23/1/2021 How to Remove Fungus from a Lens

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How to Remove Fungus from a Lens

SEP 29, 2016 TOM LEONARD

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There’s nothing quite so frustrating as discovering a lens you own has developed a bad growth
of fungus on the internal elements. Lens fungus is commonly found in older lenses. It is
indiscriminate of brand, build-quality, or price tag. If humidity stays in your lens for too long, the
dreaded fungus may appear.

I’ve spoken to a number of people who’ve shared with me their personal attempts to try to
clean it off using various lens cleaners and cloths. Let me save you some trouble: you can’t
remove fungus with standard lens cleaning solution. Alcohol, lighter fluid, and ethanol (e.g.
Vodka) don’t work either. A combination of elbow grease and any combination of the above
solutions will only result in scratches, damage to your lens coatings, and frustration.

Today, I want to share with you the simple, non-damaging way to remove fungus from your
lens. If you’re willing to put in a little bit of effort and maybe do something new, you can remove
that nasty lens-ruiner and perhaps bring an old classic back to life.

Warning: This walkthrough involves disassembling a lens. If you’re not comfortable with this
type of project, you may want to get your lens professionally repaired. Proceed at your own
risk.

Here is a list of tools and materials you’ll need to get the job done:

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. Lens Spanner: I bought mine here for $16.50. There is no replacement for this tool
that won’t leave damage in its wake.
. JIS Screwdriver Set: For lenses made in Japan you’ll need a set of Japanese
Industrial Standard (JIS) screwdrivers. They look like a Philips head/cross-tip
screwdriver but they are slightly different. The tip’s pitch and depth are unique to JIS
screw heads and attempting to use anything else to remove them could result in
buggering it up. I bought a good American-made set from here for about $15.
. Desk Lamp: I use two different bendy arm lights: one is an LED spotlight that provides
strong, directional lighting, and the other is a multiple LED lamp with a white diffuser
to provide shadow-free lighting. IKEA is an excellent place for lamps like this.
. Parts Dish: I bought a $2 white plastic plate from a local home goods store.
. Soaking Dish: I think I paid about $3 for a little white ceramic custard dessert bowl.
. Tweezers: Any will do.
. Nitrile Gloves: These will help keep your fingers from getting dried out from the
fungus-killing solution, and it helps keep your glass clean while handling the lens
elements.
. Safety Glasses: Yeah I know, but you only get two eyes so you might as well protect
them.
. Hydrogen Peroxide: The same stuff you get from the pharmacy aisle.
. Household Ammonia: I paid a few bucks at a home goods store for a gallon of this
stuff. Try to find ammonia that doesn’t have any scent added. I’ve used scented and
unscented and haven’t seen any difference in performance but it always makes me a
little leery having an extra chemical in the mix when it’s being applied to sensitive lens
coatings.
. Cotton Balls
. Microfiber Lens Cloth: This needs to be extremely clean. Don’t use one you’ve
carried in your pocket or camera bag. Any dust or skin oil on the cloth will come off on
the internal elements of your lens, leaving you immensely frustrated and unable to get
a spotless finish. I keep my lens restoration cloths in airtight plastic bags when I’m not
using them, and replace them often.
. Lens Poofer: I use a $10 Giotto Rocket Air Blaster that I bought from here.
. Cup of Coffee, caffeinated: Your choice of flavor.
. Music: I recommend Charlie Haden’s Tokyo Adagio album or Alan Broadbent’s Blue in
Green.

Alright, let’s get to it! For this post, I bought an old Konica Hexanon AR 40mm f/1.8 lens from my
local camera shop. At first glance you think, “It’s not that bad”…

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But shine some light on it and you find it had a particularly bad case of lens fungus in the rear
element group. This is the worst place to have it because it absolutely will affect image quality.
The fungus is not on the outside of the rear element — it’s between two elements inside the
lens.

Time for teardown. It’s highly likely your lens will not be the same as mine but the process is
going to be very similar, especially if your lens is old, manual focus, and Japanese. I highly
recommend you use a camera to document each step that way you have references for later
when reassembling your lens.
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Using my JIS screwdriver, I removed the 4 screws holding down the chrome lens mount.

With the lens mount removed, the aperture ring is now free to come away from the lens body.
To gain access to the rear lens element, I didn’t need to remove the aperture ring but I figured I
might as well clean it up, too, while I’ve got all my tools out.

