fungus help

[babaman]

Hi everyone,

Can anyone please tell me whether the spots on the lens are fungus or not? They become kinda blueish spots when viewed against sunlight.

The lens is a nikon 80-200mm f2.8 push-pull version. The cost was roughly 350USD. Seller stated 'the lens is in excellent condition can't see any fungus or dust'. Did I get ripped off?

Kinda disappointing but stuff happens.

Happy new year all.

 

[standingup]

Hi,

It looks really like a fungus on the lens. Hmm....

 

[lsisaxon]

Hi,

It looks really like a fungus on the lens. Hmm....

Maybe the seller is blind.

 

[babaman]

Thanks for your kind reply.

Perhaps I should send the lens to a camera shop to confirm, if it is fungus then tell the seller about it later ask for fungus cleaning fee? How much issit to clean? ballpark figure?

BTW will the fungus keep growing if I take care of the lens properly from now on?

 

[lsisaxon]

Thanks for your kind reply.

Perhaps I should send the lens to a camera shop to confirm, if it is fungus then tell the seller about it later ask for fungus cleaning fee? How much issit to clean? ballpark figure?

BTW will the fungus keep growing if I take care of the lens properly from now on?

Usually when fungus sets in the damage is permanent. After you clean off the fungus, the surface is no longer optically perfect, so you'll have to prevent them from growing in the first place. Also, sending for cleaning may misalign the optics, so the lens may not be as good anymore - the resale value will drop drastically if the lens has been opened up before.

You can prevent the fungus after cleaning but it would be more likely to grow again because of the spores. Also in one of the pictures, there seems to be scratches on the lens surface too. It is highly likely that this lens has been abused. If you can get your money back by returning the lens, I would advise you to do so.

Did you buy it off internet?

 

[Scaglietti]

Thanks for your kind reply.

Perhaps I should send the lens to a camera shop to confirm, if it is fungus then tell the seller about it later ask for fungus cleaning fee? How much issit to clean? ballpark figure?

BTW will the fungus keep growing if I take care of the lens properly from now on?

From the look of it, it is almost certain that it is fungus. If the fungus is growing on a lens element with coating....:sweat:

BC

 

[Maltese]

Humid SG is like that...even if its recoverable, if u really want to preserve the state of that lens, I suggest u get a electronic dry cabi as a manual one would not work well liao and u don't want to take the chance anymore. Usually if u leave it in a room, it shouldn't grow fungus so quickly...it takes a lot of humidity and long period to get fungus in my experience. My dry cabi manufacturer say anything longer than 7 days in high humid areas then possible.

I live on low humid grounds and even if I put my lenses outside for weeks sometimes months I still don't see any fungus...the most some dust and hair. But once u have some, for some alien reasons its easy to get more at other areas and u can only stalked the growth u cannot prevent altogether.

The best is don't even let it start. If u can exchange with your seller, then the best. If not get it clean if possible and get the money from the seller then go get a good dry cabi to prevent it from further growth.

 

[ghost77]

This is bad. I can't stand with lens in this condition.Please return to the seller:bigeyes:

Hi everyone,

Can anyone please tell me whether the spots on the lens are fungus or not? They become kinda blueish spots when viewed against sunlight.

The lens is a nikon 80-200mm f2.8 push-pull version. The cost was roughly 350USD. Seller stated 'the lens is in excellent condition can't see any fungus or dust'. Did I get ripped off?

Kinda disappointing but stuff happens.

Happy new year all.

 

[standingup]

Usually when fungus sets in the damage is permanent. After you clean off the fungus, the surface is no longer optically perfect, so you'll have to prevent them from growing in the first place. Also, sending for cleaning may misalign the optics, so the lens may not be as good anymore - the resale value will drop drastically if the lens has been opened up before.

You can prevent the fungus after cleaning but it would be more likely to grow again because of the spores. Also in one of the pictures, there seems to be scratches on the lens surface too. It is highly likely that this lens has been abused. If you can get your money back by returning the lens, I would advise you to do so.

Did you buy it off internet?

Agree with you Isisason. Normally if the lens grown with fungus after clean degrade in optical quality. It is because they do some "polishing" (similar to CMP) which slightly change the thickness and surface quality. So hope the TS would listen to Isisason that return the len. There is no point to get a fungus lens which you have to pay alot of money to repair..

 

[gooseberry]

Sorry to see that you bought this from a dishonest seller - can't believe it was stated as excellent with no fungus and no dust - even without the obvious fungus, there's so much dust in that lens, it looks like it was used as a vacuum cleaner.

As Isisaxon mentioned, even if you clean off the fungus, the fungus may have etched away some of the lens coating.

 

[cocoa]

Hi everyone,

Can anyone please tell me whether the spots on the lens are fungus or not? They become kinda blueish spots when viewed against sunlight.

The lens is a nikon 80-200mm f2.8 push-pull version. The cost was roughly 350USD. Seller stated 'the lens is in excellent condition can't see any fungus or dust'. Did I get ripped off?

Kinda disappointing but stuff happens.

Happy new year all.

Hi babaman,

That is fugus alright. However, don't get tooo disappointed. My takes:

1. For US$350, it is unlikely that you would get a mint example of Nikon 80-200/2.8 lens. "Excellent, can't see.." means nothing! (BTW, did u get it from eBay?)

2. Did the seller offer return privilege? If so, return it. If not, send the seller those fugus close-up pix and ask him "How?" (again, if it is from eBay, and the seller has more than 90% positive feedback, he would treasure his record and would try to resolve any dispute for fear of getting a -ve. But that said, it works only if the seller has a big no. of transaction already.). Anyway, even if the seller agrees to the return, you may not get back all the money (usually the shipping fee would not be refunded.)

