FD Lens mold, dust and fungus.

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Steve T

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I have been in contact with old FD lenses for about a month now buying them off ebay. On receipt of the lenses I cleaned them scrupulously on the outside and then dry brushed and blew out both the mount and front element end prior to cleaning as much of these areas as possible without taking the lens apart.
Last week I got a really bad sinus infection which I am convinced was due to breathing in dust and crap from these old lenses.

Interested to know if anyone else has experienced or heard of any similar stories.

I'm calling it a day with old primes and flogging the lot, theres a good FD to EOS adapter in the canon classsifieds if anyone is looking for one:(.
 
I've bought used stuff that dates back to the 50s (Yashica Mat, Rolleiflex) as well as plenty of gear inbetween, never experienced any problems.

Some of it made my wallet feel queasy, but not me...
 
Sorry to hear you appear to have had such a bad reaction to what could have been from these old lenses.

I believe it is difficult to determine 100% if the cause actually comes direct from them as there is always a certain amount of airborn carp that we are prone to breath in at any given time.

As for experiences:

Yes I have had moderate respiratory issues on odd occasions when I've been messing around with some old gear ( not just camera equipment).

I can fully understand your concerns and reasons for wanting no more of these old lenses however may i suggest that before giving it all up as a hopeless case, that you attempt to find what allergic issues you may have with a view of finding a way to live around them.
Admittedly it may well mean that avoiding old kit is inevitable but would it not be a shame to get rid, only to possibly find that the health issue may stem from other sources and / or be resolved.
 
Well supposedly having mouldy walls on your house can give you health problems, I guess if you muck about with enough lens fungus it'd do the same but I've never had a problem myself. I'm pretty good at tolerating all manner of airborne nasties that most people can't stand though, diesel smoke, solvent fumes, steam oil, developing chemicals .....
 
H'mm I've never heard of problems with old lenses until now.
 
Its a bloody shame, I was loving these old primes, like a whole new hobby but to be honest I cant bear the thought of them now, regardless of how mint, they just feel stinky now:(
I am sensitive to dust but didn't expect the sort of reaction I had last week, it's put me right off. I got a Vivitar push pull 75-205 that I think may have been the main culprit as I understand they can blow air back into your face as you zoom and focus.

Sod it!
 
Steve, I too suffer with quite a severe reaction to dust ( well actually it's the proteins of dead mites and their feaces that cause so called dust allergies).

Why not try giving the lenses a good blow over / clean / outside wearing a paper face mask if needs be.

If possible leave the stuff in sunlight for a few hours which actually kills fungal spores.

As said I have had reactions myself but usually at a time when I've initially received the items and thus they've come from other homes and have been stored for lengths of time accumulating the nasties.

In addition, if the reactions you are suffering are so severe, I would respectfully suggest that you look a little further into the causes as the problem could just as easy be caused by other products that you come into contact with.....evidently one reason i am prone to the fungi reaction is because i am very mildy asthmatic.

Not a major issue in itself but now I'm aware, i bear it in mind and take suitable precautions depending what i'm having to deal with.
 
I developed a severe allergic reaction problem a few years ago. It came out off the blue and after lots of tests the source was never really identified. What was clear from the rigorous and time consuming hospital tests though was that the obvious culprits of dust an fungus spores were definitely not the source. I now carry nuclear grade prescription antihistamine at all times.

The moral of this tale is that I don't think you should assume the dust and fungus are the source of your reaction. They might be but correlation does not mean causation. You might want to get checked out medically if you have not already done so.
 
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