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CJ
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 17, 2006 - 01:08 pm: | 
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Hello All,
I recently cleaned fungus off the objective lens of my Kalimar 80-200 zoom lens. It looks great now. However, I got to thinking about dealing with lens fungus.
Thanks to all of you on this forum, and having read some previous posts on the subject, I decided to venture into my cold and unheated pantry to check a nearly mint QL-17 that I'd been storing there for the past few months in a (probably) non-airtight tupperware container, along with a dessicant pack.
Horrors: The lens had small whitish spots on it! I removed the haze filter which at been on the front and cleaned it and the objective lens (the filter was soaked in a Windex+H202 bath, and I cleaned the white spots off the Canonet lens with Nikon lens cleaner.
No big deal--this time. And lesson learned: Cold, dark and unheated rooms (my pantry has no heater, and in the winter months almost doubles as another refrigerator) are most likely more humid than heated ones. Surely the darkness adds to the ability of fungus to propigate.
But it also begs another question: How 'contaigous' is fungus from one lens/body to the other? Such as in the same camera bag, or in the same cabinet?
There are mold/fungus spores EVERYWHERE. That said, is it more or less inevitable that fungus will eventually appear on any less-used camera eventually?
Thanks,
-CJ |
rick oleson
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 17, 2006 - 03:23 pm: |
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It can spread within a camera bag or similar close quarters. I don't keep any of my gear in closed containers of any kind - all are on open shelves where they can breathe, in a climate controlled area (normal heated/air conditioned room).
I have never had fungus occur in any of my cameras or lenses over the past 30 years... but results may be different in extreme climates. If you are in a constantly humid area or it is not practical to keep items in a heated/air conditioned room, then sealing them in with dessicant may be the best alternative. You need to be very sure that the dessicant is fresh and effective though, if it's not the closed container is not your friend. |
Glenn Middleton
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 17, 2006 - 06:15 pm: |
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Research in the late 80s into the long term storage and preservation of certain forensic samples, led us into using mil spec desiccant packs. However the results indicated that for best results, the containers should be 1/10 the indicated working capacity of the metal cased drying unit. Whilst not exactly cheap, my initial purchase has preserved not only photographic equipment but guns, ammunition and tools - when these have been stored in less than ideal conditions over the years. The packs are easily regenerated by heating in an oven at 105 deg C for 24 hours.
As Rick and others have advocated, the best way is on open shelving in a correctly heated and ventilated room. However; here in UK we do not suffer the extremes of humidity that some of you do. |
charlie
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 18, 2006 - 06:40 am: |
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Some desicants change color from dry to damp, blue to red if I remember my high school chemistry correctly. In fact we used to dissolve it (maybe calcium chloride? ask your neighborhood tenager) in some water and soak a piece of white blotter paper. When it dried it would turn blue and when the room humidity rose it would become more pink and serve as a rainy weather predictor. Any way if you use it for a desicant it lets you know when to put it needs to be put in an oven to restore it to a useable condition. |
Mark Wood
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 18, 2006 - 07:36 am: |
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It's cobalt(II) chloride that's often added to silica gel (the actual desiccant) to act as an indicator. It's blue when dry (anhydrous) and pink when hydrated (wet). |
George Welcher
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 20, 2006 - 06:46 pm: |
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You think you can dry hydrated desicant and reuse it, but it would mean leaving it in an oven on low over night, if I recall lab procedure from my university days. |
Steve
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 25, 2006 - 07:23 am: |
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I use silica gel desiccant in 250gm bags. Each one will absorb approx. 2 ounces of moisture, and they can be dried out easily on a central-heating radiator, though it takes a while!
Have had some of them over 20 years and they still work perfectly well. |
Arnold Harris
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, June 29, 2006 - 04:39 pm: |
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I now have a substantial collection of more than 40 Voigtlander Vitessa-T rangefinder cameras. I was able to acquire about half of these with the original leather eveready cases.
A leather repair fellow who has rendered some of my cases even evereadier advised me that leather absorbs moisture, and that it probably is an excellent idea to remove the cameras from these cases unless and until you are ready to take them outdoors for some photography.
That's advice I have followed.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI |
