Attack of the Fungus (on my lens)

BananaRepublic · Aug 20, 2020

I am more or less certain that I have fungus on the inner side of the glass at the rear of my lens, nearest the camera mount. I put indirect sunlight for days on end, I had a Lee filter holder on the front allowing me to angle the thing so it got consistent sun. The lens itself is a nikon 24-70 2.8; my instinct is to get it cleaned but as there is no official nikon repair place in Ireland Id have to send it to the UK.

There is however a local independent service which do nikon amongst other brands, including bodies, and they will charge €129 which is about $150 US to do the job. Now its not about the money Im just not sure whether I will get the thing back as good as new, snobbery I guess but id like to be somewhat reassured from other people experiences of this scenario.

I posted this link a few weeks back about this and here are the pics. It the main fungus body doesn't seem to have gotten worse but the halo around it is more distinctive now in the sun, like condensation but it hard to get a good photo of it.

This link contains photos Is this Mold also a link to the repair place iElectron | Repair Centre for Phones, Tablets, Computers, Headphones

dxqcanada · Aug 20, 2020

I cannot comment directly if the repair will come back brand new.

I did have a lens that had fungus areas (not as concentrated as yours) on multiple elements, and showed the haloing of the coating. After I took the lens apart I was able to clean everything off ... in my case the fungus was on top of the coating so it did not etch into it.
Dirt, dust, ding, and … fungus.

petrochemist · Aug 21, 2020

If the fungus is only on the inside of the rear element it should be relatively easy to sort. Much less of an alignment issue than somewhere on the inner elements.
Independent service centres aught to be able to do this with no problem, the best of them might return the lens in a better condition than merely new, as they will check things specifically on that lens & never rely on a batch test which OEMs might for some variables during manufacture...

The guy who services my kit (me) is nowhere near that level of competence, but so far has managed OK on such easily accessible problems.

FWIW sunlight/UV might kill fungus but it will never remove the bits that have already grown.

BananaRepublic · Aug 21, 2020

dxqcanada said:
I cannot comment directly if the repair will come back brand new.

I did have a lens that had fungus areas (not as concentrated as yours) on multiple elements, and showed the haloing of the coating. After I took the lens apart I was able to clean everything off ... in my case the fungus was on top of the coating so it did not etch into it.
Dirt, dust, ding, and … fungus.

I found this video of a guy repairing a focus issue is it as simple as that in the sense that all I would be doing is removing the top/ first element or is there a little bit more to it

BananaRepublic · Aug 21, 2020

petrochemist said:
If the fungus is only on the inside of the rear element it should be relatively easy to sort. Much less of an alignment issue than somewhere on the inner elements.
Independent service centres aught to be able to do this with no problem, the best of them might return the lens in a better condition than merely new, as they will check things specifically on that lens & never rely on a batch test which OEMs might for some variables during manufacture...

The guy who services my kit (me) is nowhere near that level of competence, but so far has managed OK on such easily accessible problems.

FWIW sunlight/UV might kill fungus but it will never remove the bits that have already grown.

Id be confident I could take it apart but putting it back together is another thing. If this was a kit lens then id have a go but with a 24-70 Im not as bullish. As for the repair place they have plenty of good reviews but 90% are smart phones, which are intricate but somehow I view a lens as different.

PS edit
I found these videos, 1st a guy repairing a focus issue is it as simple as that in the sense that all I would be doing is removing the top/ first element or is there a little bit more to it would I even need to unscrew the outer aluminium/stainless steel seal like he does there. When it comes to alignment what does the lens simple not match up with the screw holes, can that be difficult.

This second link is actually better in that the talks you through it., but minus clean room.

zombiesniper · Aug 21, 2020

At work I can't see the video however this should be a simple as removing the back retaining mechanism of the lens, removing the one element, cleaning it and inspecting/cleaning the next element (while in the lens) and reasembling it.

Not familliar with this lens so if access can only be gained through the front retainer then the process would require complete dissasembly.

If you can access from the body side of the lens it should not be a difficult task to clean.

As for the shop. Ask if they have insurance incase anything goes wrong. Get it in writing. Also ask about thier compensation/replacement policy if they return the lens that is no longer functioning properly. Get it in writing.
Take photos of every angle of the lens including serial number as well as a video of how it currently functions. As well as a couple of images at a test target to show the clarity or lack there of.
Without these photos or video you have no leg to stand on if the shop returns a defective lens and states "Thats the way it came in".

Hope you manage to get it sorted out.

RVT1K · Aug 21, 2020

Do you see evidence in your photos?

A couple of years ago, I bought a Tamron 400 f/4 as part of a package from an estate sale. It was essentially free since, when you looked through it, there was so much fungus you would think it would be opaque.

I sent it out to see if it could be cleaned and was told some of the coatings had been etched and cleaning would provide no improvement. There were no new glass elements were available, either. So they buttoned it back up and returned it to me.

It takes remarkably good photos considering what it looks like inside.

BananaRepublic · Aug 21, 2020

RVT1K said:
Do you see evidence in your photos?

A couple of years ago, I bought a Tamron 400 f/4 as part of a package from an estate sale. It was essentially free since, when you looked through it, there was so much fungus you would think it would be opaque.

I sent it out to see if it could be cleaned and was told some of the coatings had been etched and cleaning would provide no improvement. There were no new glass elements were available, either. So they buttoned it back up and returned it to me.

It takes remarkably good photos considering what it looks like inside.

No not at the moment anyway.

BananaRepublic · Aug 21, 2020

zombiesniper said:
At work I can't see the video however this should be a simple as removing the back retaining mechanism of the lens, removing the one element, cleaning it and inspecting/cleaning the next element (while in the lens) and reasembling it.

Not familliar with this lens so if access can only be gained through the front retainer then the process would require complete dissasembly.

If you can access from the body side of the lens it should not be a difficult task to clean.

As for the shop. Ask if they have insurance incase anything goes wrong. Get it in writing. Also ask about thier compensation/replacement policy if they return the lens that is no longer functioning properly. Get it in writing.
Take photos of every angle of the lens including serial number as well as a video of how it currently functions. As well as a couple of images at a test target to show the clarity or lack there of.
Without these photos or video you have no leg to stand on if the shop returns a defective lens and states "Thats the way it came in".

Hope you manage to get it sorted out.

thanks for info . Yes it would only involve popping out the rear element at least that’s were the fungas seems to be. Others have hinted at aliment issues id like to understand how this could happen surely this one element will only line up one way to the screw holes, just trying to understand the mechanics of it, thanks again.