NikonGear'23
Gear Talk => What the Nerds Do => Topic started by: richardHaw on March 27, 2016, 17:52:23
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http://richardhaw.com/2016/03/27/repair-fungus-cleaning/
Hi! please share your fungus removal routine so i can add it to this post (with credits). this will be a nice place to collect tried and tested fungus removal techniques. :o :o :o
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Lots of good advice here.
"Tendrils" is not commonly applied as a name for fungal hyphae though ... although I understand why it is being used.
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Lots of good advice here.
"Tendrils" is not commonly applied as a name for fungal hyphae though ... although I understand why it is being used.
Thanks! I went to dental college but sucked at biology hahaha :o :o :o
dental anatomy is my best, i got a perfect score.
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Good column, Richard. And timely for me as I just discovered a bit of fungal growth in one of my rare UV lenses. These lenses tend to be rather overpriced and extremely hard to find so I hate to see such a lens go bad. I was successful in taking the lens apart and putting it back together. So now I'm going to take it apart and remedy the fungus problem a bit more thoroughly than I did the first time through.
Rechargeable desiccant canisters are my recent investment. One is stored with each rare UV lens now. These plastic canisters full of desiccant beads turn pink when they need to be dried out. Three minutes in the microwave returns the beads to their dry, dark blue colour. They are also available in a metal canister for recharging in a conventional oven.
BTW, I thought we were not supposed to mix hydrogen peroxide with vinegar??
Vinegar may clean the lens element but neither vinegar nor alcohol will kill fungus but I don't think vinegar will kill fungus? Ammonia is probably the best choice because it is alkaline. But I don't know what that will do to lens coatings?
I don't know at all about hydrogen peroxide.
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Hydrogen peroxide is a powerful oxidant and will kill biological agents in no time.
For your precious UV lenses, the ideal cure is just using them as they pass a lot of UV and that'll kill off the bad microguys.
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Yes! But the UV won't remove the existing fungus filaments. I still need to take it apart and soak the element in something. And wipe out the interior barrel.
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Either ammonia or hydrogen peroxide will do. Then, use the UV lenses for their intended purpose and they will have the work-out required to keep them fit for the future.
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Aha! Found us all a nice reference.
Disinfection, Sterilization and Preservation, 5th Edition, 2001 (https://books.google.com/books?id=3f-kPJ17_TYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=isbn:0683307401&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj08aXLqOHLAhUCmR4KHXXbB2sQ6AEIHTAA#v=onepage&q=acetic%20acid&f=false)
edited by Seymour Stanton Block
published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
See: Page 1076, Figure 54.4 Microorganisms ranked according to their relative susceptibility to chemical disinfectants.
There are 5 susceptibility levels: highly susceptible, susceptible, resistant, highly resistant and extremely resistant.
Fortunately for us, fungal spores are listed as Susceptible to the following disinfectants: some alcohols, aldehydes, biguanides, ethylene oxide, halogens, peroxygen compounds, some phenols.
So for safety's sake, it looks like hydrogen peroxide and ethanol are the best bet for cleaning up lenses subject to the requirement that these chemicals not damage lens coatings.
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Thanks Andrea! I forgot to add a warning! It is generally safe, we use it for cleaning chopping boards but it should be handled with care :o :o :o thats why i mentioned to use gloves. I will add a warning to that soon!!!
Bleach is also a good fungus buster
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Good ventilation always useful whenever using any chemical, yes? ;D
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Yes, of course. Ammonia is strong but i have a high tolerance for that because i ate a lot of licorice tyrkist pibber or whatever the northern europeans call it :o :o :o
Ammonia and hydrogen peroxide is what we used to cure my dog's skin problem. Its a potent mix so i also used it on my athletes foot. I got that from kicking the bag at training more than a decade ago. It comes and goes with medication but this mix killed it and now itsna thing of the past. This isnthe reason why i dont wrestle with the boys, you just dont know what you will get from training!
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"tyrkist pibber" = Turkish Pepper
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Rick, this is a through write up! Thanks for sharing.
If I remember correctly, the hydrogen peroxide was used to sanitize the wound. It should be diluted H2O2, and sold under the name of Oxyfull or Oxydol.
Apparently Nikon uses hard coating also on the internal lens elements. A well experienced Leica repairman once said that the soft coating is applied on the internal elements of Leica lenses, so cleaning them is very tricky.
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I hope I will never have to look at this thread again,,, :o ::)
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A good written story, Richard. ! Very useful.
