What is up with this lens?

[magicianhisoka]

Heya guys, a buddy of mine asked me what this was and I was pretty stumped as to how to answer him. Anyone can shed more light on this? He took it on an iphone 4 with a "magnifier" lens so pardon the quality.

Any help would be appreciated!


What is this? by GeraldChew, on Flickr

 

[sevo]

Traces of past condensation - that is, dried up dirt, salts and grease film. People often believe it to be fungus, but unless a strong macro shot or loupe inspection shows hyphae between the dots, that dotted type of condensation is rather unlikely to be superinfected with fungus - if any, there might be bacterial or algae growth involved, but having gone over a few findings with a microscope I could not spot these either...

 

[magicianhisoka]

Thanks Sevo. He also mentioned its not obvious under normal sunlight. He really had to go up close to see it. Thanks for the input 🙂

 

[Sonnar Brian]

What lens is this?

Some lenses have problems with the lens coating "flaking" off, infamous white dots like this. It was a problem on some of the Minolta m-Mount lenses.

 

[magicianhisoka]

It's an avenon 28mm 3.5 so nope, not a Minolta but definitely a Japanese lens

 

[Sonnar Brian]

If it is old condensation leaving haze, should come wight off if you can get to the surface.

If it is coating damage- just use it with a shade and be wary of srong backlighting.

 

[magicianhisoka]

Thanks Brian. Will let my buddy know. Hopefully its something that can be cleaned 🙂