Identifying or spotting fungus in a lens (Page 2): I use a UV Flashlight, UV-C will actually kill/stop mold/fungus. The stuff is relentless. It usually starts on the edges of an...

olemikey Loc: 6 mile creek, Spacecoast Florida

Mooge wrote:

I am constantly looking at older great white lenses to buy ( big canon) and sometimes they say there is fungus present and sometimes not. Is there a way to tell if a lens has fungus in it or not with out being a technician or scientist ? Some way the average fellow can look at a lens and see if it has a fungus problem. I’m guessing it costs a fortune to take it apart to fix it if in fact it can be fixed at all??

I use a UV Flashlight, UV-C will actually kill/stop mold/fungus. The stuff is relentless. It usually starts on the edges of an element (lens glass) and moves inward. Little roots fan out and begin their career of trying to cover the element, go inside between the glass, etc. Looking through a lens you will normally see specs of dust/dirt, sometimes lamination breakdown on "glass sandwich" where several elements are glued together. Some glass also develops a haze over time. For fungus, Google or search for lenses with fungus/mold, you should find many examples.

If coatings have not been destroyed, older lenses can be cleaned through disassembly, cleaning of surfaces and reassembly. Newer, modern lenses are a much bigger problem. Besides the many elements and special coatings, disassembly down to or including the focus stack becomes a problem, many lenses require specialized computer aided alignment jigs (laser alignment is included) as the adjustments are made electronically. The fungus also has many more places to infect; circuit boards, connectors, many hiding places besides the glass and lens barrels.

On Consumer lenses - Catch it early, it can be stopped, irradicated, caught late, probably not worth the repair costs.. On Pro high $$ lenses, it would be worth the effort, but it is labor intensive, and you probably won't get any guarantee against it returning, and unless certain steps are followed, it will return.

Strong sunlight will help greatly. Living in Florida, I usually take all my glass outside several times a year a let them sit in the hot sun for a couple hours, also put them on a tripod or some safe mount and let the sun shine through the lens, No camera attached (heat will be high) OVER A NON-FLAMABLE SURFACE, with the aperture fully wide open if possible, as this lets the light really do it's job.....I try to set the lens above an ant hill for effect (just joking, but it would fry them).. Also keep all my lenses in A/C, and not packed in a dark closet, or anywhere damp.

My next lighting purchase will be a good quality UV-C bulb/fixture for use in my camera/hobby room, besides letting the sun shine in on occasion. Fungus is no fun!!! It will destroy the livability of a home if allowed, and it is bad for humans/animals...

richardsaccount

Grahame wrote:

Yes, look at the very reasonably priced 'Ruggard Electronic Dry Cabinets', can be found at B&H. I live in Fiji, on the edge of rain forest next to the sea with humidity often in the high 90s and use one now for all my lenses and cameras.

Some of my lenses have suffered from mould, strangely only the Nikons not the Tamrons.

It not only gets to lenses, here's my old D300 which only gets used occasionally now.

There is a fungus among us!. Sorry.

newtoyou Loc: Eastport

Mooge wrote:

As dumb as this may sound I’ve been at this for 40 plus years but never really looked through the lens off the camera with the intent to see how clear it was. Is the fungus always obvious or is it border line visible in some cases?

My two cents.
Fungus eats the lens coating and looks like cobweb. It is the mycelium, or roots of the fungus.
It enters the pores of the glass. New lens is the solution, because it will grow worse as fungus expands it's growth.
It cannot be removed, because IT WILL RETURN.
Bill

uhaas2009

Certain lenses are built bad and some you can clean, some you can’t. I bought one What can’t be cleaned, two glass are glued together!

Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

CHG_CANON wrote:

Get a flashlight and flash it through the lens with the caps removed. Any issues will be obvious. Dust is dust and can be seen as dust. Fungus and / or discoloration of the glass is equally obvious and should be a basis for refusing to purchase or for return and refund if not clearly identified in the for-sale posting. There's plenty of old lenses available and those with fungus aren't worth the effort, even if given to you for free.

Make sure you backlight the lens when looking through it with the flashlight.

olemikey Loc: 6 mile creek, Spacecoast Florida

ALSO, if you look through using UV light or sunlight, do not look straight thru, look at it "off-center" (especially with a telephoto) you could easily burn a retina if not careful. A low power flashlight will tell you there is something there, UV flashlight is great for this, but you must use caution!!

SteveR Loc: Michigan

Mooge wrote:

Is there some way you can explain this better to t... (show quote)

I got fungus on the back of an old Sigma 80-300mm zoom lens. It looked foggy and just in need of cleaning, but the Nikon pro at Arlington Camera told me it was fungus. Bottom line, if you look through the lens you're intending to buy and see any blemish, just don't buy it.

nadelewitz Loc: Ithaca NY

Mooge wrote:

Is there some way you can explain this better to t... (show quote)

Fungus an mold will be hazy areas, patches of stuff", or even over the whole lens. All you have to do is hold the lens up to a bright light and LOOK. Preferably with the aperture wide open.

