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How do you deal with fungus in a lens

Robert Ley

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Joined
Jun 9, 2004
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700
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Buffalo, New
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I'm new to lens repair and have some general questions on fungus.

Do you segregate the lenses with fungus, is it easy to infect other lenses with the fungus.

There are quite a few articles on cleaning lenses of fungus so that is not an issue.

I have a UV light box that I use for alt printing, can a place the lens inside the UV box and will the UV light kill the fungus?

If the UV will kill the fungus, should I do that before I open the lens?

Thanks for any "light" you can shed on this topic
 
I just wipe it off and put the lens back together. Nothing special. Fungal spores are everywhere, there is nothing you can do about it. Don't let them germinate; avoid dark moist storage.
 
Putting a lens in direct sunlight, preferably with the sunlight shinning into the lens will help kill or reduce fungus.
 
I have never had a problem with any of my lenses as I am aware of how lenses should be stored in low relative humidity and I have maintained that low humidity in lens storage. Have you had any experience with UV light and fungus?
 
Try sunlight. Just because I haven't had any luck doesn't mean you won't. Maybe it will kill it, but it won't make it disappear. It will still be there -- even if you take it apart and try to clean it.

The first think to consider is "How bad is the problem?". Oftentimes the fungus is only on the far edge and does not impact the image. If that is the case, try to kill it will lots of sunlight and store it in a dry place away from other lenses.
 
Sirius Glass said:
Putting a lens in direct sunlight, preferably with the sunlight shinning into the lens will help kill or reduce fungus.
Click to expand...

If you do this, the UV (in particular) in the light assists with the fungus, but you need to be cautious about heat build up
 
Robert Ley said:
Do you segregate the lenses with fungus, is it easy to infect other lenses with the fungus.
Click to expand...

That's a well-known horror story from the internet that never ends

Fungus isn't a virus; it doesn't infect.

Dry, cool, and bright conditions keep it away; its spores are everywhere.
 
Andreas Thaler said:
That's a well-known horror story from the internet that never ends

Fungus isn't a virus; it doesn't infect.

Dry, cool, and bright conditions keep it away; its spores are everywhere.
Click to expand...
Thanks for clearing that up for me. I have never had to deal with lens fungus, but I am learning.
 
ic-racer said:
I just wipe it off and put the lens back together. Nothing special. Fungal spores are everywhere, there is nothing you can do about it. Don't let them germinate; avoid dark moist storage.
Click to expand...

I fully agree. Putting you lens on a sunny window sill may be enough to kill the fungus. If you can get to the fungus, clean it with hydrogen peroxide (15%) followed by naphtha and/or alcohol(>90%). If your storage environment is too humid, consider a dehumidifier.
 
I get rid of stuff like this. My storage conditions are such I've never had a problem. I've been given some old enlarging lenses, I've re-gifted or donated.

All about the dew point (humidity)
 
I live in a warm and dry climate where fungus isn't an issue but in the past, if I happened to acquire a lens with a bit of fungus, I generally just ignored it and carry on. If it is bad, the lens went out with the garbage. Do the community a favor and take that crap out of circulation.
 
I’d keep any fungusy lens in its own bag or box so spores don’t float onto your other glass. UV light might zap some on the surface, but it won’t reach deep between elements-so you’ll still need to open it up and clean it (a mix of isopropyl alcohol and a little ammonia usually does the trick)
 
A bit of fungus around the edge won't affect the image quality so kill it to stop it's spreading or look into how you keep your lenses because humidity and darkness will do for your other lenses as well. As for putting a lens into quarantine it doesn't work, fungus spores are all around us, we are all breathing them in right now and opening your drawer to take a lens out lets fungus spores in. The very best antidote is to use the lens and let it have plenty of UV exposure.
 
Sirius Glass said:
Putting a lens in direct sunlight, preferably with the sunlight shinning into the lens will help kill or reduce fungus.
Click to expand...
Not really. The UV might kill some of the fungus, but the main advantageous effect would be the dissipation of moisture that the fungus needs to grow. Put the lens back into a humid environment and the fungus will happily continue to spread.
Also, UV does NOT 'reduce' fungus - it won't remove existing fungal growth. The theory is that it'll kill the fungal growth, but given its resilience, it's unrealistic to expect you'll ever do a complete job at it. You may slow it down temporarily.

Mechanical & chemical removal is the only real way to deal with fungus, combined with storing the lenses in low-humidity environments to prevent the problem. Note that over time, fungus etches the glass and the coatings, so in bad cases, after removing the fungus itself there will still be permanent and irreparable damage to the glass.
 
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That's why I wouldn't delay removing fungus until it's caused any damage.

