings on the lens. However, it can be difficult to set the lens for aperture openings in between the standard sequence, since the ring will tend to "jump" to the next full stop when moved. And it can make a little noise which could potentially end up on the sound track of a movie. In cinema shooting, it is more important to be able to dial in a precise exposure which may be in between two standard stops, than to shoot at an exact standard aperture. "De-clicking," then, is to modify the lens to disable or remove the mechanism (often a sprung roller or ball bearing that snaps into notches on the aperture ring somewhere inside the lens barrel) that makes the ring "click" into fixed positions. This makes it easier to set precise exposures, to change the aperture smoothly while shooting if necessary, and eliminates one possible source of extraneous noise on the set.

- Greg
 
This would be a good subject for a video tutorial. Some folks are not so handy. I'm not sure where to put the grease. If anyone is willing to make a tutorial I would love to watch as I'm sure many others would too. thanks
 
Does anyone know what Duclos charges to perform such a task? I'm handy enough to do it myself, but would be afraid of working with the grease to tighten up the aperture ring.

Thanks,
Dave
 
He charges $250 for a de-click, a good delrin lens gear and 77mm front ring adapter. It's a quality cine-conversion.
 
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