Gianfranco47 Loc: Senoia GA

I have a fantastic Nikon 200mm f2 VR , one of the best lens ever produced by Nikon , I found some initial fungus in one of the internal lens , now this is not affecting the quality of the photo but in the future most probably I will have problems , disassembling the lens I have discovered the group of glasses with fungus , unfortunately this group of lenses is no more available through Nikon , most probably going to glass producer is still available , is there any one can help in my research

photoman43

Can Nikon clean the affected internal lenses (and parts) and reassemble the lenses? If you have not contacted Nikon yet I would do that.

Carl S

Unless the surfaces on the lens has been scared by the fungus, you might be able to find someone who can clean the lens for you. Otherwise, since you have take the lens apart, try some lens cleaner on the parts infected by the fungus and in the future, store in lens with some of those silica packets with the lens, possibly in a z-lock bag. Good luck!

Gianfranco47 Loc: Senoia GA

Lenses cannot be cleaned since they are glued together , the group with fungus is composed by three lenses glued , the only way to fix the problem is find the same group of lenses and change the old ones

Gianfranco47 Loc: Senoia GA

If you have some contacts with Nikon pls do it and try to get a quote for repair

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Mid West camera repair

photon-collector Loc: Tampa Bay Area, Florida

Problem is, if there is fungus/mold/mildew inside the lens, it will likely not be possible to "kill" it. As I'm sure you are aware, you should isolate the affected lens from all your other photo equipment. You might want to try using a UV(C) light source on the effected glass. The Ultraviolet light should penetrate all the way through your glued group of lenses, hopefully killing anything living there. Since I live in a humid environment (Florida), I keep all my photo equipment in two dehumidifying cabinets, which I bought from B&H. They are completely silent, well built, and maintain about 30% internal humidity. Good luck with your lens.

agillot

Was just wondering , if the fungus is a live something , if the lack of air would kill it and stop the damage . If you could put the lens in a sealed container and evacuate such container with a vacuum pump used on A/C system to remove moisture , i guess the fungus would die ??? .A vacuum pump new is around $ 50 [ amazon ]. Another maybe easier way would be to fill sealed container with nitrogen gas . I ended up with a 100/300 lens [ free] with fungus in one inside lens , had nothing to loose , took it apart , find out you cannot remove the fungus , it ate the coating .

olemikey Loc: 6 mile creek, Spacecoast Florida

UV-C light is a fungus killer....as is setting the affected lenses in direct sunlight for hours (Placed directly in sunlight, if lens still intact, set lens so that sunlight travels all the way through it, wide open apeture - make sure it is not over something flamable in case of "magnifying glass effect" - same with UV-C light, UV light needs to hit all internal areas of the lens if possible). Yes fungus is alive, but there are methods to kill it, and definitely ways to keep it from coming back - damage from the fungus exploits is the harder part.

Low humidity is a real requirement for storing lenses. Hydrogen Peroxide and 91% alcohol (or higher) are both effective cleaners, and they will not damage glass coatings. The lenses can be separated, cleaned and reglued, glue type would need research. If the inner contact surfaces (where glued) are not damaged to the point of affecting photos, then the UV-C direct light application should stop the advance of the fungus. Make sure you get light classified as UV-C light spectrum, that is a known killer of fungus, mold spores and even insects. Good luck with the effort. Don't go cheap on the UV-C light, heck you can use it to treat entire rooms (like during the pandemic).
(I've had success myself on the fungus front, it takes work, but can be stopped, cleaned, removed).

dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho

Wouldn't he still have dead fungus between the two lenses to consider? I don't have time to take a look but I wonder how much this lens would cost to replace on ebay or through KEH or another company. Most likely far less than repairing this old lens.

Dennis

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

I have never seen this ! Most fungus can be cleaned and most fungus needs air to survive - so usually it is on an air surface - So maybe it is not fungus but some other chemical interaction of some kind with the balsam("glue") - really does not matter how you label it if it affects light transmission 8-(

Gianfranco47 Loc: Senoia GA

Above you can see which lens is affected by fungus and the Nikon code number to order the group lens ( no more available by Nikon )

(Download)

olemikey Loc: 6 mile creek, Spacecoast Florida

Gianfranco, can you post a pic of the lens elements in question? .....we may be able to answer better on viability/usefulness of lens in current state (with dead fungus inner layers) and repair thoughts....macro would be good, but a closeup with good lighting will be helpful.
m

Gianfranco47 Loc: Senoia GA

I have already reassembled all since I use the 200mm now without any problem on quality of photos , in all cases my thanks for your help

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

Buy a broken model without fungus and swap out the glass.
Not sure if tolerances by Nikon but if tight, that might work.