Is cleaning fungus possible.

[Swordman]

Hi guys,

I just bought an Olympus Pen F and unfortunately, the viewfinder is full of fungus. Can repair people clean this?

Thanks in advance.

 

[neilt3]

Yes .
Iff they'll have mouldy stuff in their workshop . Some don't want to touch it , partly because the spokes can get well hidden in the camera so it's possible it might reappear.

If it's on the mirror/prism it might need recoating as well after cleaning .

 

[Swordman]

Thanks for the reply. Hopefully, I can find someone willing to clean it.

 

[ic-racer]

Fungal spores are everywhere, one cannot escape them. Good news is they only grow under certain conditions.
In my experience, fungus cleans off items easily. However, if it has damaged coating or glass the only practical solution is to search for a new lens if the damage is affecting imagemaking.

 

[Truzi]

My experience on this is zero - purely academic - but there are a lot of threads on this site regarding cleaning fungus. Here is a similar thread:

Fungus inside viewfinder glass of AE Finder FN (Canon New F1)

Hi, does anyone know if fungus inside the viewfinder glass of AE Finder FN (Canon New F1) can be removed easily? It causes a lot of flare when the camera is pointed towards very bright subjects making the exposure information difficult to read. Thank you. ANCS

www.photrio.com

and here is one mentioning cold cream (like Noxima):

Cleaning lens fungus.

I got a suggestion to immerse the lens in Hydrogenperoxide for an hour to clean/remove the fungus. I do not know how dangerous it is to do that.

www.photrio.com

Many have posted different methods. I think former member David Lyga had posted success using cold cream as well. You'd have to do a pretty good search of photrio.

 

[250swb]

You can clean the fungus off but that doesn't repair the damage the fungus has done if it's etched the surface of the glass.

 

[guangong]

You can clean the fungus off but that doesn't repair the damage the fungus has done if it's etched the surface of the glass.

Ditto.