However, a single small fungus star that may have been sitting there starving to death for decades wouldn't be a reason for me to risk opening the lens.
 
Many years ago, when I lived in the central African rainforest (more or less, in Yaounde and LIbreville), I kept my lenses fungus-free in a cupboard heated by two 100W electric bulbs (that was then) wired in series, giving a resulting power output of 25W, most of it as heat. The heat was not a problem although you normally had enough of it around you, the higher temperature (relative to the surroundings) lowered the relative humidity until below the fungus' comfort zone.
Today you would have to get a proper heating element, they are often used in electrical switchboards.
 
The Fungus we talk about has two important states, the spore and the branching mycelium. Sunlight (UV) and other sterilizing situations will kill mycelium, which sits dead unless cleaned away.
Spores are not killed and will sit harmlessly until growth conditions are favourable.
Only a few types of fungi eat coatings. Most of the Fungi (cheese, peaches grapes) in your house have no relation to you photo equipment.
Reasonable light, reasonable humidity and reasonable heat are all that is required.
Cleaning away mycelia from the lenses is a personal decision.
If you see fungus it is always due to bad storage; which might be associated with other bad decisions and usage that might impact your decision to acquire a particular piece of equipment.
 
I have this very problem, I noticed my Hasselblad CT lenses displaying very early onset of Fungus as well as my Leica M lenses. I separated them from each other placed in medium intensity sunlight. Sadly going through my Nikon AF-S and Zeiss Contax lenses have signs of fungal growth and it will cost too much to have them all serviced in one go.

I have realised that my storage is not very good so corrected now but in hindsight I should have paid more attention but had some distractions but it's very tough and expensive lesson to learn. I have spoken to some camera repair technicians who have been generally very helpful to possibly service the less complex Hasselblad lenses but leave the others to the professionals. So I will be treating them with a 50/50 mix of Amonia 9.5% and Hydrogen Peroxide 3% solution as these have been recommended to wipe the front and rear elements of affected lenses.

The old camera cases although look new need to be either fumigated to kill any spores etc or destroyed to avoid contaminating lenses and camera again, I have read somewhere that a small solid block of formaldehyde can be placed inside the bags and cases to destroy fungal bacteria but here in England it is impossible to find so far.
 

One advantage of living here in Iowa, it's hot and humid in the summer and cold in winter. I suspect that we have our central heating and cooling and humidity control in play 10 months out of the year.
I have a friend who lives in an old house without air conditioning and it's destroyed their beautiful old enlarging and process lenses. As you say cases especially leather and the like should be pitched.
Some folks have sealed cabinets with silica gel, but in high humidity areas dehumidifiers work best.
 

definately try to blast the lens with UV radiation first. If that doesn't help, you need to clean the affected areas with a solution of hydrogen peroxide (the stuff dentists use to brighten teeth); a 3% solution will work. Afterwards, clean the glass with alcohol and lens cleaner. Separating affected lenses is not a bad idea, but it may not help fungus spores are naturally everywhere just waiting for the right conditions. A better idea is to control the storage conditions. Store lenses below 60% humidity and above 22ºC.fungus loves dark hunid places without air circulation. Work against that for your storage.
 
Sirius Glass said:
Putting a lens in direct sunlight, preferably with the sunlight shinning into the lens will help kill or reduce fungus.
Click to expand...

If you do this through window or car glass, just be sure it's not blocking us rays.

Also, placing the base of the lens on a good mirror helps with getting the rays to bounce about the dark inside area that might not be indirectly lit by normal directional light entering the lens from the front end and vice versa.

IMO,
Eli
 
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Where I live there is not much sunshine at the moment and have cleaned the 40 lenses approximately and discovered some more have been affected so placed them at the brightest place in the house, facing the medium level sunshine and removed the UV filters plus all the caps. I never experienced this problem with fungus before in previous houses and suspect that it may be related to the fact that we are by the South coast approximately 1 mile from the sea and the humid air does not help.

It has been a very expensive lesson but not rushing to get all the lenses serviced and fungus removed etc all at once as it is quite costly and need to prepare a safe zone for the return of the serviced lenses. I have noticed a Hasselblad Acute Matt focus screen has very light indications of fungus so will be blasting them all with sunshine. I did buy a UVC box that is metal and used in the cosmetics and beauty industry to kill bacteria with UVC light inside it. There is no way I can scientifically assess what affect it will have if any but it's better than doing nothing I suppose until I use the Ammonia inside a small container with some of the affected lenses and cameras because with a lid on, the evaporation of the Ammonia should kill the fungus inside although the lenses and cameras will still need cleaning with Ammonia 9.5% and Hydrogen Peroxide 3% 50/50 mix.
 

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