PeterPrism
Senior Member
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this is possible but...
- Thread starter PeterPrism
- Start date
dark13star
Senior Member
It's hard to see. Is that mold?
C
Chris Dodkin
Guest
You need to be extremely careful in hot and humid climates - otherwise you'll get fungus in any make of lens
Always store lenses in a dry, well ventilated space - use desiccant in your camera bags and cases to remove moisture
Don't take lenses from extremely cold A/C conditions out into humid hot conditions
Don't keep lenses in enclosed bags/boxes
In extreme climates, consider investing in climate controlled storage for your equipment
etc etc...
Always store lenses in a dry, well ventilated space - use desiccant in your camera bags and cases to remove moisture
Don't take lenses from extremely cold A/C conditions out into humid hot conditions
Don't keep lenses in enclosed bags/boxes
In extreme climates, consider investing in climate controlled storage for your equipment
etc etc...
PeterPrism
Senior Member
Red5TX
Senior Member
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Sure, anything can happen. Not a Fuji-specific problem. Probably mishandling by the owner, which is hinted at in the thread. Travel to humid environment > store camera in sealed case upon return home > fungus. No great mystery. The only disaster is for the original owner. I hope he gets it cleaned before the fungus eats away at the lens coating.
Mescalamba
Leading Member
Unfortunately they are not weathersealed neither as "anti-fungal" as Canon lens. Tho this really can happen to almost every lens, depends on where you are and how long.
hellocrowley
Senior Member
It's simple, don't take Fuji to the jungle, beach, cruise, etc..
Albert Valentino
Forum Pro
This is a bit concerning. I never had a fungus problem with my Nikon lenses. I often go on long camping trips, a week and once two weeks, in the mountains to shoot fall foliage. Living in a tent, sometimes with several days of rain, so plenty of humidity and dampness. Never once had a problem. I also plan on doing the same thing, camping trips with my fuji. If even one lens starts getting problems like this I might have to rethink things. For now i hope this is just an isolated problem and there is more to the story.
Adrian Tung
Senior Member
What Nikon lenses, specifically, do you have?
Reason I ask is that generally, lenses that have no external moving extensions (like many Canon L lense that I own) are less prone to sucking in external air when they zoom/focus. Additionally, note that the original person who experienced this issue (not PeterPrism, he's just linking to an external forum) spent a whole 6 months out in Indonesia (which is a big difference from your 1-2 week outings, and also Indonesia was having quite a big pollution problem recently with forest burning).
We also don't know the full story and how much precaution the user made to protect his gear, and also how often the gear was used and how often it sat sitting inside the bag.
But besides the vacuum action of certain lens designs, I do not see Fuji lenses as any different from other manufacturers in being prone to fungus.
PeterPrism
Senior Member
Adrian, I agree at 50%, for Sure we don't know the full story but we are all fujiX-brothers in this game and when you say:
"I do not see Fuji lenses as any different from other manufacturers in being prone to fungus."
This is not an excusatory but IMO a diffuse bad way to design and build camera lenses (also very expensive). And if this is the general reality I don't like this way so I protest!
FUji for a PRO product have to do super-lenses with super-protection for super-users like us.
"I do not see Fuji lenses as any different from other manufacturers in being prone to fungus."
This is not an excusatory but IMO a diffuse bad way to design and build camera lenses (also very expensive). And if this is the general reality I don't like this way so I protest!
FUji for a PRO product have to do super-lenses with super-protection for super-users like us.
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Adrian Tung
Senior Member
Fungus loves to grow in dark and humid places. It doesn't care what brand that dark and humid place is. There is nothing special about Fuji, Canon, Nikon or any other brand that fungus would prefer over the other.
But as I said, it is easier to suck in dirty air from certain lens designs; weathersealing may also provide a little extra protection; but these two attributes aren't specific to Fuji only, so I don't know why you are singling out and hammering Fuji so strongly on this.
PeterPrism
Senior Member
Adrian, simply because my expectations are very, very, very high and I really L O V E the Fuji X project. And reading the boruchure fuji on the X series that sounds like a hoax.
mr moonlight
Senior Member
Humidity is an often overlooked issue. When traveling in and out of A/C environments in tropical conditions I always keep my camera in it's bag for awhile before pulling it out so it can slowly acclimate to the temp changes. If you're going to be in a humid region for awhile, take some gel packs to keep in your bag. If you put on your sunglasses and they instantly fog up, think that the same thing is happening to your camera and lenses.
When you arrive back at your hotel, keep your camera bag near the A/C vent or in a cool area of the room so it can dry out.
When you arrive back at your hotel, keep your camera bag near the A/C vent or in a cool area of the room so it can dry out.
PeterPrism
Senior Member
...at the end we will have something to eat
Here's a thread from a few years ago about someone getting fungus on their Canon gear: http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/33988971
C
Carsten Pauer 2
Guest
WoW, that is a very fast "Fungus"...
...a bit more... :-O
Regards: Carsten
...a bit more... :-O
Regards: Carsten
abelits
Leading Member
So this is not even the guy who had the problem, but the guy who first posted massive amount of vitriol in that thread?
baobob
Forum Pro
The whole question being is it possible to clean it safely at which cost ?
Prevention is the use of silicagel small cardtridges in the bags when travelling in very humid weather
Cheers
Bob
Prevention is the use of silicagel small cardtridges in the bags when travelling in very humid weather
Cheers
Bob
CFynn
Veteran Member
This can happen with any brand lens old or new. Fungus spores are a lot tinier than dust particles and it is pretty well impossible to design a lens which can completly prevent spores getting in.
It is horrible when it happens though as it quickly makes an expensive lens useless and valueless.
