As stated above, fungus is another word for mold. The spores (seeds) are everywhere. For fungus to grow, it needs moisture and food. Unfortunately for lens owners, it does not need much moisture and it also does not need much food. Some fungi can eat the lens coatings or lens cements used to glue elements together and position lens inside the body.
Now the good news:
- Although fungal spores are everywhere, most cannot germinate or live on lenses
- Most lenses will never get fungus
Now more bad news:
- While fungi that can infect lenses are rare, keeping an infected lens in the company of other lenses will vastly increase the chance of infection for the other lenses.
- If you live in the tropics or store your equipment in a humid environment, the chances of infection is higher. I remember the sick feeling I got using beautiful microscopes in some tropical labs where the Zeiss optics were hazed by fungus.
Steve
Last edited by stevebrot; 01-30-2009 at 10:02 AM.