Fungus/Haze

[RaglanSurf]

Who's had fungus/ haze cleaned from a lens? Who did you use? How much did it cost? How successful was it?

 

[medwaygreen]

Hi Nick,

I had a Nikkor 100mm with light deposits around the outside of the front elements of the lens,but,on the inside of the glass,if you understand me. I believe that it was the start of fungus.

Took it to Miles and he worked his magic and when collected it was what I would describe as 99% success and he charged me £35.00.

Richard.

 

[RaglanSurf]

Thanks Richard

 

[RufusG]

I once had some cleaned from an old mechanical Pentax's lens, it took about an hour and cost £20! And I've stored my cameras a bit more carefully ever since, although it can supposedly strike randomly. The results were good and it hasn't returned in thirty years.

 

[TheBigYin]

Rufus - you've already started one thread on that subject - you may be better served by uploading the pictures into your gallery on here or on flickr, or... well.... anywhere but app.box.com, because it appears that website isn't designed to serve images up to external sites - and most members won't click on a link to some random website without at least some clue as to what will be at the end of it... I DID look to be honest (it's sort of part of the job for Staff to check dodgy looking links...)

for what it's worth - if those images were from a digital SLR, i'd say that you've got the mother and father of all dust-spots on your sensor. If it's from a point and shoot or fixed lens camera, then you've got some dirt either in the lens, ON the lens, or inside the camera on the sensor.

ETA: according to the Exif, it's a Samsung L201 / VLUU L201 camera - so it's a point and shoot compact camera - and unless your dirt spot is on the outside of the lens, any repair / clean is going to be way more than economically viable.

Now: back to the original thread, after that short Hijack...

 

[Strapps]

I've taken a couple of lenses to Miles with mixed results. Mostly good, though the fungus has come back on one lens. Miles is adamant that once fungus has attacked a lens, it'll be back. One lens I took to him with fungus on every element he returned untouched as it's so complex to put together than the labour cost would exceed that of a replacement! The cost in each case has been Miles's standard rate for a CLA on a lens.

Recently I had a couple of lenses with fungus on the front and rear elements respectively and I was able to take those out and clean them myself with anti-bacterial fluid (household cleaner). Nothing's come back yet but it's only been a few months and it's summer so pretty warm and dry.

 

[excalibur2]

Well my view might be of some value:- If the lens is not expensive\special or badly affected then I wouldn't bother having it cleaned, even if the fungus has etched the glass you wouldn't notice the "theoretical" loss in performance. The rear element affect performance most when judging to have a lens cleaned.

H'mm I can't understand this comment "Miles is adamant that once fungus has attacked a lens, it'll be back" as I've cleaned lenses with just fungus on the front element and it's never come back, and how can it if you keep your lenses in a dry ventilated place.

 

[Strapps]

... If the lens is not expensive\special ...

If it's not expensive or special then it's worth having a go yourself. If nothing else you'll soon learn how many small, fiddly bits are used in the construction of a lens.

H'mm I can't understand this comment "Miles is adamant that once fungus has attacked a lens, it'll be back" ...

I wouldn't be surprised if he's covering himself in the event that if a lens was stored poorly previously and is again, you can't come back to him to get it cleaned again for nothing.

 

[AJQS]

I've done it myself on a couple of lenses. First was a Tamron 70-200 2.8, that was dead easy and it was perfect afterwards. The 2nd was a Minolta 135mm f2.8 and that didn't go well, whatever the rear element was coated with inside was impossible to clean with any fluid I have here, it just kept smearing and making a mess so although the fungus was gone it didn't really look any better!

 

[droj]

... I've cleaned lenses with just fungus on the front element and it's never come back, and how can it if you keep your lenses in a dry ventilated place.

We all know that fungus can occur inside a lens, which then requires dismantling to clean. Fungus arises from spores, and although we see it on the glass of a lens, equally it can grow unseen on any surface - all it needs is a substrate. Thus it can persist in a lens on any of the internal or external surfaces, not just the glass. It's widespread in the environment and not specific to lenses.

Cleaning the glass alone doesn't necessarily elininate the fungus.

 

[excalibur2]

****I wouldn't be surprised if he's covering himself in the event that if a lens was stored poorly previously and is again, you can't come back to him to get it cleaned again for nothing.***

....or if the fungus is not removed and killed and some bit is left then as you say if "stored poorly".......... could start again. But as the spores are everywhere any person that doesn't store anything of value in dry conditions is asking for trouble...anybody found an old leather bag in the loft covered in mold

 

[excalibur2]

We all know that fungus can occur inside a lens, which then requires dismantling to clean. Fungus arises from spores, and although we see it on the glass of a lens, equally it can grow unseen on any surface - all it needs is a substrate. Thus it can persist in a lens on any of the internal or external surfaces, not just the glass. It's widespread in the environment and not specific to lenses.

Cleaning the glass alone doesn't necessarily elininate the fungus.

...but every living thing on the planet needs water even in minute quantities.....no water no life, so store things in dry conditions and have no problems, but there is a problem in what is perceived as dry but the atmosphere is humid and some guys store their lens in low humid containers ( I suppose this would be necessary in some countries around the world.).

 

[stumac]

With no experience at all I bought a lens screw driver off eBay and done mine myself . Took 30mins and was perfect after . I've now done it with 90mm and 180mm mamiya lenses and 50mm olympus lens .