Removing mold inbetween a bonded front lens

[forest bagger]

Hello folks,

unfortunately it is a common problem that the front lens of the SONY RX10 fogs up from the inside, between the individual lenses, and then after a while becomes moldy because the bonding of the two lenses in the plastic frame is not completely tight.

Some years ago there were spare parts for this bridge camera like this front lens available, but today even used ones are not to find...
So I had to cut the rear lens out of the frame:

Clean everything thoroughly:

Glue the lens back in:

And after a day of drying time, reinsert the front lens:

The small scratches were of course not caused by me, they were already there on the outer lens surface...

 

[Dan Daniel]

Nice.

Did you do anything specific to get the lens to sit in its mount properly? Did it simply index back into place smoothly? Getting a lens element crooked always worries me.

 

[forest bagger]

Since I have no way to optically center a set of lenses, I reinstall a lens in exactly the same position as I removed it.
As you can see in the photos, I leave one of the seals uncut and mark the other two joints in the frame with a red felt-tip pen.

 

[BrianShaw]

How did you clean the fungus so thoroughly?

 

[mshchem]

Marvelous work

 

[Andreas Thaler]

You are the bravest repairman

 

[forest bagger]

How did you clean the fungus so thoroughly?

With Isopropanol 99,9% and normal glass cleaner.

 

[4season]

Great job! Even if the part had still been available, I saw an old price of 511 USD for this complete replacement module, so your DIY approach seems like the best way to go.
https://encompass.com/item/10108917/Sony/A-1973-143-A/

 

[Coins]

I love your post! I just purchased an old RX10 inexpensively due to fungus. Your post is great! I do have two questions though:
1. Why did you remove the back lens instead of the front lens? It seems as though the back lens has some retainer tabs that the front lens doesn't have.
2. How did you apply glue to the lens when you replaced it?

 

[xkaes]

I'm surprised that a case of fungus that severe does not seem to have etched the lens coating -- assuming that it is coated.

 

[forest bagger]

1. Why did you remove the back lens instead of the front lens? It seems as though the back lens has some retainer tabs that the front lens doesn't have.

Because the front lens is pressed firmly into the plastic housing. To cut it out is much more work and to get it in after the cleaning difficult. And getting this dense against moisture ist complicated.

2. How did you apply glue to the lens when you replaced it?

With a thin spatula.

 

[Polo9433]

Do you have and images of the first few disassembly steps? Nothing online shows them.

 

[forest bagger]

Do you have and images of the first few disassembly steps?

No, sorry for that. Removing the front ring of the lens and then removing the screws that hold the front lens itself is very simple.