Panasonic lens ficngus

stickytape

stickytape

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Is this pretty bad lens fungus?? Just got two Panasonic lens off eBay and it looks terrible to me! Doesn’t seem to affect images that I can see but…! 5158A0FA-8625-4042-9027-352744C4D0EC.jpeg5158A0FA-8625-4042-9027-352744C4D0EC.jpeg156F75D3-3063-4B8C-AC8B-25C6BD431C3B.jpeg957719E9-CDCC-46F6-83DF-D956B90CFF58.jpegC71896AE-33E4-43F4-A15C-FB3E4704567D.jpeg
 
Looks distinctly like mould growth, yes. And it's pretty bad!
 
A slim chance it might be only on the outer surfaces, but just as likely to be on internal ones. And might've started to etch the coatings.

Be clear also that mould can develop on any surface, not just glass - all it needs is a substrate and some nutrition. It's widespread everywhere, but obviously we notice it more on glass.

I'd be sending these lenses back for a refund pronto.
 
definitely looks internal. That's crazy, already messaged. Disappointed as was really down for some X glass!
 
A bit of checking online suggest sunlight or UV lamps.. are these old wives tales or is there some merit? Wondering about getting a UV light of Amazon and leaving it on for a few days..
 
stickytape said:
A bit of checking online suggest sunlight or UV lamps.. are these old wives tales or is there some merit? Wondering about getting a UV light of Amazon and leaving it on for a few days..
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its not old wives takes, you can kill the fungus with a good amount of sunlight. Doesn't mean new ones cannot grow later.
Also it looks rather bad as it is, i am not sure why you are thinking of even keeping it unless you were sold them with the description of them being that bad.
 
nandbytes said:
its not old wives takes, you can kill the fungus with a good amount of sunlight. Doesn't mean new ones cannot grow later.
Also it looks rather bad as it is, i am not sure why you are thinking of even keeping it unless you were sold them with the description of them being that bad.
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Hmmm. Was just because of the hassle of eBay returns, with it not being a "monitored" system like amazon, you have to open a case, wait on comms etc. Learned my lesson, stick to Talk photography or amazon I think in future.
 
stickytape said:
Hmmm. Was just because of the hassle of eBay returns, with it not being a "monitored" system like amazon, you have to open a case, wait on comms etc. Learned my lesson, stick to Talk photography or amazon I think in future.
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not sure what you mean by "monitored" but ebay can see everything and they offer you 14 days money back guarantee if items are not as described. And if the seller goes awol you get to keep the item and you get your money back. Not to mention ebay almost always sides with the buyer.

ebay is definitely safer than talkphotgraphy and probably safer than amazon too.

Yes it'll take a little time to get your money back but you are pretty much guaranteed your money back. Who cares if you need to wait a few extra days, you have no such guarantees on TP or amazon.
 
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nandbytes said:
not sure what you mean by "monitored" but ebay can see everything and they offer you 14 days money back guarantee if items are not as described. And if the seller goes awol you get to keep the item and you get your money back.
ebay is definitely safer than talkphotgraphy and probably safer than amazon too.
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I just mean with amazon it seems a lot easier; ask to return, label instantly and then they pick it up. But I'll give it a go, not going to live with fungus especially if it will come back even if I remove it! Luckily got a few other adapters so not desperate for this focal length as can adapt my canon glass!
 
stickytape said:
I just mean with amazon it seems a lot easier; ask to return, label instantly and then they pick it up. But I'll give it a go, not going to live with fungus especially if it will come back even if I remove it! Luckily got a few other adapters so not desperate for this focal length as can adapt my canon glass!
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That is only if it was sold by amazon as far as I am aware. Amazon Marketplace sellers are a pain to deal with.
But amazon do not have enough used sales to really take them seriously for buying used gear.

I have had least problematic sales on TP but when I have had issues I have lost money dealing with folks on TP.

I have had more problematic sales on ebay but I have never lost money on ebay.
 
It typically starts on some organic material a spec of pollen is enough.
Keeping them dry (i.e.Humidity below 40%) is key, sunlight will help but I wouldn't want them sat on a window ledge for weeks
Putting them away in a slightly damp bag for months/years is the fate of many lenses as owners lose interest (or worse) and it rarely ends well for the glass.
A lot of house rooms can become too humid and summer is worse than winter with little or no heating on for weeks.
 
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Personally I would never (knowingly) use any such affected lens. IMO there is a risk of spores spreading to the body and hence to other lens ~ simply not a risk I would entertain.
 
If I'm going to buy a lens, as well as all-round pics of it I want a full description including operational condition. If that is lacking, then the implication is that the seller hasn't a clue about lenses, and so whilst not necessarily fraudulent can't be relied on. A lot of people selling lenses are apparently casual users only. One has to do a bit of preliminary sorting of wheat from chaff.
 
Box Brownie said:
Personally I would never (knowingly) use any such affected lens. IMO there is a risk of spores spreading to the body and hence to other lens ~ simply not a risk I would entertain.
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as far as I understand lens fungus does not really spread apart from within the lens its infested.
 
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Box Brownie said:
IMO there is a risk of spores spreading to the body and hence to other lens
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A reasonable gut reaction that I'm inclined to share, but in life, mould spores are prevalent in the air anyway ...
 
nandbytes said:
as far as I understand lens fungus does not really spread apart from within the lens its infested.
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If a prime, perhaps, though with a zoom....there is a risk of air pumping 'action' spreading the spores.

droj said:
A reasonable gut reaction that I'm inclined to share, but in life, mould spores are prevalent in the air anyway ...
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Agreed, we live will many microscopic things.....some of which if shown to folk would disturb a few for sure.

But a camera is a concentrated & enclosed environment and where you present a source of concentration of spores the risk of higher level contamination is IMO unacceptable.
 
Box Brownie said:
If a prime, perhaps, though with a zoom....there is a risk of air pumping 'action' spreading the spores.


Agreed, we live will many microscopic things.....some of which if shown to folk would disturb a few for sure.

But a camera is a concentrated & enclosed environment and where you present a source of concentration of spores the risk of higher level contamination is IMO unacceptable.
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i assume you will using your pumping zooms outside and as mentioned already there'll be far more spores outside than in your lens.

Zeiss used to have an article (which I can't seem to find now but you can see the quote from the article here - https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/can-lens-fungus-spread.155253/#post-2012113) that clearly said spores do not spread from one lens to another. if there is risk of fungus growing in one lens there is equal risk of it growing in all other lenses kept in the same environment. there is no real risk of it contaminating and spreading from each other.
 
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Box Brownie said:
Personally I would never (knowingly) use any such affected lens. IMO there is a risk of spores spreading to the body and hence to other lens ~ simply not a risk I would entertain.
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Unless you live in a medical grade clean room your camera gear will be exposed to fungus spores on a daily basis, so the risk is not that much higher. Storing photo gear in a dry place (so spores will not germinate) is the only defence.
Those particular lenses are pretty badly infected, so even someone like me who's not significantly bothered by fungus wouldn't want to use them as they are.

I work in a chemistry lab, so might be willing to buy lenses in such a state if they are very heavily reduced. I have access to chemicals that will clean up the glass, but the hassle involved gain access generally make it a non starter with zooms.
 
My first dSLR a canon 300D got a bad case on the sensor but under the glass protection so it could not be cleaned off - that was due to leaving unused for a year or more in less than ideal conditions.
Point being not only lenses can be affected.
 
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