[Canada_Rockies]

M75-150/4

You don't need to be in the tropics for that kind of nasty critter areas. In the Okanagan valley in British Columbia Canada, I put up the rattlesnake and the wasp ...

[pschlute]

k1 + Pentax M 135mm f3.5

1/45 f4.0 ISO 200

[iheiramo]

Puijo ski jumping hills in Kuopio, Finland. The large one is K120 hill with 136 meters record jump.

M135/3.5:


M35/2:

[paulh]

You don't need to be in the tropics for that kind of nasty critter areas. In the Okanagan valley in British Columbia Canada, I put up the rattlesnake and the wasp ...

Actually, the only 'nasty critter' I've encountered in that area was a swarm of fire ants. While taking shots of an Indian Paintbrush, I braced myself by placing a hand on a small nearby tree. Within seconds I had dozens of those things biting me - ow! But there are snakes (rattlers, cottonmouth) and predators (coyote, bobcat) lurking about! It's a popular walking/jogging/biking trail, so the critters stay hidden for the most part.

[Jonathan Mac]

Here are a few shots taken in Venice with the M 120mm f/2.8. I'm finding that the images from this lens need a bit of a contrast boost, at least when used for landscapes or cityscapes, but the detail is there.


ITLY3744a by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr


ITLY3741a by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr


ITLY3742a by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr

[mkaresh]

I shoot with Olympus m43 cameras, and recently decided to buy an adapter to attach some Pentax-M lenses I've had in storage for over 20 years, a 50 f/1.7 and 135 f/3.5. The results were better than expected, so I recently bought a 200mm f/4 on ebay.

Seller said the optics had zero issues. Opened the box today and both the front and rear elements were filthy. I cleaned them off, but there's something that appears to be on the back surface of the front element. Looks like dried model airplane glue. I've heard of mold on lenses, but have never seen it. Is this mold?

As far as I can tell it doesn't affect the images, probably because it's only on the edge. Or maybe because I'm using a smaller sensor.

Any thoughts on this? Would you buy a lens with this flaw, even for a low price? (Paid $20 + shipping.)

[brightseal]

(Paid $20 + shipping.)

I paid $100 too much for a nice one, seems like they are selling cheap on eBay these days. $20 is about the right price for that, as is. The seller probably knew about the goo spot, that's why so cheap. You could possibly sell it for $35-$40.

[Jonathan Mac]

It looks like fungus plus coating damage (caused by acid from the fungus). It's up to you if you want to keep it - at least it was cheap, but you'd be within your rights to return it as it's clearly damaged.

[mkaresh]

Thanks for the responses. Not sure about the coating damage--seems like the fungus is on the inside, and isn't coating only on the outside surface? Or the inside surface of the front element is also coated?

Is this likely to continue spreading? Or probably happened a while ago and dead now?

[jcdoss]

Messenger Coffee, KCMO
K-1 (silver) & M50/1.4

[Jonathan Mac]

Thanks for the responses. Not sure about the coating damage--seems like the fungus is on the inside, and isn't coating only on the outside surface? Or the inside surface of the front element is also coated?

Is this likely to continue spreading? Or probably happened a while ago and dead now?

Good lenses have all lens surfaces coated. With modern lenses sometimes the outer lenses have an extra coating to help keep dirt off etc but the coating to improve the optics is on all surfaces.

Fungi produce spores, which can lie dormant for decades before springing back to life, so it's hard to say. The best thing to do would be to clean it, but if you don't know how to take the lens apart yourself then that can be risky or expensive.

Personally, I would send it back as I wouldn't want a fungus-infected lens in my cupboard spreading spores to all my good lenses.

[marcusBMG]

Any thoughts on this? Would you buy a lens with this flaw, even for a low price? (Paid $20 + shipping.)

Minor fungus, wouldn't really notice even if it was central, at the edge doesn't even figure on apsc/m43 (cropped out). Wouldn't bother dismantling to clean even though taking out a front element is usually an easy job (well, only to resell, because it's a flaw that reduces the price). Fungus doesn't tend to spread - spores are always everywhere, it grows only if conditions are favourable (cool, damp). I wouldn't be concerned about "infection", only that the fungus in that lens might be prone to further growth if storage conditions weren't reasonably ideal.

[wkraus]

Vienna, 1990.
Pentax LX, smc Pentax-M 1:1.4 50mm on Agfapan 25 film/Ilfosol S 1+14 developer. Negative copied using Pentax K-1 with smc Pentax-D FA 50mm Macro.

[mkaresh]

Minor fungus, wouldn't really notice even if it was central, at the edge doesn't even figure on apsc/m43 (cropped out). Wouldn't bother dismantling to clean even though taking out a front element is usually an easy job (well, only to resell, because it's a flaw that reduces the price). Fungus doesn't tend to spread - spores are always everywhere, it grows only if conditions are favourable (cool, damp). I wouldn't be concerned about "infection", only that the fungus in that lens might be prone to further growth if storage conditions weren't reasonably ideal.

marcusBMG--This is my conclusion as well--try to minimize the spread within the lens, not likely to spread to other lenses. I'm in Michigan, so not a lot of humidity here. The seller was in south Florida. I gave them an option of refunding half of what I paid or providing return shipping (per ebay policy), and they opted for the partial refund.

I thought about buying a cheap spanner to remove the front ring, but seems I'd be fairly likely to cause worse damage by using one, if it were to slip. The front element does appear to be held in by a single retaining ring. But how much effort will be required to remove that ring? Maybe if I can borrow a quality spanner at some point.

[iheiramo]

Some shots from today.

M35/2 3 vertical shots panorama:


M135/3.5:


M35/2 3 landscape shots panorama: