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Adam
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, May 05, 2004 - 02:17 am: | 
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When it comes to cleaning fungus off of lenses, what sort of cleaning fluid would you guys recommend using for the actual removal?
One page (Matt's Cameras) I've visited recommends either cold cream, which I'm wary of due to residue, or a mixture of ammonia and hydrogen peroxide. Sounds good, but I've never seen hydrogen peroxide offered for sale anywhere here is Australia, but maybe I just haven't looked hard enough.
Once I have gotten it off, how easy will it be to tell if the glass has been etched just from looking at it? Is there anything I can to to make it more obvious? |
Winfried
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, May 05, 2004 - 03:54 am: |
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Stuart Willis of Queensland recommends eucalyptus oil which should be avaible in Australia. I had good results with vinegar (or concentrated vinegar in hard cases) but very thin or defective coatings may suffer from vinegar. |
Scott
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, May 05, 2004 - 05:46 am: |
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You can probably get hydrogen peroxide at a drug store (or "the chemist's"). I tried cold cream, and it didn't seem to help in removing either fungus or haze. A 50-50 blend of hydrogen peroxide and ammonia worked well for me, but I still had to apply some gentle pressure to rub away the haze.
I suppose there may be different species or strains of fungi that have an affinity for vintage camera lenses, and perhaps different strains require different remedies.
Maybe there's a German strain on my Goldeck, and a Japanese strain on my Welmy...any biologists among us? I think what I've got on my cameras may be Opticus Annoysus... |
Tom
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, May 05, 2004 - 07:39 am: |
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Used Ponds Cold Cream as per this thread with great success on lens for Konica Auto S-2. Needed several applications though. |
Brian Wallen
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, May 07, 2004 - 01:27 am: |
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I've seen ammonia, vinegar and naphtha recommended--not used together, of course. I am not a biologist, but know that the ph of ammonia and that of vinegar are very different. Different fungi might react differently to different washes. It is important to remove the lens elements and apply the fungicide to the inside of the lens barrel or other type of mount, since the spores will live there also and will reinfect the glass. For a lens that has been infected, it is probably good to repeat this annually. Store lenses in clean, dry and, if possible, gently circulating air to minimize fungus growth. |
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