How best to clean fungus.

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Jman13
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p.1 #1 · How best to clean fungus.

Well my 'good deal' S-M-C Takumar 50 f/1.4 and Spotmatic IIa arrived today (both for $46). The lens has fungus. Quite a lot, across the rear element. The front element looks like it's never been cleaned. I'm going to attempted to clean them, but I'm not sure if it even is worth it. If the fungus is only on the rear element, is there a good way to clean it? Also, does fungus spread from lens to lens?

Oct 14, 2008 at 07:37 PM

ovredal73
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p.1 #2 · How best to clean fungus.

I recently opened up no less than three fungus infected lenses and wiped the fungus off with a dry lens cloth

No more (visible) fungus in my lenses.

Oct 14, 2008 at 07:47 PM

Jman13
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p.1 #3 · How best to clean fungus.

Interesting. I did ask the seller if he would give me a refund, as he did not mention any fungus and described the lens as in 'good' condition. while I know there are many degrees of good, and I could take the little bit of brassing, the small focus helical sound (which doesn't affect the smoothness), and even the bent filter ring. All those plus visible fungus all over the rear element (can't see if it etched or not), does not equal good.

Oct 14, 2008 at 07:50 PM

Jman13
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p.1 #4 · How best to clean fungus.

UPDATE: The seller will give me a refund if I want it. Now the question: Just return it, or do I try and clean it and potentially score a very nice price on this lens?

Oct 14, 2008 at 08:31 PM

photoman333
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p.1 #5 · How best to clean fungus.

If the fungus has been there for a while, it most likely has etched the glass of the rear element...in which case it would only make for a nice paperweight. Best bet is to get a refund.

Oct 14, 2008 at 08:42 PM

Sirfishalot
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p.1 #6 · How best to clean fungus.

Jordan,
Try cleaning it first with a very mild bleach/water solution. It worked for me on an Ugly Rokkor 58 I got from KEH. I saw someone else post something here about fungus spreading to other lenses, but I don't really believe it.

JayT

Oct 14, 2008 at 09:43 PM

ovredal73
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p.1 #7 · How best to clean fungus.

As far as I know, the Takumar isn´t such an expensive lens and you got a good deal on it anyway... Try fixing it and if it doesnt work, too bad. Write it off to experience. I did - several times

Oct 14, 2008 at 09:54 PM

Cableaddict
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p.1 #8 · How best to clean fungus.

ovredal73 wrote:
As far as I know, the Takumar isn´t such an expensive lens and you got a good deal on it anyway... Try fixing it and if it doesnt work, too bad. Write it off to experience. I did - several times

If you do keep it & clean it, use diluted bleach. That will kill the fungus completely.
It won't restore any etched glass, of course.

Oct 15, 2008 at 04:00 AM

edwardkaraa
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p.1 #9 · How best to clean fungus.

Fungus spreads to other lenses. Keep all your lenses in a dry cabinet to stop the developing of fungus and this also keeps the fungus from spreading. This is what Zeiss says about this subject:

http://www.zeiss.com/C12567A8003B58B9/Contents-Frame/3CFD45E4A65DEC10C12571000056AC85

Oct 15, 2008 at 04:16 AM

asbalyan
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p.1 #10 · How best to clean fungus.

Use the cold cream... I just cleaned my Canon 55/1.2 lens... Its just un-believable, how cold cream works (I used Pond's brand)...

Oct 15, 2008 at 05:15 AM

Jammy Straub
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p.1 #11 · How best to clean fungus.

As most others have said, fungus can most definitely spread between lenses. It's possible to transfer it by mounting a fungus infected lens on your body and swapping out with another lens afterwards or storing the lens with other lenses. Cleaning up visible fungus is not a guarantee you've killed it, the spores are extremely hardy.

Think of it like herpes. Do you even want to mess with that? Ewww.

Oct 15, 2008 at 06:05 AM

olyacme
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p.1 #12 · How best to clean fungus.

Jammy Straub wrote:
As most others have said, fungus can most definitely spread between lenses. It's possible to transfer it by mounting a fungus infected lens on your body and swapping out with another lens afterwards or storing the lens with other lenses. Cleaning up visible fungus is not a guarantee you've killed it, the spores are extremely hardy.

Think of it like herpes. Do you even want to mess with that? Ewww.

It's certainly true that fungus can spread lens to lens, but it's also true that spores are continuously landing on (or being inhaled into) your lenses from many different sources. Ten thousand spores from a grossly infected lens (the fungus needs to grow quite large and likely deep within the lens before it fruits) , or one from a fruiting body down the street, will make no difference should a suitable environment be present.

If it's just an isolated spot, and your storage space is dry, I wouldn't worry about contamination. OTOH, if the spot formed or grew while the lens was in your care, it would be time to look for a dessicated lens chest or similar.

Oct 15, 2008 at 06:31 AM

ovredal73
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p.1 #13 · How best to clean fungus.

It hasnt come back since I cleaned out my lenses this spring at least.

Oct 15, 2008 at 06:41 AM

shirozina
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p.1 #14 · How best to clean fungus.

The idea of fungus spreading between lenses is nonsense - the spores are in the air in most domestic environments and they will grow anywhere given the right conditions.

Oct 15, 2008 at 06:58 AM

molson
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p.1 #15 · How best to clean fungus.

a mixture of one part windex to one part hydrogen peroxide will kill the fungus and clean the glass surface quite effectively.

Oct 15, 2008 at 11:27 AM

Anden
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p.1 #16 · How best to clean fungus.

:-) Like when I sent money in advance for a PS3 that never came...

Oct 15, 2008 at 03:08 PM

Jman13
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p.1 #17 · How best to clean fungus.