A big word of wisdom here: between the aperture ring and the lens body there is a tiny steel
ball that has either a coil spring or leaf spring behind it that is just waiting to launch that ball
across the room. You can tell where the aperture click-ball is located by looking for the series of
notches cut into the ring. When you turn the aperture ring of a lens, the click you feel between
each set point is coming from the interaction between the ball and those notches. I suggest
cupping your hand over that side of the aperture ring as you lift it away from the lens body. In
my case, there was enough grease and filth holding the ball in place that it remained safely in
its hole.

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With the aperture ring removed, I was able to clean up the back of the lens body. I recommend
doing at least some preliminary cleaning as you go along. This will help keep bits o’ nasty out
of other parts of the lens as you make progress dismantling things.

The lens spanner is a simple tool. It has two steel spreader bars upon which the two spanner
rods may be distanced for correct width-alignment with the ring you plan to remove. The
thumbscrews on the spanner rods provide a means to lock the tool at the required width. This
particular lens spanner has both blade and needle/pin type ends. This lens has a pair of simple
notches cut into the retaining ring. The blade-end of the lens spanner is used to remove this
type of ring.

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The retainer ring is now removed, freeing the rear element from the lens. There are several
ways to remove the glass: tip the lens upside down in your hand first to see if it just drops out.
Most of the time they will. If it doesn’t come free, you can try part-way reinstalling the retainer
ring and use a blunt, non-metal object to gently rap the side of it – just enough to encourage
some movement.

In the very worst case I’ve experienced, I had to flip the lens over, remove all of the front-side
lens elements/groups, open the aperture blades fully and use a soft silicone spudger to press
out the rear glass from inside the lens. I’ve only ever needed to do this once so don’t get
discouraged. I just want to prepare you for that possibility by giving some pointers along the
way.

In the case of this lens, the rear element simply fell out into my hand. This is a very thin piece of
glass that would take very little to break it. I use a soft cloth or lens wipe to lay out all of the
rings and glass in the order in which they’re removed. Pay close attention to the
convex/concave shape of the glass so that you have no doubts as to how they will be
orientated when you go to put it all back together.

Have a close look at this photo. You can see that the glass that remains in the lens is the
particular element with all of the fungus on it. The first piece of glass I pulled had some traces
of it but nothing like the second. Let’s get that bad boy out of there.

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The construction of this lens group calls for a spacer ring between the rear most element and
the inner element. To remove it, simply tip the lens into your hand. You may need to bump the
front of the lens to get the element all the way out of its mounting. Be careful as sometimes the
inner element will come along with it. In this case it did not. If you ever feel more than one thing
fall into your hand, FREEZE.

Set the rest of the lens down and carefully assess what is what in your hand, and in what order
and orientation they were in. Next, set down each piece onto your cloth, making sure not to
allow any metal or other pieces of glass to touch the face the element(s). Inner elements can
have some very soft coatings that will scratch very easily. A light coating scratch isn’t the end of
the world but it’s best to avoid if you can prevent it.

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Here we have the inner, rear element with all the fungus on it. It pretty much covers the entire
concave surface of the glass. See the black that’s all around the edge of the glass? Sometimes
that stuff flakes off or falls off when you’re soaking the element in solution. This blackout
coating is there to reduce internal reflections. If it starts flaking or coming off during the
restoration, I recommend removing as much as will come off and re-coat it. I’ve had good
success with a black Sharpie.

The edge of the glass is unpolished so the Sharpie ink bonds really well to it. I’ll usually apply it
2-3 times to make sure I get a nice blackout finish. You can use a strong, directional light
source to shine light through the middle of the lens while looking at the edges for any spots
you might have missed. An advantage of the Sharpie is that it will not alter the diameter of the
glass so you won’t have any trouble fitting the element back into place.

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Let’s get to the good part: removing the fungus!

I have some medicine syringes that I use for measuring out the solution but it’s totally not
necessary. Our solution consists of equal parts of hydrogen peroxide and ammonia. In the past
I’ve used the lid from the ammonia bottle to measure out equal parts of each chemical. Wear
gloves and glasses if you can, and make sure you work in a well ventilated area. The ammonia
fumes are quite strong.

