FUNGUS!

[Benny2707]

The dreaded 'F' word.

Hmm, now I need a little information. I'm looking at a lens on ebay (I know I know) and the lens has fungus inside it. Now not being to offay on what it does to the glass and whether it's repairable I was looking for a little insight.

1. Can you get rid of the fungus and make it all happy families again?

2. Is it worth getting it even if it's cheap and seeing what happens?

3. Can the fungus spread to the body?

Sorry for the noob questions but I gotta ask them somewhere.

Thanks

Benny

[sirhc55]

The dreaded 'F' word.

Hmm, now I need a little information. I'm looking at a lens on ebay (I know I know) and the lens has fungus inside it. Now not being to offay on what it does to the glass and whether it's repairable I was looking for a little insight.

1. Can you get rid of the fungus and make it all happy families again?

2. Is it worth getting it even if it's cheap and seeing what happens?

3. Can the fungus spread to the body?

Sorry for the noob questions but I gotta ask them somewhere.

Thanks

Benny

Point 1 - unfortunately fungus is insidious. Although some have managed to remove the fungus it is certainly not easy or cheap.

Point 2 - Yes but keep it away from others lenses

Point 3 - normally no but in high humidity and with incorrect storage the answer would be yes.

Conclusion: Buy at your own risk

[Raskill]

No expert on fungus but I'll try and answer your questions...

1. I don't think you can get rid of fungus, without a major major service. The cost of which would be likely to push the 'overall' cost to near new prices.

2. Is it worth getting it? Sure. Why not? If it's dirt cheap, then you can try it. If the fungus is on the front element, it may not effect your images to much, or at all. If it is on the rear element, I would avoid it. Personally, I'd be tempted to keep my moolah and put it towards to non mouldy version.

3. No, fungus wont spread to the body, unless you wet your camera and never dry it. You'd have to TRY and make the fungus grow.

Don't worry about noob questions, it's a good way to learn.

You may wish to post a link to the lens, that way we can judge better.

[Yi-P]

Afterall, which lens is it? How good is its value for you to buy it even if it has fungus?

As Chris said, be sure to keep your 'infected' lens away from the others, so that the infection doesnt spread across to other lenses.

[blacknstormy]

Doesn't fungus end up etching the glass on a lens - so that would mean that even if you could remove the fungus, potentially you still have a problem you can't fix ... but I suppose you could also get some really unique photos

[Benny2707]

There are a few lenses that I'm referencing. One is a 80-200 f2.8 that I have seen on ebay that has some fungus issues.

The other ones are two lenses that my father has from a long time ago. A 50mm 1.4 which seems pretty much perfect. The other is a 200mm f4 which has some fungus visible in the rear glass. I'll just take them to Nikon and see what they say unless there is anyone else in Sydney that will service them for me.

[!~DeViNe~DaRkNeSs~!]

Hehe never seen this fungus ive heard about on eBay before.
is it a genuine fungi or just sum airborne crap thats settled?

[Benny2707]

So I took the lenses to Nikon today to get an idea as to what it might cost and what the damage was.

Here's the top line:

The lenses could have been used again but they did have a fair bit of fungus on them. The fungus apparently takes the nice clean top layer off the glass and whilst they can be taken apart and cleaned the lenses would almost certainly come out producing softer images which is not what I want.

The cleaning bill could have been between $100 and $200 per lens and then they would have had to be sent to a guy in the states for the conversion (these are pre 1977). It's a dam shame but I guess the $600 or so will get me a Sigma 10-20 or similar.

[Matt. K]

I'm a firm believer that fungus should not be able to get into a high quality lens. It must be possible to incorperate an anti-fungal/bacteria agent into the lens body.

[who]

As a follow on "newbie" question - how common is it for a lens to get a fungal "infection" now?

As an example, I keep my lenses in a steel cupboard in the house which is usually, except for the Tassie summer, heated by reverse cycle air-con, so keeping humidity down quite a bit.

Over summer, if the house gets too hot it is opened up. At times a cool night comes through and the air-con kicks in to heat again when the temp <15 (as otherwise a cold damp feeling pervades the house).....

Am I likely to see a problem with my new (and almost new) lenses?

[Benny2707]

I'm a firm believer that fungus should not be able to get into a high quality lens. It must be possible to incorperate an anti-fungal/bacteria agent into the lens body.

I agree with you 100% but I'm just not sure it's the reality of the situation. Regardless I'm going to take any precaution I can in order to avoid even having to worry about it. It might be overkill but better to be safe than sorry.