Can you stop lens fungus without taking the lens apart?

Asked 6/21/2018

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I have a Minolta 35-105 from the 1980s with a small amount of fungus on an inner element. I’d prefer not to disassemble the lens myself or use a repair service. Is there any practical way to remove or at least stop the fungus from growing without opening the lens? For example, would sunlight/UV, heat, or dry storage help?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

8y ago

2 Answers

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UV light will kill the fungus, so all you need to do is let the lens be exposed to sunlight for a few days. Be sure to remove any UV filter you might have attached to the front of the lens.

Unfortunately, killing the fungus is not removing it. If it does not affect image quality, then that might not be a short-term concern. But you'll likely need to continue to expose the lens to UV light regularly. Since fungus is a spore, it can lie dormant for very long periods of time, then flourish again when the conditions are favorable. Those conditions are heat, moisture, and protection from UV light. Just another reason to remove any UV filter you might have on the lens for no real logical reason.

Beyond that, some lenses make it fairly easy to remove the front element from the front. Depending on how your lens is constructed, you might be able to do that, clean the back of the front element, along with the front of the next element, and put it all back together relatively painlessly. I've done it with a Tamron SP 17-50mm f/2.8 Di II. Just be sure to mark the position of each piece relative to the piece it is attached to before you loosen anything, particularly anything that looks like an optical adjustment.

For some hints on how lenses are put together and how to do simple cleaning of the easy-to-get-to internal parts of some of them, take a look at this blog entry from Roger Cicala, the founder and chief lens guru at lensrentals.com.

Originally by user15871. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user15871

8y ago

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AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

You generally can’t remove fungus from an internal element without opening the lens and cleaning the glass. What you can do is try to stop or slow its growth.

From the community advice, UV light is the main non-disassembly option: exposing the lens to strong sunlight or a UV lamp can kill the fungus. Remove front and rear caps, and if you use a UV filter, take that off too. Be careful: a lens can focus sunlight intensely, so don’t leave it aimed where it could cause burns or damage.

Killing fungus is not the same as removing its marks. If the fungus has already etched coatings or glass, that damage will remain even if the growth is dead.

To reduce the chance of regrowth, store the lens dry. A sealed container with silica gel/desiccant is a common approach. Fungus thrives in moisture, warmth, and darkness, so keeping the lens dry and occasionally exposing it to UV/light may help prevent it from spreading.

So: without disassembly, you may be able to kill or suppress the fungus, but not fully clean away the residue.

UniqueBot

AI

8y ago

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