lens fungus

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jimmyb

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I recently bought a used lens, Canon 28-135mm is, from a camera shop. I wasn't getting sharp images from it so got a photographer friend of mine to have a look at it and he found it was full of fungus on the glass inside it.

I took it back and the shop were very good about it and very apologetic and swapped it straight away.

I was wandering if anyone else has had this problem...how this happens to a lens and if any of my other lenses which have been stored with the affected lens (for no more than 4weeks) are now more at risk of getting this fungus on them?
 
It's a fungus which eats the coatings on older lenses if they're stored for long periods in dark places.
Inside a camera-bag placed inside a cupboard for longer than 6 months is ideal, especially if there's even a trace of moisture about.
So those old film cameras in that mouldy Billingham bag up in the loft are not being kept in ideal conditions...(my Billy-Bags all have verdigris on the brass and the leather straps have some powdery white mould every time I check them - no, I don't keep camera kit in them, just old paperbacks).

Keeping lenses in a glass cabinet in a bright room (not direct sunlight though) stops it occurring as UV light kills the spores (or at least stops them reproducing).
 
Arkady said:
It's a fungus which eats the coatings on older lenses if they're stored for long periods in dark places.
Inside a camera-bag placed inside a cupboard for longer than 6 months is ideal, especially if there's even a trace of moisture about.
So those old film cameras in that mouldy Billingham bag up in the loft are not being kept in ideal conditions...(my Billy-Bags all have verdigris on the brass and the leather straps have some powdery white mould every time I check them - no, I don't keep camera kit in them, just old paperbacks).

Keeping lenses in a glass cabinet in a bright room (not direct sunlight though) stops it occurring as UV light kills the spores (or at least stops them reproducing).
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Only that UV hardly passes through your glass doors or your normal lens glass. Moisture it is.
 
I live on the West Wales coast and this has been a reccurring problem for me in the past. Storing a lens in a camera bag over the cold and damp winter months without much ventilation will pretty much guarantee fungus in this part of the country.

I would separate your remaining lenses that were stored with this lens and check them periodically to see if it has spread. Also, if you stored them in a bag, it may be a good idea to wash it and then put it out on the washing line on a few sunny days to get a dose of UV light inside the bag.

I remember reading somewhere that photographers documenting explorations of South American rain forests in the 1970s would often have to replace all of their lens and bodies after a few weeks of use due to fungus.
 
Arkady said:
Yeah I just totally made that bit up...what was I thinking...? tch...
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You were propagating a myth. Think about the absorption curves of soda-lime and boro-silicate glass.

edit: Yes, Rob, keep deflecting. Moisture was already established as main cause of spore germination. The rest is common sense.
 
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Nope - a dark camera-bag in a cupboard makes a better petri-dish out of your coatings than a brightly-lit well-aired room...
 
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