'Crystals' inside my Canon EF 100mm Macro USM Lens

Hello all,

I've been a long reader of this forum and have joined a short while ago to be able to comment on articles. I thought today I'd create a forum post in order to get some advice regarding a topic the internet, including this forum, seems to have no answer for.

Some months ago, on a flight back, I was using my Canon EF 100mm Macro USM lens to take photos of these snowflake-like crystals that were forming in between the glass of the plane's windows. The following is one of the photos I took:

The crystals that formed in between the two layers of glass of the plane window during the flight.

Once I got back home and was checking to make sure my lenses were all ok, I noticed very similar looking crystals on the inside of my lens, mostly around the peripheries. They were definitely not there before, and I was never in freezing cold weather (home temperature was above 30 degrees celcius, and I'd left Scotland which was above 15 degrees celcius). People I have spoken to suggested it's fungus, but I doubt fungus would form within a day and look like that - but to be very honest I've never seen lens fungus before.

Here is a picture of what they look like today, months after they formed, and they haven't really changed. They are difficult to see unless angled against the sun, and I couldn't get any closer since that's my only macro lens, so excuse the quality. You can make out their shape though:

The crystals on the inside of my Canon 100mm macro lens.

Not clear from the picture is exactly where they are - but I can tell at what level they are when I handle the lens. Hence, I tried to illustrate this on a diagram I found showing the lens' elements. They seem to be on the element right behind the front one.

(picture courtesy of: http://www.markusehrenfried.de/photography/canonef100mmf2.8.html)

Although it seems to defy the laws of physics, I'm convinced they are water-based crystals (you would expect them to melt instantaneously if they were ice...). What confirms this wacky idea is two things:
a) They look exactly like those crystals that formed in between the glass of the plane window (and coincidentally, between two layers of glass in my lens too)
b) When i take the lens out into the sun, tiny droplets of humidity form around the crystals - signifying there is moisture in there.
So my questions to you are:

1. What do you think those crystals are? Have you ever seen anything like them?
2. What can I try do to remove them? (Probably taking it for servicing would be the best idea; although I did take it to the Canon distributor in my country from whom I bought the lens and they had no idea what they were. Servicing would probably be ridiculously expensive and would take a long time).

I'd appreciate your suggestions, ideas and advice. While they don't seem to be affecting image quality currently, I presume it's because I use it on a crop sensor so perhaps these crystals are too peripheral to be a problem. I do hope to use this lens on a full frame in the future, where they may actually become problematic...

Looks like a classic case of fungus to me. Not sure if the lens is salvageable or not.
--
-Adam
https://www.flickr.com/photos/90719248@N04/

Landscapeforfun wrote:

Looks like a classic case of fungus to me. Not sure if the lens is salvageable or not.
--
-Adam
https://www.flickr.com/photos/90719248@N04/

Did you full-view the picture?
I'd have imagined the hyphae would have been so much thinner, and being a living organism it would grow over a long period of time.. and wouldn't be so isolate..

SarahBK wrote:

Landscapeforfun wrote:

Looks like a classic case of fungus to me. Not sure if the lens is salvageable or not.
--
-Adam
https://www.flickr.com/photos/90719248@N04/

Did you full-view the picture?
I'd have imagined the hyphae would have been so much thinner, and being a living organism it would grow over a long period of time.. and wouldn't be so isolate..

I don't see a whole lot of other options for what it could be. I'm sure if you put it in a dark damp place it will spread. Your best bet is to have it repaired ASAP before it gets any worse or etches the glass.

Landscapeforfun wrote:

SarahBK wrote:

Landscapeforfun wrote:

Looks like a classic case of fungus to me. Not sure if the lens is salvageable or not.
--
-Adam
https://www.flickr.com/photos/90719248@N04/

Did you full-view the picture?
I'd have imagined the hyphae would have been so much thinner, and being a living organism it would grow over a long period of time.. and wouldn't be so isolate..

I don't see a whole lot of other options for what it could be. I'm sure if you put it in a dark damp place it will spread. Your best bet is to have it repaired ASAP before it gets any worse or etches the glass.

Yeah - it's the limited options which point towards it, but even now looking at pictures of lens fungus they look nothing like them.

It's been in a dark place since the incident (August 2014) and they haven't changed in any way though.

meland wrote:

Landscapeforfun wrote:

Looks like a classic case of fungus to me. Not sure if the lens is salvageable or not.
--
-Adam
https://www.flickr.com/photos/90719248@N04/

Looks like fungus to me too. I guess Malta can get pretty humid? How do you store your camera equipment?

Yes it does get humid here. I store my lenses in a case that's filled with silica gel packets.

This did not form while I was here though - it happened either on the plane trip back, or maximum within a week of having flown back (I was checking my lenses even more frequently when there). But they were there that same evening I got home. Since then the crystal shapes have not changed in shape, size, amount or area of the lens affected.