For each capful of one, pour another capful of the other and you can’t go wrong. For this small
project, I only needed 5 milliliters of each for a combined volume of 10 mL. Stir the mixture well.
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Place a disposable lens wipe or something similar on the bottom of your solution dish. This will
protect the elements from being scratched by the dish while they soak.

Gently place the element into your solution. Let it soak for at least 2 minutes. You may see
some bubbles form as the solution eats away the fungus. After a few minutes of soaking, use a
cotton ball to gently wipe away any remaining fungus. It shouldn’t take any real pressure to do
this – we’re removing the fungus chemically, not mechanically.

If fungus remains on the element, just put it back in the solution for a longer soak. I’ve had
some fungus that required as much as 20 minutes to remove it all (Leica Summaron 3.5cm, if I
recall correctly).

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After all the fungus is gone, take the element over to a sink where you can run water over it for
a bit. Don’t rub at the lens, just let the water run directly onto it, on both sides. Once the
solution has been rinsed off, use your lens poofer to blow away all the water droplets. With the
water gone, use that sparkling clean microfiber cloth to lightly wipe the lens.

Now, inspect the lens under your lighting. Check it from both sides and with different angles of
light to be sure that all the fungus is gone and you have no dust or smudges on the glass. If it
looks good, set it aside on a clean soft microfiber cloth and cover it up to prevent any dust from
settling onto it. Repeat the cleaning process on the remaining elements.

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Working backwards now, I put it all back together. The front of the lens body was cleaned and
blown out, and I inspected the aperture. It was in perfect condition. Next, I reinstalled the rear
element group. Crystal clear, the way it should be.

Using a toothbrush with dish soap on it, I cleaned the devil out of that nasty aperture ring. A
light coating of grease (#30 from Japan) was applied to the notches to help deliver a smooth,
firm clicking action. Synthetic Moly works as well but you need to make sure it’s hi-temp grease
otherwise you risk a hot summer’s day liquifying the grease causing it to drain into other parts
of the lens.

I soaked the rear lens mount in isopropyl alcohol (91%) and gave it a good cleaning. Each lens
is a little different in how they build into the lens the aperture interface. This Konica has the
whole assembly buttoned up inside the lens mount assembly. Some lenses are not built this
way and instead are a separate collection of parts that must be removed first in order to free
the mount.

Either way, they’re fairly simple consisting of a metal tab ring that is held in tension with a long
coil spring(s). If you ever have a lens that requires removing it in order to clear the lens mount,
just work slow and take photos. It ain’t rocket science in there.

Finally, all back together and looking like new again. Total time to complete this cleaning was 2
hours, 1 minute. That includes the extra time spent taking photos for this post.

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A final shot of the mighty Konica Hexanon AR 40mm f/1.8 mounted, via an adapter, to the Sony
a7R II.

I hope you found this post encouraging and helpful.

About the author: Tom Leonard is a photographer who travels the world 30 days at a time. He
shares photographs from his journeys over on his website Out for 30. This article was also
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published here.

TAG S: C L E AN, D I SASS E M B L E, D I Y, D O I TYO U R S E L F, F U N GUS, H OW TO, L E N S, L E N SFU N G U S, R E M OVE, S E RVIC I N G, ST E PBYST E M

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delta snowan • 4 years ago

I just tried this with my Nikon 70-200. Got it back together pretty much ok. What should I do with these
little round pieces of glass I have left over?
7△ ▽ • Share ›

Tom Leonard > delta snowan • 4 years ago • edited

Don't worry about those delta snowman. Sometimes Nikon throws in extra parts you don't really
need. ;)
3△ ▽ • Share ›

Scott Soutter > delta snowan • 4 years ago • edited

Monocles for everyone! Various sizes available depending on requirements.
1△ ▽ • Share ›

devtank > delta snowan • 4 years ago

Swallow them!
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Gethin Coles • 4 years ago

i chatted to a pro lens cleaner a while back and he said the best thing you can do is leave your lens in
direct sunlight now and then. THe UV kills the fungus. The worst thing you can do is store them in a
dark place. I was told this after buying a dry cabinet where I store lenses I dont use much, my day to
day lenses get left on the window sill now and then :)
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Tom Leonard > Gethin Coles • 4 years ago

Thanks Gethin, good preventative advice. The trouble is, dead fungus is still inside the lens and
should be cleaned away lest more fungus find their way in their and decide to make camp since
the food for them has already been provided in the form of their slain brethren.

