Is lens fungus "contagious"?

[ssmc]

This may sound like a dumb question but please bear with me...

Say you have an interchangeable lens that has some internal fungus, and has not been CLA'd to kill the stuff. Could using such a lens transfer spores to the camera's shutter chamber/mirror box and from there to another "uninfected" lens? If such a thing happened would it even be possible to decontaminate the camera body? I read somewhere that Leica will not even open fungus-damaged lenses for repair for fear of releasing the spores (dunno if this is true). I mean, the spores had to get into the lens in the first place - assuming it didn't happen during manufacture - so it seems plausible they could subsequently escape (maybe?)

Any opinions on this? Or would the general consensus be to just clean out the affected lens and forget about it?

TIA,
Scott

 

[pdh]

When I found fungus in some lenses I got for nothing, I spent an afternoon googling and reading up on this subject ... there were two main conclusions.

Take your pick:

1. Fungus is highly contagious and the chances are all all your other lenses will get it unless you're incredibly scrupulous with cleanliness, storage and throwing away any lens that looks fungused

2. Fungus is not at all contagious -- all your lenses have fungus spores in them already from manufacture onwards; it's a matter of storage (and a bit of luck) if your other lenses grow fungus.

The question that comes to my mind is whether a few fungus threads in a lens make any noticeable difference to the image anyway ...

 

[icebear]

The problem is not a possible contamination and killing but the environment that makes the growth possible in the first place.
I have no clue what particular biological variety lens fungus is (peniciluim mandler 😀 ?) but fungus spores are everywhere. Every breath you take will get you some for free.
Only if the conditions are right, the fungus spores will multiply into something that is visible with the naked eye.

Keep your equipement clean and dry and well ventilated, if in doubt use a dry pouch (silica gel or equivalent).
Perfect growth condition would be a sweaty, wet leather case😉.

 

[Sparrow]

... I believe the atmosphere is already full of fungal spores anyway so it shouldn't matter either way ... but then I wouldn't put it anywhere near my lenses until it had been cleaned

Fungus needs to be warm, humid and dark in order to grow ... if you deprive it of any one of these it will remain dormant

 

[EdwardKaraa]

Fungus optimal growth conditions are 10-40 degrees and 60 to 80% RH.

 

[ssmc]

Thanks for all the replies and apologies for originally posting this in the wrong forum. The lens in question did indeed come attached to a body stored in an old-style semi-hard leather "ever-ready" case... I don't know if it'd ever been wet but it had certainly seen some use!

You guys rock!

Scott

 

[clayne]

Fungus is a condition not a contagious disease. Product of environment and it needs food to survive. Does not spread like a virus.

 

[gb hill]

Years ago I had an old knockoff lens I kept in my bag with my Canon FD lenses. The knockoff lens developed fungus & was so bad it looked like spider webs. I threw the lens away & looked at my Canon lenses to see if it had spread to them but it hadn't Still to this day my Canon lenses are clean & clear. I have a Sears lens that has become hazy over the years. I think cheap made lenses suffer easier than quality mfg. lenses.

 

[_goodtimez]

99 % of the fungus contaminated cameras or lenses I bought were delivered in a leather case. I guess that for the remaining 1 % the previous owner found the leather case so ugly that he threw it away before showing.
Conclusion: never ever keep any camera in its leather case for storage.