Some fungus/mold, like dust, does not necessarily make a lens unusable. It does not show up distinctly in the viewfinder or photos. But inner-lens contamination can lower contrast and sharpness.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Here's what to look for.

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS716US717&q=fungus+in+a+lens+images&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj2-fal_qXkAhWGg-AKHSTjDD4QsAR6BAgEEAE&biw=1920&bih=937

Mooge

Ahhh, pictures!! Thanks, this is very helpful. I have an old video camera that has sat out in my shed for years and I can see the stuff in some of these pictures in that lens. The first digital camera I used I got for $5 as it had fallen in a muddy river. I cleaned it up and it partially worked but the pictures were less than stellar, ha ha.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

Mooge wrote:

Is there some way you can explain this better to t... (show quote)

The photos of fungus in lenses I've seen look like the poor lens is getting Cataracts. But the bad area(s) might just be small spots like the spots you see in a digital image from dust on the sensor. I have some 50 year old lenses and they are as pristine as my newest ones. Part of the mold issue depends on where you live. Probably best to buy used lenses from owners in So. California, Nevada, and Arizona. There is no such thing as "not so clear any more", optical glass does not just age, like that. If the lens is funky looking it was damage by something.

You can probably live with just small specks on the front element. Small cracks sometimes don't even show in the image. Also sometime old / bad lens coating flakes off. Tiny specks are not a problem. I wonder now does mold grow on those old Thorium glass radioactive lenses (Commonly old f/1.4 50mm or 55mm lenses)? The glass turns yellow in those.

Mooge

I live in Virginia and it has all the extremes , hot, cold, wet and dry. I never even thought of lens fungus or other lens issues until I started buying these 400mm plus expensive lenses. I can just see me paying a fortune on one of these lenses and it turns out to be worthless due to fungus it something.

marquina Loc: Richmond, Virginia

olemikey wrote:

I use a UV Flashlight, UV-C will actually kill/stop mold/fungus. The stuff is relentless. It usually starts on the edges of an element (lens glass) and moves inward. Little roots fan out and begin their career of trying to cover the element, go inside between the glass, etc. Looking through a lens you will normally see specs of dust/dirt, sometimes lamination breakdown on "glass sandwich" where several elements are glued together. Some glass also develops a haze over time. For fungus, Google or search for lenses with fungus/mold, you should find many examples.

If coatings have not been destroyed, older lenses can be cleaned through disassembly, cleaning of surfaces and reassembly. Newer, modern lenses are a much bigger problem. Besides the many elements and special coatings, disassembly down to or including the focus stack becomes a problem, many lenses require specialized computer aided alignment jigs (laser alignment is included) as the adjustments are made electronically. The fungus also has many more places to infect; circuit boards, connectors, many hiding places besides the glass and lens barrels.

On Consumer lenses - Catch it early, it can be stopped, irradicated, caught late, probably not worth the repair costs.. On Pro high $$ lenses, it would be worth the effort, but it is labor intensive, and you probably won't get any guarantee against it returning, and unless certain steps are followed, it will return.

Strong sunlight will help greatly. Living in Florida, I usually take all my glass outside several times a year a let them sit in the hot sun for a couple hours, also put them on a tripod or some safe mount and let the sun shine through the lens, No camera attached (heat will be high) OVER A NON-FLAMABLE SURFACE, with the aperture fully wide open if possible, as this lets the light really do it's job.....I try to set the lens above an ant hill for effect (just joking, but it would fry them).. Also keep all my lenses in A/C, and not packed in a dark closet, or anywhere damp.

My next lighting purchase will be a good quality UV-C bulb/fixture for use in my camera/hobby room, besides letting the sun shine in on occasion. Fungus is no fun!!! It will destroy the livability of a home if allowed, and it is bad for humans/animals...

I use a UV Flashlight, UV-C will actually kill/sto... (show quote)

I use the EscoLite, which is a flashlight with UV 51 LED emitters (about $12).

ramarsh

Once upon a time, I collected Leica equipment first thing I did with any lens was open it to max f stop, point it directly unto the sun with a white cloth at its base and leave it out for a few hours.
One had to prevent the heat between element fractions from getting too hot ( bit of a black art) but, it always seemed to work.

Sark17 Loc: Atlanta, GA

Mooge - I was recently faced with the same dilemma. The 70-200 f/2.8 L IS II USM canon I wanted was less on eBay but offered no returns. So I actually bought a used one from amazon which still offers prime (free) shipping and 30 day returns. You can fully inspect and use the lens with time to return for full refund if there’s an issue. It did cost a little more but not as much as it would have cost to buy a damaged lens form eBay! First time I’ve bought a used lens, and it’s great!