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01-30-2009, 05:37 AM   #1
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Does fungus lens infect?

Does anyone know where a lens with fungus will infect other lens or glass stored nearby?

I have a vintage voigtlander slr body with a lens that has fungus dots on it, should I keep it away from everything else?

01-30-2009, 06:31 AM   #2
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No... fungus is not commutable if it has nothing to feed on..

for more info: Fungus and Camera Lenses
01-30-2009, 07:16 AM   #3
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fungus is just mould.

there are spores everywhere, what it needs to grow is warm moist environment.

You can have a clean lens, and leave it damp in a closed environment, and it will be mouldy eventyally
01-30-2009, 09:51 AM   #4
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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.
01-30-2009, 12:27 PM   #5
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For me, this is a purely hypothetical question. If I see fungus on one of my lenses, I'm going to try to clean it as soon as possible. Leaving it around will just cause more damage to that lens, probably other elements within the lens, and possibly other lenses.
01-30-2009, 02:23 PM   #6
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Steve is completely right: remove any infected lens or camera from your normal equipment. Fungus will spread. It is no coincidence, that many repair shops won't deal with fungus on lenses - not because it couldn't be cleaned, but because of the contamination risk: you never know which fungus variety grows on a particualr lens.

If you want to keep and use the old camera, clean it carefully. You won't get all of the fungus if it is already spread widely, as the fungus will live in any thread, behind springs etc. Even in a simple lens, it is not enough to clean the glass surfaces, you have to clean the focusing tubes threads etc. as well.

Ben
02-04-2009, 05:00 PM   #7
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I have a couple of lenses with mold or fungus problems. One is a Pentax SMC PENTAX-F ZOOM 1:4-5.6 70-210MM, the other is a RMC TOKINA 500 MM 1:8 .

I am going to try to save them both. I did not pay very much for them so if I loose them it really is no big deal.

02-04-2009, 08:29 PM   #8
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QuoteOriginally posted by Thumper473 Quote
I have a couple of lenses with mold or fungus problems. One is a Pentax SMC PENTAX-F ZOOM 1:4-5.6 70-210MM, the other is a RMC TOKINA 500 MM 1:8 .

I am going to try to save them both. I did not pay very much for them so if I loose them it really is no big deal.
The Pentax-F is pretty easy to take apart if you have a lens spanner for the front. I think the rear group all comes out as one piece; remove the light shield to get a grip on it. Most zooms are not this easy. My copy is was pretty beat up and needed lots of work, but now works very well.
02-04-2009, 10:01 PM   #9
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I got a lens off Fleabay years ago, found it had fungus, got my money back, but the seller told me to keep the lens. I sent it in to Essex Camera of NJ after they confirmed they would work on it. They sent it back to me clean as a whistle, for a most reasonable fee. Now I have a Pentax-M 35mm f2 that you would never in the world know once had fungus. The fungus has never returned. I used to keep it separate from the other lenses and used to expose it to sunlight on occasion. But however they cleaned it, they did a spectacular job. I now treat it like any other lens and keep it with my other lenses. No problem there.

Only problem is that I no longer want my manual focus lenses, and the last time I tried to sell this lens on this site (mentioning the old fungus of course), it didn't sell. So, not all cases of fungus spell doom or trouble for the lens.
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