Fungus Removal Service

[wjlapier]

Hello folks. I purchased a camera from Japan that has tiny amount of fungus and I would prefer to keep it ( the camera not the fungus! ). Typically, I would return a lens with fungus ( only happened once is many transactions ), but this one is special so I'm looking for suggestions on who to send to for fungus removal. I'm in the US, so no international repair suggestions, unless it's the last resort. I'd prefer not to attack this on my own.

LMK your story of fungus removal and who you sent your lens to.

Thanks!

 

[wpb]

What lens?

 

[wjlapier]

What lens?

Horseman 62mm f/5.6.

 

[wpb]

Try support@kenkotokinausa.com.

They are the distributors of Horseman in Japan.

Fungus repair is part of any competent repair person's abilities. The procedure is disassemble, soak elements in fungus cleaning solution (usually alcohol or ammonia based), and reassemble.

The tricky part is fungus can damage the coatings and in some extreme cases even the glass itself, and this will be unknown until the repair has been undertaken.

Sherry Krauter at Golden Touch might be able to do the job or offer a suggestion as to who would. She is amazing with lenses (fog, haze, fungus) and early coated Leica lenses have some of the most fragile lens coatings I've ever encountered.

 

[Steve M.]

If the fungus is between the cemented elements, as is often the case because the balsam cement is what it likes to feed on, you'll have to send it to someone like John at Focal Point Optics, and it won't be cheap to fix. If the fungus is minimal, I recommend setting the lens in bright sun light for a day or two. That will kill the fungus and you can shoot it to see if it has any effect on your pics.

 

[jordan.dickinson]

Is Focal Point still a thing? I thought he closed his shop, but maybe I'm wrong about that.

 

[newsgrunt]

Focalpoint is no longer 🙁

 

[punkzter]

I know that you want to keep the camera local, but I just finished listening to a Classic Lenses Podcast with the owner of Londinium cameras. He seemed willing to tackle fungus issues so you might want to consider him. He's in England.

 

[wjlapier]

I'm waiting to hear back from DAG to see if he'll work on it or recommend someone. I'm not against sending it out international but I want to make sure the shop definitely knows what they are doing. Don at DAG has worked on several of my Leica M and CL cameras and I know I can trust him if he says he can clean it up.