UV emitting LEDs mounted inside your lens cabinet can help. My lamps double as display
lighting for my glass-front cabinet containing my collectible lenses. Also, the caps are off at both
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ends of the lenses when they're in there
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ends of the lenses when they re in there.
2△ ▽ • Share ›

Robert Azensky • 2 years ago • edited

Here it is... (looks like a front element on the shooting lens has a a little fungus... and it cleaned off. ⛺
View — uploads.disquscdn.com ⛺ View — uploads.disquscdn.com
2△ ▽ • Share ›

Banjoman Noon • 4 years ago

I have lately been buying all the bits I need for removing the fungus from an Olympus legacy lens, so
this morning I got cracking and followed Tom Leonard's method (but it took me an hour longer than
Tom). The end result is amazing! I now have an Olympus portrait lens to be proud of, so a big Thank
You Tom,
1△ ▽ • Share ›

Tom Leonard > Banjoman Noon • 4 years ago

Banjoman,
Thanks so much for reporting of your success. That is such an encouragement to me to continue
writing and sharing this kind of information. Do you find that having invested the effort to restore
this lens that you appreciate it even more? That's the case with me. It seems the more work I
have to put into a good lens to restore it, the more likely I am to use it and appreciate its
character.
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Robin • 4 years ago

Take a look at the angry photographer ( the bald guy with the tatts) put copper pennies in sock, put in
cloaths drier to heat up, put sock with pennies and lens in a plastic bag and seal, leave for a few hours,
job done, copper oxide is the key.
1△ ▽ • Share ›

Turtlegeuse > Robin • 4 years ago

Can't tell if joke about sealing something in plastic to dry or joke about copper oxide from hot
pennies. I'm leaning toward both.
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bas h > Turtlegeuse • 3 years ago

It's a savvy joke if it is. I do know you can use copper sulphate against molding in liquids,
but I don't think those pennies give off fumes. Detergents clean oxides off euro coins
afaik.
Ah, the old days, real copper coins and phosphate- rich waste water from laundry made
algae choke all life in surface water.
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chphotovideo > Turtlegeuse • 4 years ago

100% serious. fill a sock with pennies, put it dryer to heat up.... ignore loud clanking
noise, that just the pennies getting warm ;)
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Tig Tillinghast > Robin • 4 years ago

The US doesn't put much copper in pennies anymore. Perhaps pipe fittings would work? Prior to
1982, it was 95 percent copper, but after about 2.5 percent.
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Robin > Tig Tillinghast • 4 years ago

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Yeh he did mention that but added that a decent handfull was all that was needed and
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Yeh, he did mention that but added that a decent handfull was all that was needed, and
as no lens is perfectly water tight the gas seeps through each element, worth a try, as not
many of us have the skill to take a lens apart and re set a lens, interesting article though.
1△ ▽ • Share ›

Bengamin • 4 years ago

Why was my comment deleted?? Vinegar is even more powerful and cheaper. It will restore your lens
back to factory finish. (screen-capturing this).
2△ ▽ 2 • Share ›

OLENA • 2 years ago

I try my own by read this cool tricks
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illnagas • 2 years ago

Great, useful article, thanks. However I’m a bit confused: I’ve also heard ammonia can remove lens
coatings. Is that true? I’ve used the recommended 50/50 hydrogen peroxide/ammonia mix before and
didn’t notice anything until recently. An inner element appears to now be losing coating, but tbh that’s
just my guess...
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paul beard • 2 years ago

This puts a lot of marginal lenses in reach, if I don't muck it up. Thanks for doing this.
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Richard John Francis • 2 years ago

Great tips there Tom - thank you. Lovely old Rollei medium format projector had been stored years in
the wrong location and a bit of fungus had started to bite in on the front lens element. Household
ammonia and two minutes and the lens (which came apart REALLY easily) and it looks like new again.
The previous owner chipped the intermediate lens around the edges - but it doesn't stop this still being a
great view to view old slides. This projector will still be going long after I'm gone! There is something
wonderful about old camera equipment made in Germany in the 1950's and 1960's.
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cleh hepp • 2 years ago • edited

Hi, very interesting! Which is the concentration of ammonia / hydrogen peroxyde that you use? I am
assuming that, for example "household ammonia" contains around 5-10% ammonia diluted in water,
right?
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Robert Azensky • 2 years ago