Ok, so very initial cleaning: Just some breath and a soft cloth appears to have removed ALL of the rear element fungus. (though I'll do a hydrogen peroxide or bleach application to make sure it's dead) I was also able to clean up quite a lot of the front element, but I'll need to use my lenspen to get some of the other stuff. The glass is in remarkably good condition given the amount of crap that was on it. No visible scratches that I can see. However, there is a tiny bit of fungus on the front element, just at the edge. This appears to be on the inside of the front element. It's so little that even if it etched (the rear fungus appears to have left no permanent trace), it shouldn't affect image quality much.

Anyone have a guide to disassembling a Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 50 f/1.4 in such a way that I can properly reassemble without messing up the lens elements or the focus and aperture assemblies?

Did a quick test on the camera, and while I haven't had a chance to look at the pictures, initial impressions from the LCD show the S-M-C to have considerably higher contrast wide open, and much nicer and more uniform bokeh. If I'm able to fully clean it, it'll be a heck of a steal!

Oct 15, 2008 at 03:27 PM

Jman13
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p.1 #18 · How best to clean fungus.

So I got a chance to look at the images at home, and I'm surprised...there is a rather significant different in the performance of my Super-Takumar and the S-M-C Takumar...the S-M-C has higher contrast wide open, seems a smidge sharper, and has nicer bokeh. Honestly, my S-M-C is approaching my Rokkor 58 f/1.2 for pure image quality. Interestingly enough, the S-M-C has a warmer color cast, despite the Super-Takumar having the yellowed thorium element. Interesting.

Unfortunately, it still has that fungus under the front element. When I got home I cleaned the rear element and I don't see a single trace of the fungus left on it. The front element has been thoroughly cleaned, and you honestly wouldn't know it was the same lens if you'd seen it before. The glass is in VERY good shape except for that little bit of fungus. I found a disassembly guide, but the first step involves unscrewing the front plate, which is threaded into the filter threads. Unfortunately, the filter ring on this lens is bent, and I can't seem to get the front plate to move (I need to get a rubber stopper or something to spin it, but even if I can get it to move, I don't know if I'll be able to get it off.

Currently, it doesn't appear to affect image quality at all. However, I want to kill any further growth, and I don't want it to etch the glass if it hasn't yet. Any suggestions? Is there a way to kill the fungus without disassembly? Suggestions?

Here's a (bad) pic of the fungus...as you can see it's just at the edge...for now:

This image is copyrighted by the owner

Oct 16, 2008 at 12:52 AM

RandomLetterz
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p.1 #19 · How best to clean fungus.

This may sound incredibly stupid but does anyone know if he could put some UV light through it, or maybe sit it in the sun for awhile like how people do to get rid of the yellowing on old radioactive lenses?

To be honest though, if you have any sort of mechanical aptitude, most of the older lenses are pretty hard to mess up during dissassembly then reassembly unless you are totally careless and not paying attention during the process

Oct 16, 2008 at 12:59 AM

Jman13
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p.1 #20 · How best to clean fungus.

Yeah, I'm not worried about reassembly. I'm more concerned with actually being able to get it apart. Since the ring that covers the screws that hold the front element is screwed into the filter ring threads...and my filter ring is bent. I'm not sure if I can unscrew that ring....

Oct 16, 2008 at 01:09 AM

Ed Sawyer
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p.1 #21 · How best to clean fungus.

Are you sure it's not a spanner ring holding the front element in? Looks like it might be, from the pic

-Ed

Oct 16, 2008 at 01:53 PM

RandomLetterz
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p.1 #22 · How best to clean fungus.

Good eyes Ed. I see it up by the serial number now that you mention it. I'm guessing most if not all of the front will come off if he unscrews that.

Oct 16, 2008 at 05:37 PM

Jman13
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p.1 #23 · How best to clean fungus.

Unforunately, that spanner part (which is what actually holds the front element in) is actually underneath that top ring...you can't access the grooves until that top ring is off. Even if I went in sideways, it screws off vertically, which still needs that top ring to come off. Like I said, I've seen a disassembly guide, and that ID ring is the first thing that needs to come off. Anyone know the best way to straighten a bent filter ring without damaging the threads? (I've bent it back a little, but it's not perfect.)

Oct 16, 2008 at 05:59 PM

Cableaddict
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p.1 #24 · How best to clean fungus.

Jman13 wrote:
I want to kill any further growth, and I don't want it to etch the glass if it hasn't yet. Any suggestions? Is there a way to kill the fungus without disassembly? Suggestions?

This is just a guess, but-

Put the lens in a sealed chamber, along with an open container of ammonia.

Maybe the strong ammonia fumes would be enough to penetrate the lens & kill the fungus. I really don't know.

I'd try this with the cheapest lens you have first, in case the ammonia fumes leave some kind of deposit on the glass.

Another, total desperation move, might be to submerse the front of the lens in pure alchohol. That should kill the nasties and vaporize off, but once again I'd test on something cheap. Also, it might just cause the fungus to have a wild party.

A third, semi-ridiculous idea would be to microwave it. You'd get a bunch of sparks, but both you & the microwave would probably survive. The fungus would most certainly NOT survive.

Edited on Oct 16, 2008 at 07:12 PM · View previous versions

Oct 16, 2008 at 07:08 PM

Daniel Heineck
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p.1 #25 · How best to clean fungus.

Cable:

I wouldn't do either one of those. Bad... Bad... Ideas. (no offense)

The vapors will not come back out, and ammonia may start etching the coatings. Alcohol will start dissolving into the helicoid grease and will also water stain badly.

D

Oct 16, 2008 at 07:11 PM


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