Cleaning lense fungus

graymatterimages · May 2, 2006

Hello, Several of my enlarger lenses have developed fungus on the outer elements. What is the best way to clean and remove this?

Gerald Koch · May 2, 2006

Once fungus gets established on a lens it's nearly impossible to remove short of having the lens repolished because the glass surface becomes etched.

DBP · May 2, 2006

If you catch it early enough the damage may be minimal. Various sources recommend vinegar, naptha, hydrogen peroxide, or lens cleaners. I've had some small success with Rexton Optyl in removing fungus that was not so far along as to ruin the lens.

D M Mace · May 2, 2006

Place it in direct sunlight for a couple hours.

Mike Kennedy · May 2, 2006

Killing fungus.

I picked up a Vivitar 200mm Series 1 (built in focusing motor) for $5.00 because it was coated with fungus. Used a mixture of hydrogen peroxide & ammonia, mixed 50/50.
Cleaned it last summer and it is still spore free!!

Mike

jhorvat · May 4, 2006

You can clean them with Windex and then keep the lens for a week or two in an enclosed box with a few crystals of Thymol. This will prevent the fungus re-ocurring.

Jim Noel · May 4, 2006

Listerine has always worked better for me than any other solution.

graymatterimages · May 6, 2006

Thanks everyone this give me a start.

paul ron · May 8, 2006

With all the fuss about fungus, has anyone ever tried Athleates Foot cream? I often wonder if it will kill the fungus we get on a lens since it is a fungicide, ummmm.

Murray@uptowngallery · May 10, 2006

It'll stop the itch...

Greg_E · May 21, 2006

Has anyone ever found a way to strip the rest of the AR coating away so that a new AR coating can be applied? And has anyone ever tried to coat a lense with an AR coating? Seeing that you can get glass and plastic eye glass lenses done with an AR coating, and the coating is applied in the eyeglass shop, just seems like it should be something that can be done as a DIY thing.

DBP · May 21, 2006

Murray@uptowngallery said:
It'll stop the itch...

Would that be the itch to buy new lenses?

readysnap · Jul 23, 2006

I would try soap and water first, then try the harsher chemicals. You don't want to damage any coatings on the lenses.

A while back I had a Nettar with a hazy lens. The only trouble was having to dismantle the elements to get in between the lenses, but this was just a matter or removing the snap rings. Anyway, soap and water worked well and the fungus has not returned.

Gerald Koch · Jul 24, 2006

Greg_E said:
Has anyone ever found a way to strip the rest of the AR coating away so that a new AR coating can be applied? And has anyone ever tried to coat a lense with an AR coating? Seeing that you can get glass and plastic eye glass lenses done with an AR coating, and the coating is applied in the eyeglass shop, just seems like it should be something that can be done as a DIY thing.

The coating applied to camera and enlarging lenses is completely different from that applied to eyeglasses. Special equipment is needed to apply various metal compounds in a vacuum to the glass surface. Not something that the user can do.

k_jupiter · Jul 26, 2006

Gerald Koch said:
The coating applied to camera and enlarging lenses is completely different from that applied to eyeglasses. Special equipment is needed to apply various metal compounds in a vacuum to the glass surface. Not something that the user can do.

Unless you work in a thin film equipment manufacturing company and know the process engineers real well.

tim in san jose

Kino · Jul 26, 2006

Arax might possibly recoat the lens.

http://www.araxfoto.com/repairing/

Contact them and see.

Greg_E · Jul 26, 2006

Actually, I have the names of a few places in Rochester New York that I need to contact, they do both vacuum deposition and Sol-gel type coatings. The Sol-gels look like they really should be a DIY method, if you can get the materials and an oven to cook off the sol. Ti and Si sol-gels are very common for use in AR coatings. Normally it's a 3 dip process that uses the Titanium as the first and third layer, and the Silicon as the middle layer. Speed of withdrawl from the sol determines the thickness of the coating, and then how much it loses during consolidation (baking). Consolidation must happen between each coat. For a single coat AR, Magnesium Fluoride is normally the choice, and is again available in a sol-gel. Yes I did do a bunch of research on this, but the biggest problems were the container sizes, and price. Let's just say that it wasn't going to be cheap, and I would have had enough sol for the rest of my life.

barryjyoung · Jul 27, 2006

As cheap as quality enlarging lenses are going on Ebay, the best way is to replace them.

Cleaning lense fungus

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency