Fungus in old lens

[kyteflyer]

I've been carrying on in the completely incorrect belief that my old Rokkor lens was clean inside. Its not. I have FUNGUS!!

How does one go about cleaning it out? It seems to be on one of the inner elements

 

[pdh]

I go about it by sending it off to someone who knows what they're doing

However if you are feeling confident about dismantling, cleaning and correctly reassembling your lens, properly collimated of course ... I understand that a mixture of distilled water, hydrogen peroxide and ammonia will remove fungus from lens elements ... though it is a pretty noxious mixture and when I tried it I felt sick for half a day ... remember if the infestation has been long standing, the fungal secretions may have etched the lens surface/coating, which means you won;t be able to remove the marks.

If the fungus tracks are small and not widespread, the chances are it won't be making much difference to your images, and the worst that can happen is a bit of loss of contrast.

 

[bkxmnr]

Cold cream works amazingly well for cleaning fungus. I followed this exactly on my 35mm FD and it worked great. Shooting with a Pentax K10D: Cleaning from fungus: SMC Takumar/6X7 150 2.8

 

[lenshoarder]

I just use 99% isopropyl. Works like charm. I've never had fungus come back to a lens I've cleaned. Unless this is a very unusual Rokkor lens, it's not worth having professionally cleaned.

 

[Ad Dieleman]

I had fungus in a Minolta macro 50/3.5 and I contacted a repair shop. They told me that a lens doesn't get any better by disassembling it and that the fungus may have damaged lens elements permanently, so that removing doesn't restore the lens in a pristine condition.

The repair of the lens would easily exceed its value of about € 50 so I decided to leave the fungus alone (it was only a small patch).

So a logical question is: what type of Rokkor lens is it? If it's a cheap one like a 50/1.7 you'd be better off by simply buying another one.

 

[kyteflyer]

I had fungus in a Minolta macro 50/3.5 and I contacted a repair shop. They told me that a lens doesn't get any better by disassembling it and that the fungus may have damaged lens elements permanently, so that removing doesn't restore the lens in a pristine condition.

The repair of the lens would easily exceed its value of about € 50 so I decided to leave the fungus alone (it was only a small patch).

So a logical question is: what type of Rokkor lens is it? If it's a cheap one like a 50/1.7 you'd be better off by simply buying another one.

Its the Rokkor 50 f/1.4 PG. I didnt buy it, I have had it since 1973.

I think I'll see if the local camera guys can give me a price on cleaning it. its mostly spotty, rather than filaments of fungus, could be doable. I like it but its not the end of the earth if it cant be done, I have another 50 and a 55 that will be fine, and they are K-mounts which is what I need

Thanks to all for the advice

 

[kyteflyer]

... it won't be making much difference to your images, and the worst that can happen is a bit of loss of contrast.

Its not, actually... but I dont want it spreading to other lenses. So I've bagged it for now.

 

[Isoterica]

You can also try putting silica gel packets in the fungus bagged one, that will help to keep the lens dry and any fungus from spreading.

 

[kyteflyer]

You can also try putting silica gel packets in the fungus bagged one, that will help to keep the lens dry and any fungus from spreading.

Thanks, Kristen, already done, GMTA

 

[lenshoarder]

I'm curious, how humid is it where you live? I'm starting to worry about fungus here. Historically, the RH has hover around 30-40%. Now with climate change, it's at 50-60%.

 

[KillRamsey]

I pulled apart a rokkor 50mm F1.7 and a Vivitar Series 1 70-210 zoom that had pretty bad fungus and got both cleaned and reassembled in under 20 minutes. I required a smallish flat head screwdriver to turn the front plastic retaining ring, but after that it was not too bad. If you lived closer I'd do it for a sixpack.