Fungus removal for a Minolta 110 Zoom SLR MK1

Hello everyone,

I have a Minolta 110 SLR and whilst shooting today noticed what appears to be fungus on the interior of the lens. As far as i'm aware the lens is fixed and can only be removed after dis-assembling the whole camera. Has anyone ever had to do this to this camera? Are there any specific points to look out for?

I have a copy of the service manual so that simplifies things greatly, as well as exploded diagrams.

Are there any specific cleaners that anyone recommends? I don't want to have to do this again at some point, and since I have no sense of smell if it stinks, I don't mind!

Hope I've posted this in the correct part of the forum.

Many thanks - Mike

Throw it away, it's too late, you'll risk mold spores attaching to your film and spreading to your entire collection...

It's already probably eaten the glass layers if its spiderwebbed.

The body probably should be replaced too since its had contact with the spores...

I sound paranoid...

This is info I've gotten from others when I tried to keep an enlarger with mold.

Good luck sorry.

ALSO I know the least compared to others here, they can elaborate.

~Stone | Sent w/ iPhone using Tapatalk

Sounds bad I might see if there's a way of killing the mould in situ. Maybe from a pulse of focussed Microwaves or x-rays. A bit over-kill for a £10 camera but I like it

Spores are notoriously hard to kill. Maybe strong ionizing radiation like they use in sterilizing facilities. But that could probably kill ALL of the electronics inside.

I guess I could try a germicidal UV lamp, I know I have at least 2 and probably more knocking around. I'll make a shield to prevent the light from bleaching the plastics. If that doesn't work, i'll take the electronics out then give it a hefty dose of x rays. I'll be sure to use protection (inch or so of lead) for that.

Just had a good look through the service manual, and judging where the mould is, I can get to it by removing 6 screws then using ethanol. I'll have a go at this when i'm a bit more alert (just gone midnight when I am, have been up since 6)

Will update with results - Mike

You can try wiping it off. If it is still hazy likely the coating is ruined by fungus. Of course fungus spores are everywhere, including your human body, so if you are going to throw stuff out, might as well jump in the dumpster yourself.

ic-racer said:

You can try wiping it off. If it is still hazy likely the coating is ruined by fungus. Of course fungus spores are everywhere, including your human body, so if you are going to throw stuff out, might as well jump in the dumpster yourself.

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Agreed.

Looks like that's all I can do, If the lens isn't hazy then i'll keep it. If it's minor damage, i'll probably still keep it, or at least look for a parts unit somewhere. It might not even be mould, could just be condensation or something. Either way it looks minor, but i'll have a better look tomorrow afternoon, was going to do it today but the weather was unusually nice

Cleaned the lens with methylated spirits, appears to have removed all fungus, though minor marks remain from the solvent. I'll try cleaning this again at a later date as the lens disassembly was much easier than I thought it would be.

The minor marks will probably never cause a problem. It's amazing how scratched, dirty and crummy a lens or coating can be and hardly affect anything.

Llamarama said:

Cleaned the lens with methylated spirits, appears to have removed all fungus, though minor marks remain from the solvent. I'll try cleaning this again at a later date as the lens disassembly was much easier than I thought it would be.

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Metho is not a good cleaner for that very reason. Doesn't Metho have stuff in it to prevent people drinking it? Isopropyl is better and commonly used to clean lenses.

jjphoto said:

Metho is not a good cleaner for that very reason. Doesn't Metho have stuff in it to prevent people drinking it? Isopropyl is better and commonly used to clean lenses.

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It's simply denatured alcohol. In other words, Everclear or 200proof vodka with poison added. This was a tactic the government used during Prohibition.

Tom1956 said:

It's simply denatured alcohol. In other words, Everclear or 200proof vodka with poison added. This was a tactic the government used during Prohibition.

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Yes, it's the additive that I think causes the problem (streaking). Otherwise it's just pure alcohol as you say but I find it being watered down these days. The Metho on my shelf (next to the 100% Isopropanol) is labelled as 95% Ethanol so presumably the rest is distilled water because it's cheaper. It's great for cleaning all kinds of stuff but I don't clean lenses with it.

Fungus isn't contagious guys. It's a condition. It doesn't spread from lens to lens and film to film. Nothing like that.

clayne said:

Fungus isn't contagious guys. It's a condition. It doesn't spread from lens to lens and film to film. Nothing like that.

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I doubt you this time Clayne when everyone else says it does... Lol


~Stone | Sent w/ iPhone using Tapatalk

I think meths has an emetic in to bring it back up, as well as a bitterant to make it taste bad. I'll try Isopropyl when I get some, been meaning to get some for only a few years now...

Llamarama said:

I guess I could try a germicidal UV lamp, I know I have at least 2 and probably more knocking around. I'll make a shield to prevent the light from bleaching the plastics. If that doesn't work, i'll take the electronics out then give it a hefty dose of x rays. I'll be sure to use protection (inch or so of lead) for that.

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Or perhaps you could take it to a faith healer instead of a hospital or nuclear physics lab.

My question is whether you like the camera enough to take it to a repair shop and have them try and get rid of these pesky living, growing creatures and their family members residing inside the lens. Repair shops totally disassemble the lens elements and clean them with mildecide solutions including bleech, that kill off the mold. The problem though is mold / mildew or fungus amongus, can etch glass surfaces leaving behind post-cleaning problems which may present a whole new set of issues for your equipment and images.

At that point, the real solution is to give your faithful Minolta a decent burial and regardless of what you replace it with, thereafter promising to practice safe camera/lens storage to prevent the problem from recurring elsewhere. That would include toweling off gear and maybe using a hair dryer on equipment that gets wet or damp, storing equipment in bags/packs or equipment cases using refillable/rechargable dessicant containers, and in a place that has low humidity like in a cabinet or open shelving system in your home that's on an inside wall and has good air circulation around it. Periodic cleaning of lenses is a good idea but never apply lens cleaner directly to the lens itself. Put it on lens tissue and then clean the lens.

While you can't prevent mold spores from attaching to surfaces and growing, (unless you live in a bubble or under a dome or perhaps outer space or some other vaccum ) you can take away elements that they use to thrive like stagnant air of high humidity. And don't store your lenses with filters on them. Use breathable caps, front and back if your lenses are removable, same with bodies. There are a lot of other ways to prevent mold and mildew growth. But generally, as I often say, if you are comfortable in the environment you store your equipment in, chances are your equipment will be good there too.

"Tiny spores have tinier spores that sit on their backs and bite'em. The tinier spores have even tinier ones and ad on infinitim." Anon.

Take it light and kindly wash your hands before returning to your keyboard.
Mark

The main reason i'm doing things myself is to learn and also because it's a lot cheaper, I phoned around and the cheapest place I could find that would take the lens off and clean it was £60. I have taken apart and repaired much more complex equipment as an electronics technician, so I thought "If I can strip down and repair a delicate circuit board, complete with re-soldering surface mounted ICs, then taking apart a simple lens and cleaning it should be easy"

I was wrong there, it was quite tedious, though relatively straightforward with the service manual. If the problem was with my Yashica then I'd take it to the camera shop for repair/service. For my bargain project I decided it was worth a shot due to my steady hands and having some meths handy which i've used in the past to remove fungus from other things that I've bought from the internet second hand.

I keep my equipment either in my bag or on my shelf, both of which are very dry and about 15-20 degrees (centigrade) with a constant airflow.

Thanks for the advice on storage, I'll make sure everything else is kept "above board now". I was lucky with the minolta other than a minor watermark from the cleaning solution, so I'll be more careful in future.

Good thing I wore latex gloves