Lenses Vs. Fongus!!! is it possible to be clean

[Angelsphoto]

Anybody can tell me if have been suscessful cleaning fongus off the glass??

Any ideas, any company will clean them? I am considering buying a Leica 90mm 2.0 with some fongus at the edge of the elements, is it worthy to try?

 

[hans voralberg]

If it's at the very edge most likely it wont affect image quality. But it migrate further into the elements. It could be cleaned, I cleaned several lens myself with ammonia. Most competent tech can do it, e.g. DAG, Sherry Krauter, Yuxin Ye, etc. It's a gamble, you can never be sure if the fungus have etched the glass yet, but if it's really cheap it might be worth it.

 

[tbarker13]

Even if the glass is etched, it's doubtful it will have much impact on the images it produces. I have an old 50 Rigid Summicron I picked up for a little over $100. Sherry cleaned it. And while the fungus had etched the glass in one small spot, it performs very well in terms of image quality.

If you are going to buy a lens with fungus, you should probably assume there could be permanent damage and factor that into the price you are paying.

 

[pagpow]

I thought you could halt the spread of the fungus by exposing the lens to the sun for a while -- caps off, first from the front, then from the back, tracking the sun. This won't eliminate the residue there, but it will stop it growing, so, if its at the very edges and not affecting it now, it won't affect it later. Or so I thought I'd read. Am I wrong?

 

[Sonnar Brian]

Take the lens apart and use ammonia based cleaner, or the other cleaning formulas as suggested in some of the repair threads.

If it is still growing, it probably has not damaged the coating and glass. It's when the fungus is dead that it does the worst damage.