Proof is in the finished product. Not perfect but somewhat saved a lens... I'll shoot with it and see how it
goes... ⛺ View — uploads.disquscdn.com
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Robert Azensky • 2 years ago • edited

This was very very good advice. The problem with this lens (180mm Mamiya C2 Pro) is the rear
element, convex on both sides. Now I did the whole procedure and had about 25-30% success. I then
decided that the lens was toast and that I might try something crazy... I made a test. It worked. So I did
the both sides. Here is the results... compare the two... There is a slight haze from the damage but it is
minimal compared to the original condition. Don't do this on any front elements as the flashed gold
coating wouldn't like it... at your risk but it worked for me, I'd say 80%. There is some haze internally on
the elements where they are glued together, that is permanent. 90% of the fungus etching was 90%
polished off (to the eye) and the surface looks clean and buff marks free. *Post Mortem: That is until you Privacy
reflect some light on it and it is as hazy as before Just looks better straight on visually Only test photos
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reflect some light on it and it is as hazy as before. Just looks better straight on visually. Only test photos
will tell.
⛺ View — uploads.disquscdn.com ⛺ View — uploads.disquscdn.com
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Richard John Francis > Robert Azensky • 2 years ago

Wow - I now have 'lens envy'. Having just done the medium format Rollei projector - I'm going to
inspect and clean the Mamiya lenses too. These are such fantastic items - no-one wold bother
building them like this anymore - all 1-2mm stuff in an i-Phone 10 - clever, but soul-less.
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Anne Jones • 3 years ago

I used a 70% alcohol solution and it works fine. maybe it depend son how extensive and old the fungus
it.

Be careful taking apart auto-focus lenses. They have lost of electronics in them! I accidentally cut one of
the cables
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D Wyatt Gib • 3 years ago

great article, thanks. I just bought an old Pentax 35-105mm f/3.5 macro that's supposed to be a great
lens. I got it cheap bc the seller said it had some fungus. But I don't mind putting a little work into getting
a great lens for little cost.
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Sid Brown • 3 years ago

Hi Tom. I have a Vivitar x2 teleconverter that happened to come attached to a lens I bought. The
problem I have with it is, it produces very soft, contrast-less, images that still have some sharpness to
them, they're just a little soft. Could it be that it has a light amount of fungus growing on the inside?
Though I don't know exactly what I'm looking for, it doesn't appear to have fungus. It does however look
a bit yellowed if that makes sense. Just asking for advise, as it seems you and I share the same
shooting platform in addition to a love for quality MF lenses. Thanks Tom!
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Steven Woolgrove • 3 years ago

Brilliant article Tom! A couple of observations though. While it was pretty easy to obtain the Hydrogen
Peroxide, nobody seems willing to sell me the Ammonia! Too hazardous I'm told? Perhaps you could
suggest a substitute cleaning solution or a 'well known' brand/household product that'll achieve the
same end? Also, it would be great if other members shared their experiences with this method. For
example, I'm trying to remove fungus from a Pentax F 28-80mm f/3.5 zoom, which is on the inside of
the bottom lens element in the first group (See Photo,) so now I'm stuck because I can't for the life of
me, see a way to separate the individual lens elements from the group! If anybody else has managed to
do this, I'd really appreciate their guidance! Thanks, Steve. ⛺ View — uploads.disquscdn.com
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Alejandro González • 3 years ago

Nice post, Tom. There's only one thing not specified that is stopping me from giving it a try... that is
ammonia and peroxide concentrations... I've just bought a litre of pure ammonia and another one of
100vol hydrogen peroxide. Is the ammonia you used in this solution the same concentration as the one
I bought? The substance in the syringes picture looks yellowish, while mine is as clear as water (maybe
it is just the reflection of the yellow piece of the syringe). Most household ammonia products vary
between 3-10% ammonia, so I think I might have to dilute mine with some water. 100Vol peroxide is for
sure something you don't get from the pharmacy. I assume the one you bought was a way lower
concentration. Do you now recall it being close to 10 or 20vol? I'm about to try to remove some fungus
from a blow-up enlarging lens and I really don't want to mess things up. I just need the exact Privacy
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concentrations so as not to damage my optics. After knowing them, if necessary, I can proceed to
downgrade the chemicals myself. Thank you for the article! Keep up with this stuff!
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dondi • 3 years ago

