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

SarahBK wrote:

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...

Here is my explanation what happened to your lens;

Next time you fly take a close look at the cabin window. There is a small hole on the cabin window to transfer pressurisation loads to the outer or primary window panes. If you put the front element of your lens close to the hole it is possible that the air circulating between the inner/out windows simulated the effect of the outer a/c window and the air flow between the two windows plus the difference in temperature created the crystals inside the lens.

The condensation cannot escape from inside your lens and started the creation of fungus.

I had something similar with my Sigma 300/2.8 that after shooting football in the wet I put the lens away in its case and a few weeks later I noticed fungus growing behind the front element. I sent it to Sigma and they cleaned it up.

brightcolours wrote:

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

Yes the crystals resemble the shape of these ones more than any other picture I've come across - just not to the extent this lens seems to be affected. There still isn't anything like that fine hyphae mix on the peripheries as in this case, just isolate 'snowflake' shapes. Thank you for this picture, it is much more convincing of the possibility of it being fungus. The good thing is that exposure to sunlight stopped the growth since the day I got back last August because they have not increased or grown any further since.

Perhaps they are all the start of growth of individual spores, but stopped growing when I came back to Malta and battered the hell out of them when using it in Maltese sun.

Sports Shooter wrote:

SarahBK wrote:

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...

Here is my explanation what happened to your lens;

Next time you fly take a close look at the cabin window. There is a small hole on the cabin window to transfer pressurisation loads to the outer or primary window panes. If you put the front element of your lens close to the hole it is possible that the air circulating between the inner/out windows simulated the effect of the outer a/c window and the air flow between the two windows plus the difference in temperature created the crystals inside the lens.

The condensation cannot escape from inside your lens and started the creation of fungus.

I had something similar with my Sigma 300/2.8 that after shooting football in the wet I put the lens away in its case and a few weeks later I noticed fungus growing behind the front element. I sent it to Sigma and they cleaned it up.

Your explanation sounds like another possibility I couldn't formulate myself. The only thing that doesn't match is that I noticed these crystals within hours of leaving the plane, rather than leaving the lens packed away as you did. Fungus cant grow so quick... So MAYBE this growth happened over the week before catching the plane. Or else the crystals are something else...

SarahBK wrote:

Sports Shooter wrote:

SarahBK wrote:

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...

Here is my explanation what happened to your lens;

Next time you fly take a close look at the cabin window. There is a small hole on the cabin window to transfer pressurisation loads to the outer or primary window panes. If you put the front element of your lens close to the hole it is possible that the air circulating between the inner/out windows simulated the effect of the outer a/c window and the air flow between the two windows plus the difference in temperature created the crystals inside the lens.

The condensation cannot escape from inside your lens and started the creation of fungus.

I had something similar with my Sigma 300/2.8 that after shooting football in the wet I put the lens away in its case and a few weeks later I noticed fungus growing behind the front element. I sent it to Sigma and they cleaned it up.

Your explanation sounds like another possibility I couldn't formulate myself. The only thing that doesn't match is that I noticed these crystals within hours of leaving the plane, rather than leaving the lens packed away as you did. Fungus cant grow so quick... So MAYBE this growth happened over the week before catching the plane. Or else the crystals are something else...

could be...Anyway I would send the lens to Canon for cleaning.

photonius wrote:

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)

Yeah it is more convincing than anything I'd seen before.

It's unlikely to be salt though, because this happened while in Scotland and I never went next to the sea there. But to reply to your other comment earlier, yes there is humidity around the crystals in the sun - don't think it affects pictures but never confirmed it. I do have a crop sensor though. I can take another picture to try show this if you're curious.

Nigel Richards wrote:

Coming late to this thread, its fungus, I buy a lot of lenses in the UK and see fungus in lenses on a regular basis, get it cleaned before it etches the glass.

I get the impression thats its usually caused by a storage issue. Probably it was already there when you checked the glass.

Good luck

Perhaps... though it must have grown within a very short time period. Thankfully exposure to the sun and keeping it packed with numerous silica gel sachets as soon as I noticed them meant it hasn't gotten worse than it was when I first noticed them.
Ironic that this had to happen while in the UK, and in a warm/humid country back at home this sort of thing was never a problem for the two years I owned the lens
Indeed - since the last comment I've gotten in touch with a company in Glasgow and will be taking the lens over for inspection (and hopefully cleaning if it isn't going to cost a huge amount) in a couple of months' time.