Fungus question

[MIkhail]

Does leaving your lens on the sun (like on the table next to the window with sun shining right into it) really kills the fungus or is it an urban legend?
Did anybody succeed doing so?
Thanks.

 

[MIkhail]

So nobody knows?

 

[fraley]

I think the ultraviolet is supposed to kill the fungus. But if it's already etched the glass, it will only prevent further damage.

 

[MC JC86]

The cat is correct.

It will prevent further damage, but you need prolonged exposure. Keeping it in dry environment is good too.

 

[Carterofmars]

Embrace the fungus. Love the fungus. May help create an interesting image.

 

[maddoc]

It is urban legend .... Storing your lenses in dry and well lit environment helps preventing against grow of fungus but that`s it. I have tried the "expose-to-sun" way but ended up having Leica cleaning my lens.

 

[Keith]

I have an old Nikkor zoom that has serious fungus issues (it was given to me recently) and I've been leaving it out in the sun being sure to re-angle it to keep the sun actually shining through it every hour or so. The spider webs of fungus seem to have died and shriveled up and the lens doesn't display any symptoms at all when shooting of what I can still visibly see when I look through it. My conclusion is that it has to be pretty major before it has much effect on images and even then it will only cause a slight flare. (glow! 😀)

It's probably relative to how much you value the lens and what you paid for it ... the amount of fungus in an old $100.00 Nikkor that doesn't really bother me at all, would probably send a Noctilux owner into cardiac arrest! 😛

 

[DanOnRoute66]

Once you get the fungus killed off you may wish to avoid putting it in a case. The older leather cases in particular are incubators for mold but vinyl cases can be, too. If you do use a case put a silica gel pack in with the lens to help reduce humidity.

 

[benlees]

The fungus will die, but it won't go anywhere. Fungus will affect the images- mainly flare and contrast- but less than you think.

 

[tlitody]

fungus feeds off protein in leather. So bin any leather lens pouches you have. Infact if you have fungus on one lens in your bag then they are all at severe risk. So put all lenses in sun and replace bag and lens pouches. And don't put lens with fungus with any other lenses. Fungus spores are miniscule and will spread easily. But they need something to feed on and humid conditions so its easy to stop conditions of growth but damn near impossible to get rid of any spores that are there already. Prevention is best policy.