I would recommend you service a more expensive lens. Unless this is an article for DIY photogs, its not
worth you time for pros to service cheap lenses. The technique was very effectively discussed.
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Tom Leonard > dondi • 3 years ago

Dondi, thank you for your comment. I'm glad you enjoyed it and I hope it had some useful
information for you.
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dondi > Tom Leonard • 3 years ago

I use Razzle Dazzle Tom, works every-time, active ingredients are NOT listed on the
bottle
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Larkin Small • 4 years ago

Wow, that's beautiful! I would so take a dismantling class from you!
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Tom Leonard > Larkin Small • 3 years ago

Larkin, thanks for your encouragement. I'm about due to write up a fresh article on lens repair.
Any ideas on what you'd like to see?
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Larkin Small > Tom Leonard • 3 years ago

Well gosh, I wish I did! Just ping me when you do your new article. :)
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Jeff Quitney • 4 years ago

It appears that you are saying to use 100% pure hydrogen peroxide and 100% pure ammonia. Where
does one purchase these things? I cannot seem to find them online. Wait, I have found pure ammonia
at eBay: $250 for 32oz. This seems a bit pricey for cleaning a $50 lens. What have I got wrong?
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Tom Leonard > Jeff Quitney • 3 years ago

Hi Jeff, as mentioned in the list I provided in the article, you're just using household ammonia
and hydrogen peroxide like what you find in a pharmacy. You would not want to use the pure
form of either chemical. Pure Hydrogen Peroxide is an extreme oxidizing compound (used in
rocket fuel) and will not be stable for our purposes as it'd likely just boil off before you could do
anything with it.
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Benjamin Nauck > Tom Leonard • 3 years ago

May I ask which concentrations of hydrogen peroxide and ammonia you are using?
Hydrogen peroxide can be bought with a concentration from 3 up to 20% and household
Ammonia can be between 5 and 10%. It would be nice to hear which concentration
you've been using successfully :)
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Jeff Quitney > Tom Leonard • 3 years ago Privacy

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Thanks. I figured that is what you probably meant, but having never used these things, I
wasn't quite sure.
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Sam sandy • 4 years ago

disassemble the lens is easy i think but when reassemble is difficult that if any one thing we miss means
that it so only fear to do that. how u suggest for this?
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Nithin A • 4 years ago

I try this but the fungus remain there,what I want to do?
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Tom Leonard > Nithin A • 4 years ago

Nithin, could you share a good, well-lit close-up photo of the fungus? If you've done an extended
soak of the glass and still see it there, then you're likely seeing the result of an active fungus that
has been present for a good while. As fungi eat, they releases a powerful enzyme which when
left on the surface a long time, it can actually permanently etch the glass. The etching can look
just like the tendrils of the fungal growth that has been removed by the soaking. Not all hope is
lost for the lens. The fungal mass has been removed, leaving only microscopic damage to the
glass. The further toward the front of the lens this is, the less likely you'll be able to see any ill
effect. However, depending on the severity, if it is on the rear element group, you may have
some loss of contrast or soft areas in the image. The good thing is, the fungus is gone and that
alone should at least improve things. If it's a really bad case... well at least you got the
experience of doing this sort of thing and might be able to rescue some other lens in the future.
Cheers, Tom.
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Nithin A > Tom Leonard • 4 years ago

Thank-you sir
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Ivan Petkov • 4 years ago

Do not do this ! I will say it again DO NOT ! Why ?

Hydrogen peroxide can act as an oxidizing or reducing agent at different pH values, enabling its
reaction with both metals and nonmetals, such as iron and fluorine respectively. Hydrogen peroxide is
highly oxidizing in acidic
solutions, outranking halogens and halogen compounds, such as fluorine and chlorine dioxide.
Guess what will do this to your metal ring ... yes that is right corrosion . DO not Atempt to clean coated
lens , or even better forget about this guide !
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Tom Leonard > Ivan Petkov • 4 years ago • edited

