Lens Mould

[Nikonoff]

Hi everyone, I recently read an article on lens mould and decided to check the couple of lenses that I have. To my surprise, or more accurately disappointment, my Nikkor 55 - 200 (AF-S DX Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6G VR) has the beginnings of mould on what I'm guessing is a middle element. Ideally I'd like to replace the element, but I wouldn't at all be surprised if that isn't a possibility or if it is, it would outweigh the cost of a new lens. So I then considered cleaning it myself, has anyone dismantled one of these lenses and if yes, was it easy (enough) or best left to the lens mechanic?

Harry

[ricktas]

First thing to do is keep it away from all your other lenses. Fungi spores are notoriously tiny and can easily move from one lens to another.

I would take it to get cleaned, because opening it at home, risks putting the spores into the air and thus into other gear.

[Nikonoff]

Thanks Rick, that's great advice. I just watched a video on lens disassembly which convinced me to leave it to the pro's anyway.

[arthurking83]

One quick thing to try: (because it cost $0 and is easy)

Like Rick said ... keep it away from other gear to minimise contamination.
But the easy trick to try is to open lens up, with both caps off and try to orient it towards the sun as much as you can.
Obviously you can't have it pointed at the sun all the time as the sun moves across the sky, but any bright sun light is better than none.

Lens (technically) is now not worth the effort, as already said, not worth the $s to fix it as it's cheaper to replace.
But leaving it in direct sun will have the other side effect that it will collect a lot of dust, mainly on the surface of the lens element oriented towards the top.
So if you do try this, I'd say have it front up, mount down. This will minimise dust into the lens to a degree.

Alternative is to use a very powerful UV light source into the lens. The more powerful, the less time it may need to kill the fungus spores.
Fungi like 'the dark' and the moist. So keep it dry and lots of UV light(sun or direct UV light source) will at the least stop it getting worse, and may help it die off.
Won't remove the residual growth tho, but stuff on internal lens elements isn't always an issue. Can be, but can be worked around too.

If you do want to try to open it to clean, you need a bleach(I think peroxide is OK).
I had an old lens that had fungus(was a test/fun/goofy lens) .. opened it up as it was easy, also modded it to allow focus to infinity, which it didn't do natively, cleaned fungus with Eclipse fluid.
Seemed to go OK.
But, now many years later, and still sitting on window ledge with no caps .. still no fungus
(tons of dust tho)

[Nikonoff]

Thanks Arthur, I'll give the exposure to the Sun technique a go. Like you pointed out I've absolutely nothing to loose and it's free to try.

[fillum]

Hi Harry, sorry to hear about your lens. I think there's a good chance that (hopefully) you won't see any perceivable degradation in image quality due to the fungus, particularly as you appear to have spotted this early. Have you taken any test shots to check?

You obviously want to stop it spreading further and Arthur's suggestion with the sunlight is a good one. Just make sure the lens doesn't get too hot - you don't want to create additional problems.

The chance of the fungus spreading from one lens to another is almost nil. However there is a real danger that if your other lenses are stored in the same conditions as the infected lens, then they also might develop fungus (whether or not you've removed the infected one).

Getting professional work done will likely be expensive - I'd guess a few hundred $ at least. Cleaning it yourself would be an option - although I'd only open up a lens if it became basically unusable. If the fungus is on either of the end elements it might be easier (although you said it appeared to be an internal element). This guy: mikeno62 has a lot of videos on lens repair - even if your lens is not included there are a number of videos on fungus removal that might provide some assistance if you want to go down this path.

Personally, if it wasn't causing any image problems I'd just live with it. I occasionally use an old lens that has three significant spots of fungus activity but I don't see any issues with the images (well other than the usual 'operator errors').



Cheers.

[Nikonoff]

Hi Phil, I've quarantined the infected lens on unanimous advice and have taken steps to reduce the chances of it happening to my other lenses by means of dry storage. I won't attempt to dismantle the lens as it working fine and photos appear to be unaffected by the fungal bloom. It is however, a great excuse to justify replacing it with some new glass . I got all panicky about it as I've just treated myself to an upgrade from the old faithful D90 to a D500 and stupidly imagined the fungus spreading like the black plague claiming all photo gear in it's path. Thankfully, a mental slap to the face (and some good advice) has restored my anxiety to an acceptable level. Thanks for your advice.

[arthurking83]

..... It is however, a great excuse to justify replacing it with some new glass . I got all panicky about it as I've just treated myself to an upgrade from the old faithful D90 to a D500 .....

I recently got a AF-P 70-300VR. On a D500 will work reasonably well.
Sensible pricing from Nikon too(for a change).
Only annoyance is the lack of a dedicated VR switch .. but is only annoying if you regularly switch from hand held to tripod mounted. You set VR on/off via the camera.

But for the price .. recommended

[Nikonoff]

I recently got a AF-P 70-300VR. On a D500 will work reasonably well.
Sensible pricing from Nikon too(for a change).
Only annoyance is the lack of a dedicated VR switch .. but is only annoying if you regularly switch from hand held to tripod mounted. You set VR on/off via the camera.

But for the price .. recommended

Pray tell Arthur, how many shekels for that tasty treat?

[arthurking83]

It cost me $250 off ebay(but reputable vendor) .. local product, not grey import.
nofrillsydney(is their name now), they used to be called something else, can't recall .. maybe dealsdirect or something like that.

But I don't think lens comes with hood. I searched for cheapo lens hoods for it(generic), bought two($5 or something similarly low). fit nice, I think in many situations necessary too.

Note too tho, lens is maximum f/6.3(so very slow at the long end), on a D500 shouldn't be an issue I reckon(it has good high ISO quality to compensate). In terms of aperture options, the way I see it, is you really have from f/6.3 to about f/8 .. very limited.
At 300, even at f/6.3 .. it's quite sharp(given it's price and market segment!).
It weighs nigh on nothing. Bought mainly for daughter, but it's a fun lens to muck about with.