Logic would tell me if it were fungus, it would have formed slowly over time, and since last August when I first noticed them they would have gotten much worse...

meland wrote:

Landscapeforfun wrote:

SarahBK wrote:

Landscapeforfun wrote:

Looks like a classic case of fungus to me. Not sure if the lens is salvageable or not.
--
-Adam
https://www.flickr.com/photos/90719248@N04/

Did you full-view the picture?
I'd have imagined the hyphae would have been so much thinner, and being a living organism it would grow over a long period of time.. and wouldn't be so isolate..

I don't see a whole lot of other options for what it could be. I'm sure if you put it in a dark damp place it will spread. Your best bet is to have it repaired ASAP before it gets any worse or etches the glass.

I'm afraid that lens may have had it. The fungus will have damaged the coating and/or the cement between the lens elements. Re-coating is not really practical or cost effective so the only hope is replacement of the affected lens groups - but with the cost of those and the labour in fitting and recalibrating the lens .................... ! It may be cheaper to write the whole lens off and to buy a replacement. Might your insurance cover it perhaps?

You need to be mindful that if it has affected this lens it could also have spread to others. Get everything into the driest place you can find and google 'how to protect camera equipment against humidity'.

Yeah - that's why I wasn't keen on considering servicing. Especially since the guy at the camera store was not convinced what the problem was, and wanted to pass it on to the technicians without even knowing what could be done to it.

Thankfully none of my lenses have anything like it, despite having been stored with it for ages, before this ever happened and after. I guess I will keep it separate from now, just in case.

Well, besides a ton of silica gel packets, not sure what else I could put in my lens bag to keep humidity out.

meland wrote:

SarahBK wrote:

meland wrote:

Landscapeforfun wrote:

Looks like a classic case of fungus to me. Not sure if the lens is salvageable or not.
--
-Adam
https://www.flickr.com/photos/90719248@N04/

Looks like fungus to me too. I guess Malta can get pretty humid? How do you store your camera equipment?

Yes it does get humid here. I store my lenses in a case that's filled with silica gel packets.

Your silica gel get's dried out in an oven from time to time?

No - the internet suggests drying out in an oven, but with these little guys the paper would most likely catch fire. Will need to buy something that can be dried out it seems.

This did not form while I was here though - it happened either on the plane trip back, or maximum within a week of having flown back (I was checking my lenses even more frequently when there). But they were there that same evening I got home. Since then the crystal shapes have not changed in shape, size, amount or area of the lens affected.

Did the camera equipment travel with you or in the hold? Equipment travelling with you as hand baggage is unlikely to have experienced any conditions that could have caused that. A sudden change in pressure in the hold conceivably could cause separation of a cemented element.

If you read my original post, you will read that I was using it to take pictures during the flight (the first crystals picture was taken with it). So yes, it was with me not in the hold. I wouldn't dare put any of my camera equipment in the hold.

Logic would tell me if it were fungus, it would have formed slowly over time, and since last August when I first noticed them they would have gotten much worse...

If the humidity is reduced the growth of fungus will slow down - but of course the damage that it has caused unfortunately doesn't go away. Anyway I'd have it checked out by a reputable repair facility.

Looks like I can't avoid it, though I'm pretty sure it's going to be labelled as fungus although it looks nothing like fungus pictures on the internet. It's just so very strange...

meland wrote:

SarahBK wrote:

meland wrote:

SarahBK wrote:

meland wrote:

Landscapeforfun wrote:

Looks like a classic case of fungus to me. Not sure if the lens is salvageable or not.
--
-Adam
https://www.flickr.com/photos/90719248@N04/

Looks like fungus to me too. I guess Malta can get pretty humid? How do you store your camera equipment?

Yes it does get humid here. I store my lenses in a case that's filled with silica gel packets.

Your silica gel get's dried out in an oven from time to time?

No - the internet suggests drying out in an oven, but with these little guys the paper would most likely catch fire. Will need to buy something that can be dried out it seems.

You only need the oven set to its lowest temperature and that shouldn't set the paper on fire.

Hmmm.. I guess I'll try with some of them and see what happens.

This did not form while I was here though - it happened either on the plane trip back, or maximum within a week of having flown back (I was checking my lenses even more frequently when there). But they were there that same evening I got home. Since then the crystal shapes have not changed in shape, size, amount or area of the lens affected.

Did the camera equipment travel with you or in the hold? Equipment travelling with you as hand baggage is unlikely to have experienced any conditions that could have caused that. A sudden change in pressure in the hold conceivably could cause separation of a cemented element.

If you read my original post, you will read that I was using it to take pictures during the flight (the first crystals picture was taken with it). So yes, it was with me not in the hold. I wouldn't dare put any of my camera equipment in the hold.