Hydrogen peroxide in pure form has a ph of around 6 (mild acid). Ammonia has a ph of
11(strong base). This solution (50/50 H2O2+ NH3) is a base, just above neutral which is ph 7. It
does not ruin lens coatings. In fact, it is one of the few solutions that does not damage a lens
coating when faced with this kind of problem. There are plenty of cleaning solutions that are safe
for coatings but none work as well as a safe fungicide for specific removal of fungal growth on
glass. Chemical removal is much safer than any mechanical process since many coatings on
internal glass are extremely soft. Rubbing internal glass is never advised, thus the science of
chemistry comes to the rescue. Regarding contact with metal, this guide I wrote specifically
shows separating the lens elements from the lens which removes any metal contact.
Furthermore, even if it did contact the metal, the oxidizing properties of the H2O2 are hugely
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diminished in solution and will not harm metal as long as it is thoroughly diluted by fresh water
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diminished in solution and will not harm metal as long as it is thoroughly diluted by fresh water
rinse - as demonstrated in the instructions. I hope with this information, you'll reconsider your
view here. All the best, Tom.
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Banjoman Noon > Ivan Petkov • 4 years ago

The metal rings do NOT come into contact with the chemicals used in this tutorial..
1△ ▽ • Share ›

Bunty Ghatak • 4 years ago

How to remove fungus from lens of a point and shoot digital cameras?
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Stanley Yeoh • 4 years ago • edited

I'm about to take apart my old fungus infected 50mm and 100mm in an attempt to clean them. This is
the first link that shows up in Google and thank you, this is such a fine article. It is encouraging to see
such good results after cleaning.

I have been using the Sony NEX 5n with kit zoom lens for the past few years. I have sold all my old
manual lenses for many years now after switching to digital. Or so I thought ...

Until one day, my mom found my old stash of photography stuff in her house when spring cleaning. In it,
there's a Yashica 50mm, Planar 50/1.4 and Sonnar 100/3.5 lenses. I have totally forgot about them,
thinking I have sold off all my manual lenses from my film shooting days.

There's quite a lot of fungus in them. It hurts to see them in such condition. I'd much rather to have them
sold instead of letting them rot for years. These guys were with me at a time when photography brought
me much joy and satisfaction.

Wish me luck as I've never taken apart a lens before. I'll surely be printing this guide as a reference
before I start.
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Cómo eliminar hongos de una lente

29 DE SEP, 2016 TOM LEONARD

81 COMENTARIOS

No hay nada tan frustrante como descubrir una lente de tu propiedad ha desarrollado un mal
crecimiento de hongos en los elementos internos. El hongo de la lente se encuentra comúnmente en
lentes más viejas. Es indiscriminado de marca, calidad de construcción o etiqueta de precio. Si la
humedad permanece en la lente durante demasiado tiempo, puede aparecer el temido hongo.
He hablado con un número de personas que han compartido conmigo sus intentos personales de tratar
de limpiarlo usando varios limpiadores de lentes y paños.
Permítanme ahorrarle algunos problemas: no puede eliminar hongos con la solución de limpieza de
lentes estándar. El alcohol, el líquido encendedor y el etanol (por ejemplo, Vodka) tampoco funcionan.
Una combinación de grasa de codo y cualquier combinación de las soluciones anteriores solo resultará
en arañazos, daños en los recubrimientos de la lente y frustración.

Hoy, quiero compartir con ustedes la forma simple y no dañina de eliminar los hongos de su lente. Si
estás dispuesto a poner un poco de esfuerzo y tal vez hacer algo nuevo, puedes quitar ese desagradable
soplador de lentes y tal vez traer un viejo clásico de vuelta a la vida.

Advertencia: Este tutorial implica desmontar una lente. Si no te sientes cómodo con este tipo de
proyecto, es posible que quieras reparar tu lente profesionalmente. Proceda bajo su propio riesgo.

Aquí está una lista de herramientas y materiales que necesitará para hacer el trabajo:

1. Lens Spanner: Compré el mío Aquí por $16.50. No hay reemplazo para esta herramienta
que no dejará daño a su paso.
2. Conjunto de destornilladores JIS:Para lentes fabricadas en Japón necesitarás un conjunto
de destornilladores japoneses estándar industrial (JIS). Parecen un destornillador Philips de
cabeza/punta cruzada, pero son ligeramente diferentes. El tono y la profundidad de la punta
son exclusivos de las cabezas de tornillo JIS y tratar de usar cualquier otra cosa para