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I hope I will never have to look at this thread again,,, :o ::)
i hate fungus :o :o :o
i wonder why the 50 1.2 is so susceptible to it
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Rick, this is a through write up! Thanks for sharing.
If I remember correctly, the hydrogen peroxide was used to sanitize the wound. It should be diluted H2O2, and sold under the name of Oxyfull or Oxydol.
Apparently Nikon uses hard coating also on the internal lens elements. A well experienced Leica repairman once said that the soft coating is applied on the internal elements of Leica lenses, so cleaning them is very tricky.
hello! some Nikon lenses have sensitive coatings on the back side like the 80-200 f/4 ai-s :o :o :o
yes! it took me a long time to find hydrogen peroxide here in Japan!!! because the company sells them under the name oxydol オキシドル.
Leica coatings can be scratched by lens tissue i was told.
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A good written story, Richard. ! Very useful.
Thanks, John! fungi is a photographer's bane. :o :o :o
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According to my sour experiences, Leica lenses are very prone to fog (at least the ones made until the '80s), not necessarily because of the fungus, but at least they are very susceptible to the humidity.
I've heard that even an actively conditioned dry box fail to protect the lenses from fungus sometimes. Also, dry box can cause separation of the glued elements.
The best advice I received from that Leica repairman was to use the lenses all the time in order for the fresh air to circulate in them. 8)
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According to my sour experiences, Leica lenses are very prone to fog (at least the ones made until the '80s), not necessarily because of the fungus, but at least they are very susceptible to the humidity.
I've heard that even an actively conditioned dry box fail to protect the lenses from fungus sometimes. Also, dry box can cause separation of the glued elements.
The best advice I received from that Leica repairman was to use the lenses all the time in order for the fresh air to circulate in them. 8)
Leica is a rich man's brand. i cannot even afford to own one :o :o :o
it is true that drybox is not a guarantee. some friends of mine had fungus on their lenses even when stored in a drybox. so far, I am lucky because i try to take care of my things. i clean them up before storage. the alpha brom chinnamic aldeyde also works.
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Rick, Leica is a rich man's brand, not really because the cameras and lenses are expensive, but actually because they eat money to maintain them! :o :o :o
This thread is also good for me to learn some chemistry. Thanks for the info on various cleaning methods. :)
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Rick, Leica is a rich man's brand, not really because the cameras and lenses are expensive, but actually because they eat money to maintain them! :o :o :o
This thread is also good for me to learn some chemistry. Thanks for the info on various cleaning methods. :)
now, clean your 水虫 :o :o :o
the myth that leica is unbreakable is not true, maybe it was 50 years ago ::)
a friend of mine has his leica sent to singapore from time to time for calibration, nikons dont need that (shutter calibration). they have to make a realistically priced camera to win over a new generation of hipsters and photographers
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Fortunately I haven't suffer from athlete's foot. 8)
Yes, Leica is indeed a money-eating machine, especially in the countries of humid climate.
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What causes lens fog or haze? Is that because of fungus?
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I would assume: uncontrolled,random reflections on lens surfaces (or within lens systems), normally controlled by coatings , enhanced by e.g. fog from water, dust, or what ever else causes the lens surfaces to be not ideal, so also fungus might add to fog.
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fog is usually just evaporated lubricant and with dirt :o :o :o you will know one when you see it. its usually concentrated on the edge. ::)
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I suspect that the coating is too susceptible to the moisture. Leica camera also had problems of the copper pattern of the PCB being corroded too easily, at least the cameras until the 90s like R4 series, R5 and M6.
I don't know about their products from the 90s and later in terms of the issue. But at least prior to that, Leica was not aware of the affect of the humidity on their products.
fog is usually just evaporated lubricant and with dirt :o :o :o you will know one when you see it. its usually concentrated on the edge. ::)
I'm not sure if it is caused by the evaporated lubricant. But the fogging mostly started from the edges of the elements for sure.
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This might be the solution http://leicarumors.com/2016/04/26/this-bw-uv-pro-premium-device-should-prevent-lens-fungus-leica-mount-compatible.aspx/
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oh, yeah. i saw that one at nikon rumors today :o :o :o
i was interested in building a UV light box just for that.
currently the alpha-brom cinnam watchamacallit ding dong sachets are working for me and they are cheap.
back home, i can just ask my classmates from dental school to blast it with Xray and that will kill the germs in it.
the negative side of UV light is that it will bleach the paint of the lens or even the coatings when exposed to the light for too long. somebody on the net bleached his zeiss by doing so with a uv light box.
the UV lightbox is like an incubator for eggs in case you guys are curious about how it looks like.