At one time you could get some companies like Linhof to "tropacalize" lenses for their cameras. This involved coating the non-optical inside surfaces of the lens with a laquer containng some noxious fungacide. During production some optical equiptment manufacturers also mixed various noxious fungicidal substances in the paint, lubrication, waxes and glues used inside the lens to prevent fungus on lenses. However some of the fungacides used for this were mecury compounds (e.g. sodium ethylmercurithiosalicylate) which are probably banned now.
Exposure to strong UV light may kill the fungus but not the spores - However modern lenses absorb a lot of UV light so this may not be as effective as it once was.
Sealing your lens in an airtight box along with a dish containig Thymol crystals for a week should kill the fungus. Caution: Thymol is also very dangerous to Humans.
Carl Zeiss, Oberkochen used to sell a non-poisoiness Fungus Cleaning Agent "Fungusreiniger NEU" for lenses. It may still be available but you'd have to dissasemble the lens to use it.
Other people have reccomended using household vinegar or a 50:50 solution of hydrogen peroxide and household ammonia to clean the lens. Obviously you'd want to get rid of any traces of these chemicals in the lens before re-assembly
Apparently Olympus technicians were taught the following: rub a tiny dab of Ponds Cold Cream into the lens with your finger tip and then clean off with denatured alcohol. If fungus’ “spider web” remains, re-apply cream, rub harder and then clean with alcohol again.
While the fungus itself can be removed by cleaning, fungi secrete enzymes and acids to chemically alter their environment so they can absorb nutrients and these enzymes eventually etch the coatings and glass. If it hs reached that stage re-polishing and re-coating a lens to get rid of the etching is not viable.
Prevention is much easier than cure:
Stored equiptment is usually more prone to fungus infection than frequently used equiptment
In tropical countries like Thailand dry cabinets specially designed for storing photographic equiptment are readily available from photo stores. You can also build a simple dry cabinet yourself.
Negative ion generators (also known as ionizers) are claimed to be an effective way of preventing fungus. Dehumidifiers also help because the fungus needs humidity to grow.
It is better to leave your equiptment on a well ventilated shelf than stored in a camera bag.
You can seal your equiptment in air tight Tupperware containers with Silica Gel to absorb humidity - this needs to be refreshed as Silaca Gel that has absorbed too much moisture can start emitting back into the air.
I've also read that enclosing a teaspoon of paraformaldehyde powder in a small paper bag within a container used to store lenses protects the optics for a year or two and this supposedly has no ill effect on lenses and the mechanical parts. Obviously be careful when handling chemicals like this.
It is horrible when it happens though as it quickly makes an expensive lens useless and valueless.
At one time you could get some companies like Linhof to "tropacalize" lenses for their cameras. This involved coating the non-optical inside surfaces of the lens with a laquer containng some noxious fungacide. During production some optical equiptment manufacturers also mixed various noxious fungicidal substances in the paint, lubrication, waxes and glues used inside the lens to prevent fungus on lenses. However some of the fungacides used for this were mecury compounds (e.g. sodium ethylmercurithiosalicylate) which are probably banned now.
Exposure to strong UV light may kill the fungus but not the spores - However modern lenses absorb a lot of UV light so this may not be as effective as it once was.
Sealing your lens in an airtight box along with a dish containig Thymol crystals for a week should kill the fungus. Caution: Thymol is also very dangerous to Humans.
Carl Zeiss, Oberkochen used to sell a non-poisoiness Fungus Cleaning Agent "Fungusreiniger NEU" for lenses. It may still be available but you'd have to dissasemble the lens to use it.
Other people have reccomended using household vinegar or a 50:50 solution of hydrogen peroxide and household ammonia to clean the lens. Obviously you'd want to get rid of any traces of these chemicals in the lens before re-assembly
Apparently Olympus technicians were taught the following: rub a tiny dab of Ponds Cold Cream into the lens with your finger tip and then clean off with denatured alcohol. If fungus’ “spider web” remains, re-apply cream, rub harder and then clean with alcohol again.
While the fungus itself can be removed by cleaning, fungi secrete enzymes and acids to chemically alter their environment so they can absorb nutrients and these enzymes eventually etch the coatings and glass. If it hs reached that stage re-polishing and re-coating a lens to get rid of the etching is not viable.
Prevention is much easier than cure:
Stored equiptment is usually more prone to fungus infection than frequently used equiptment
In tropical countries like Thailand dry cabinets specially designed for storing photographic equiptment are readily available from photo stores. You can also build a simple dry cabinet yourself.
Negative ion generators (also known as ionizers) are claimed to be an effective way of preventing fungus. Dehumidifiers also help because the fungus needs humidity to grow.
It is better to leave your equiptment on a well ventilated shelf than stored in a camera bag.
You can seal your equiptment in air tight Tupperware containers with Silica Gel to absorb humidity - this needs to be refreshed as Silaca Gel that has absorbed too much moisture can start emitting back into the air.
I've also read that enclosing a teaspoon of paraformaldehyde powder in a small paper bag within a container used to store lenses protects the optics for a year or two and this supposedly has no ill effect on lenses and the mechanical parts. Obviously be careful when handling chemicals like this.
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CFynn
Veteran Member
Yep.
I've had fungus in Nikon lenses and seen it in Canon, Pentax, Leica and other expensive glass ~ so he is completly wrong to blame Fuji. Fungus spores are smaller than visible dust particles - how do you design a lens that completly keeps them out?
Some of the fungicides lens manufacturers once used to mix into the paint used inside lens barrels, and lens lubricants to try and prevent this were mecury compounds and are probably prohibited now. Many other fungicides are not effective against the various types of fungus that can grow in lenses - or they are usuitable for the application since they quickly break down and dissapear.
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