I'm not sure that trying to help you really warrants that put down?

I thought that would come off as mean-sounding - so my apologies

Logic would tell me if it were fungus, it would have formed slowly over time, and since last August when I first noticed them they would have gotten much worse...

If the humidity is reduced the growth of fungus will slow down - but of course the damage that it has caused unfortunately doesn't go away. Anyway I'd have it checked out by a reputable repair facility.

Looks like I can't avoid it, though I'm pretty sure it's going to be labelled as fungus although it looks nothing like fungus pictures on the internet. It's just so very strange...

I'm realy worryed now. I live in the uk and now worryed sick that they will get fungus. Should I go out and get a dry box?

Well, it's not advice I can give you myself that's for sure. Some internet reading tells me that some people, if they don't live in excessively humid places, are actually meant to keep their lenses in a light and ariated space. But as I said, I'm not able to give you advice.

I wouldn't think of the UK as humid, but the weather does get quite wet. And if this is fungus, it happened in Scotland (which is actually less humid than Malta).

I agree with you in not thinking it's fungus. That just doesn't happen in a jiffy.

I don't know what it is but I have an idea, even if it might be a long shot.
It could be salt crystals left by evaporation. If I understood correctly, you said that small droplets form when you take the lens into the sun. There is definitely some humidity in the air within the lens. Out in the sun, this air will warm up more quickly than the glass elements, possibly allowing the air to condensate. This condensation would start to gather around the crystals before spreading to the sleek, uniform surface of the glass (provided that there's enough humidity there to do so).

Does it show in the pictures you take with the lens? If not, and if it doesn't get worse, I'd probably just ignore it.
If it is affecting the images you could send it to Canon, asking them for a quote first before they do anything. You can then decide what you want to do.

Not all lens fungi look the same. Look at this one, it's the same as your lens is affected by:

http://www.exposureguide.com/lens-fungus-cleaning.htm

The smoking gun.

Fungus like dark, cool and still air. i live not far from the equator so i am paranoid about fungus so i built myself a lamp drawer. The lamp is on 24/7. It provides warmth and light round the clock. the lenses face the lamp continuously.

SarahBK wrote:

Hello all,

I've been a long reader of this forum and have joined a short while ago to be able to comment on articles. I thought today I'd create a forum post in order to get some advice regarding a topic the internet, including this forum, seems to have no answer for.

Some months ago, on a flight back, I was using my Canon EF 100mm Macro USM lens to take photos of these snowflake-like crystals that were forming in between the glass of the plane's windows. The following is one of the photos I took:

The crystals that formed in between the two layers of glass of the plane window during the flight.

Once I got back home and was checking to make sure my lenses were all ok, I noticed very similar looking crystals on the inside of my lens, mostly around the peripheries. They were definitely not there before, and I was never in freezing cold weather (home temperature was above 30 degrees celcius, and I'd left Scotland which was above 15 degrees celcius). People I have spoken to suggested it's fungus, but I doubt fungus would form within a day and look like that - but to be very honest I've never seen lens fungus before.

Here is a picture of what they look like today, months after they formed, and they haven't really changed. They are difficult to see unless angled against the sun, and I couldn't get any closer since that's my only macro lens, so excuse the quality. You can make out their shape though:

The crystals on the inside of my Canon 100mm macro lens.

Not clear from the picture is exactly where they are - but I can tell at what level they are when I handle the lens. Hence, I tried to illustrate this on a diagram I found showing the lens' elements. They seem to be on the element right behind the front one.

(picture courtesy of: http://www.markusehrenfried.de/photography/canonef100mmf2.8.html)

Although it seems to defy the laws of physics, I'm convinced they are water-based crystals (you would expect them to melt instantaneously if they were ice...). What confirms this wacky idea is two things:
a) They look exactly like those crystals that formed in between the glass of the plane window (and coincidentally, between two layers of glass in my lens too)
b) When i take the lens out into the sun, tiny droplets of humidity form around the crystals - signifying there is moisture in there.
So my questions to you are:

1. What do you think those crystals are? Have you ever seen anything like them?
2. What can I try do to remove them? (Probably taking it for servicing would be the best idea; although I did take it to the Canon distributor in my country from whom I bought the lens and they had no idea what they were. Servicing would probably be ridiculously expensive and would take a long time).

I'd appreciate your suggestions, ideas and advice. While they don't seem to be affecting image quality currently, I presume it's because I use it on a crop sensor so perhaps these crystals are too peripheral to be a problem. I do hope to use this lens on a full frame in the future, where they may actually become problematic...

no matter what it is, you should get it cleaned professionally as quickly as possible.  Based on the latest picture by brightcolors it does look like fungus (although I was initially also thinking of salt crystals, but where would they come from, some salt water leak, maybe not impossible given you are in malta, and could have used it near the sea)