Jerren Posted March 28, 2013 Share #1 Posted March 28, 2013 Advertisement (gone after registration) Hey everyone. So I'm in the market now for a 50 Summicron. I always see when looking at older lenses, the seller always make mention of haze and fungus. I appreciate this information as a consumer but does this affect image quality significantly? Also, is this something that can't be simply "cleaned" by a professional? If anyone has a good write up on this that would be great! Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted March 28, 2013 Posted March 28, 2013 Hi Jerren, Take a look here Fungus/haze question. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
wizard Posted March 28, 2013 Share #2 Posted March 28, 2013 It depends. Haze may be cleaned, if it is a surface layer of dust etc. However, sometimes the haze interacts with the antireflective coating of the lens element, especially when the haze has developed over long periods of time from gaseous portions of lubricants inside the lens, and then may not be simply cleaned. One could try to repolish the lens surface, but that will remove the coating. Also, the older the lens the bigger the chance that the coatings of the internal lens surfaces are soft coatings that will be wiped off when trying to clean the lens surface. From approximately 1960 onwards, the internal coatings should be hard coatings. As regards fungus, it depends, too. If fungus has freshly developed, it can be cleaned without damage to the lens. Over time, however, fungus growth etches into the lens coating and may even etch into the glass surface. Cleaning it will then at least leave the lens coating partly damaged. I would stay away from lenses with fungus. Andy Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerren Posted March 29, 2013 Author Share #3 Posted March 29, 2013 This may be a stupid question but Leica doesn't service these old lenses? Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richardgb Posted March 31, 2013 Share #4 Posted March 31, 2013 This may be a stupid question but Leica doesn't service these old lenses? Not sure about Leica, but Zeiss will not clean fungus-infected lenses. I can understand why - although there are those who say fungus spores are everywhere, if Zeiss (or Leica) opened up such a lens, imagine how quickly their equipment (and your lens awaiting attention) would get covered... Yes, 'special' cleaning may be an option (imagine: isolated [clean] rooms, special cleaning of equipment before and after), but that would come at a price... Prevention is therefore better than the (non-)cure; a thorough drying may get rid of visible fungus, but of course the actual fungal debris will remain. My other thought is to irradiate the lens, or as they are testing on food, sterilize it in the microwave... Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DigitalHeMan Posted March 31, 2013 Share #5 Posted March 31, 2013 Worth noting as well that if you do buy a lens that has fungus problems, and you keep it with your other lenses, you run the risk of the fungus spreading and damaging the other lenses as well. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveclem Posted March 31, 2013 Share #6 Posted March 31, 2013 Microwaving might be problematic with any metal components! Would a large dose of concentrated UV help at all I wonder? Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
250swb Posted March 31, 2013 Share #7 Posted March 31, 2013 Advertisement (gone after registration) Leica don't service/repair lens with fungus simply because it may have eaten into the glass making it irrepairable. It isn't worth it for them to strip it down just to find out. Fungus in a lens does not cover anything other than the glass itself, and even then it needs humidity and warmth and a lack of UV light to grow. So it won't spread like a cloud infecting everything it touches, but nascent spores are around us all the time. Independent repairers can remove fungus, they can recoat the lens, and some even have stocks of new lens elements to replace badly damaged ones. I recently had a 50mm Elmar cleaned and serviced which involved having some fungus removed and it cost £80. But that was without any other problems like etched glass, so factor in an amount over and above the auction price to have a lens serviced and cleaned. Steve 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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