3. Go and take some pictures right away and see if you could detect any impact on the picture quality (from the pix, I reckon that it is not that bad.) I believe that those few spots can be cleaned rather easily and would not have any impact on the picture. estimated cost - $100 max. can try Cam.x or Prime camera.

Take heart!

cocoa

 

[arpinkor]

The seller sounds like a cunning guy, he stated "can't see" (subjective) instead of "don't have" fungus.

 

[lsisaxon]

Agree with you Isisason. Normally if the lens grown with fungus after clean degrade in optical quality. It is because they do some "polishing" (similar to CMP) which slightly change the thickness and surface quality. So hope the TS would listen to Isisason that return the len. There is no point to get a fungus lens which you have to pay alot of money to repair..

It is not because they do polishing, they cannot polish anymore because it may affect the focus. It's because the roots of the fungi has eaten into the surface and that will leave some micro pits on the surface. Although it can be cleaned and as long as you don't have direct light hitting the attacked area, the image quality should not suffer much degradation, USD350 is still money and if you hunt around the might be one or 2 such lenses available locally and at least you get to see the condition before buying.

Although there are honest sellers in the internet, there are also dishonest ones. At least this one ships the lens to you... Some just take your money and run away.

 

[sulhan]

Hiee pals...

The images shows that its fungus. No doubt about it. Well then how? I suggests, if its external surface fornt element. Get it wiped off ASAP. Yes the AR coating (anti reflective) is etched out.

Will it degrade the images? No i dont think so. Why i thought that way?
- The fungus is really "begining" and its small.
- location is on its edges - if used with 1.5x crop APS-c sized digital sensors(assuming owner owns DSLR) it makes it much less likely there is any effect.

BTW....fungus does not eat into glass. They eat into multi coatings. With lens being multi coated and some layers of coating have different resistance level, after it cleaned there will be bottom coating layers that will then give different "colored" refection (due to that particular area losing its ability to reflect certain band of light spectrum).

I have personally seen lens...old lens....hand me down that had old multi coatings that had fungus problems. After cleaning its looks aestheticaly "bad" but general usage ...looking from images taken with this lens....you cant even tell that there was any problem with its coating.

Also lens with minor fungus at the sides etc...even if itf its there you can even take really good pictures with the lens....In some cases, repair shops may even "repair" by totally removing the whole layer of multicoat and let the customer feeling "great" and given special name for it as some "special polishing" process. Some lens with such "coating" removal techinque may not even give any tell tale signs of bad image out put. But some do.

Sometimes, we get to be too aesthetically concious and worrry about ...things like:
- oh man!!! how to sell it away later?
- Ai yoh..how to go to a CS outing sure people will give bad comments...etc...
What d-ya think?...

Newer lenses mainly use organic coatings that is more prone to fungus. Thats why you can have old lens...that use other type of older coating chemistries that are non organic and can sit in the 2nd hand shops for years without even have any fungus stain....

Slight fungus is much much much much much better than superb exterior but fogging in internal elements.....thats worst!!!!!....

 

[smtan24]

Looks like the fungus has eaten in between one of the bonded lens. If that's the case that group is gone. Hopely the fungus on lens hasn't eaten into the coating.

 

[babaman]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your input. I will get in touch with the seller and hope for the best. Need to take some more macro shots of the lens with a digicam. (OT: Lol, not used to the small size of digicam and I was looking into the viewfinder too).

I guess it's not worth the effort to clean the fungus due to likelyhood of it reappearing.

Yes, I bought the lens off a New Zealand auction site (I live in NZ, the humidity over here is pretty low so it's sweet). I thought was the price was good for a lens body that have some scuffing from general usage, I'm alright with that. What I didn't know was the lens has fungus and a minor scratch on the front element. What a dishonest seller eh?

BTW there are some few small fungus spots around the middle area too.

I don't mind not getting back the shipping costs, as long majority of the $ will be refunded I'll be okay. Think of it as a lesson. A good one too. From now on, I'll only buy 2nd hand lenses which I can inspect prior to purchasing.

Anyway I will keep you guys posted. Thanks for the support.

 

[skopio]

What a dishonest seller eh?

that's a serious understatement.

i recently received a 20+ yr old lens from my dad, it was kept in a cupboard with those old type of electric dehumidifier. YET, it seemed as if one of the inner elements had fungus. i had to hold it against the light and look through its at maxed zoom range, and even then you would have missed it if you weren't looking for it.

in comparison, your recent purchase seems quite badly affected, can even see the roots and middle "body" of the fungus. the lens looked like it was kept in the fish tank! - so obviously abused.

is the seller in NZ as well? would make the return much simpler. hope you get back your $$$.

 

[mohdya]

Dry cabinets only maintain humidity levels at around 40%....not totally dry. Molds & fungi need around 60% and above to proliferate and this worsens with increasing humidity. The only way to prevent mold from re-occuring is to get rid of mold/spores properly when you have an epidemic. In other words, do not mix moldy stuff with good ones but separate them quickly. Spores/ Mold can only be totally rid of using denatured alcohol (spirit) or 1/3 bleach-water mix. Hope this helps...

 

[Scaglietti]

... Spores/ Mold can only be totally rid of using denatured alcohol (spirit) or 1/3 bleach-water mix. Hope this helps...

BTW, this 2 items are not so lens friendly. They might attack the lens coating and totally destroy the lens.

BC

 

[chye]

Dear all,

My len got fungus too, where can I send for servicing

New-comer