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eliminarlos podría resultar en la insondándola. Compré un buen conjunto de hecho

americano de Aquí por unos $15.
3. Lámpara de escritorio:Utilizo dos luces de brazo flexibles diferentes: una es un proyector
LED que proporciona una iluminación fuerte y direccional, y la otra es una lámpara LED
múltiple con un difusor blanco para proporcionar una iluminación libre de sombras. IKEA
es un excelente lugar para lámparas como esta.
4. Plato de piezas: Compré un plato de plástico blanco de $2 de una tienda local de artículos
para el hogar.
5. Plato de remojo: Creo que pagué alrededor de $3 por un pequeño tazón de postre de
cerámica blanca.
6. Pinzas: Cualquiera servirá.
7. Guantes de nitrilo: Estos ayudarán a evitar que sus dedos se secan de la solución de matar
hongos, y ayuda a mantener su vidrio limpio mientras manipula los elementos de la lente.
8. Gafas de seguridad: Sí, lo sé, pero sólo tienes dos ojos, así que es mejor protegerlos.
9. Peróxido de hidrógeno: Lo mismo que se obtiene del pasillo de la farmacia.
10. Amoníaco del hogar: Pagué unos dólares en una tienda de artículos para el hogar por un
galón de estas cosas. Intenta encontrar amoníaco que no tenga olor añadido. He utilizado
perfumado y sin aroma y no he visto ninguna diferencia en el rendimiento, pero siempre me
hace un poco receloso tener un producto químico extra en la mezcla cuando se está
aplicando a los recubrimientos de lentes sensibles.
11. Bolas de algodón
12. Ropa de lente de microfibra: Esto debe ser extremadamente limpio. No uses uno que
hayas llevado en el bolsillo o en la bolsa de la cámara. Cualquier polvo o aceite de piel en el
paño se desprenderá sobre los elementos internos de su lente, dejándolo inmensamente
frustrado e incapaz de obtener un acabado impecable. Mantenlo mis paños de restauración
de lentes en bolsas de plástico herméticas cuando no los estoy usando, y los sustituyo a
menudo.
13. Lens Poofer: Utilizo un Giotto Rocket Air Blaster de $10 que compré Aquí.
14. Taza de café, con cafeína: Su elección de sabor.
15. Música: Recomiendo el álbum Tokyo Adagio de Charlie Haden o Blue in Green de Alan
Broadbent.

¡Muy bien, vamos a hacerlo! Para este post, compré una vieja lente Konica Hexanon AR 40mm f/1.8
de mi tienda de cámaras local. A primera vista piensas, "No es tan malo"...

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But shine some light on it and you find it had a particularly bad case of lens fungus in the rear element
group. This is the worst place to have it because it absolutely will affect image quality. The fungus is
not on the outside of the rear element — it’s between two elements inside the lens.

Time for teardown. It’s highly likely your lens will not be the same as mine but the process is going to
be very similar, especially if your lens is old, manual focus, and Japanese. I highly recommend you
use a camera to document each step that way you have references for later when reassembling your
lens.
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Using my JIS screwdriver, I removed the 4 screws holding down the chrome lens mount.

With the lens mount removed, the aperture ring is now free to come away from the lens body. To gain
access to the rear lens element, I didn’t need to remove the aperture ring but I figured I might as well
clean it up, too, while I’ve got all my tools out.

A big word of wisdom here: between the aperture ring and the lens body there is a tiny steel ball that
has either a coil spring or leaf spring behind it that is just waiting to launch that ball across the room.
You can tell where the aperture click-ball is located by looking for the series of notches cut into the
ring. When you turn the aperture ring of a lens, the click you feel between each set point is coming
from the interaction between the ball and those notches. I suggest cupping your hand over that side of
the aperture ring as you lift it away from the lens body. In my case, there was enough grease and filth
holding the ball in place that it remained safely in its hole.

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With the aperture ring removed, I was able to clean up the back of the lens body. I recommend doing
at least some preliminary cleaning as you go along. This will help keep bits o’ nasty out of other parts
of the lens as you make progress dismantling things.

The lens spanner is a simple tool. It has two steel spreader bars upon which the two spanner rods may
be distanced for correct width-alignment with the ring you plan to remove. The thumbscrews on the
spanner rods provide a means to lock the tool at the required width. This particular lens spanner has
both blade and needle/pin type ends. This lens has a pair of simple notches cut into the retaining ring.
The blade-end of the lens spanner is used to remove this type of ring.

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