Fungal growing in lenses?

[Jack]

I found somewhere that there is a chance that in the lenses can grow some kind of fungal, which i think I've seen such of discussion here on forum.

I would like to ask how this can happen and how can i prevent this?

Thanks

 

[Sergey Prokofiev]

In old ones, more debris accumulates during use, so this happens more often with old ones.

 

[lovitazoe]

Happened to me before! I think mine was because the lens exposed with a little bit of raindrops and dust. The worst thing was I tried to clean it with a cotton bud and baby oil . I brought it to service center before it was getting worse.

 

[lovitazoe]

So what is this all about? Its just dust inside or what? Because I'm still confused a bit, also concerned about my lenses too.

I think it's a combination of dust and moisture which stick on the lens/camera body, never cleaned, and rarely being used. Dust and water will become food and drink for fungus to thrive and will eventually damage our cameras and lenses.

 

[Sergey Prokofiev]

We are surrounded by billions of spores of fungi and mold and they, like dust, get inside the lens. And if a favorable environment for growth is created, then they germinate. If moisture gets inside such as condensation when you bring the camera to a warm place from the cold.

P.S. Sorry for my English...)

 

[lovitazoe]

To much maintenance. I heard about UV light. But that's to much in my opinion. I will have to order some silica then. What kind of storage are you recommending ?

If I'm not mistaken, electric silica gel product for camera is available now, Jack. It's rechargeable. Maybe more environment friendly than the silica bag one (you need to toss it when it is finishes).
For the the storage, I know some brands like Digicabi, Samurai, forspark. But I never use any of them, so I can't recommend anything. I just put my camera and lenses in my bag. So, if you interested to buy, you can it check online.

 

[Helix_2648]

As mentioned before... it's new to me but explainable. We've fungi spores everywhere around us and those spores just need the right conditions to grow. So if you don't handle your lenses with care and it becomes wet and dirty (and maybe the rubber gaskets becomes a little bit brittle) the fungi spores can start to grow inside your lens. In this case you can for sure only contact a professional cleaning service for your lens.

 

[Helix_2648]

The question is, how wet the area must be in order to fungi start growing? At the moment i keep all my equipment in their manufacture bags.

That's fine and you won't get any problems with fungi or dust inside your lens if you keep it there. But sometimes it's raining or your lens drops down and becomes dirty. As most Canon lenses are sealed against dust and humidity you don't have to be unsettled, but other lenses from cheaper brands are not as good sealed as Canon or Nikon lenses and might be more effected by those fungi spores.

 

[Jack]

Happened to me before! I think mine was because the lens exposed with a little bit of raindrops and dust. The worst thing was I tried to clean it with a cotton bud and baby oil . I brought it to service center before it was getting worse.

So what is this all about? Its just dust inside or what? Because I'm still confused a bit, also concerned about my lenses too.

 

[Jack]

Thanks for your reply Sergey Prokofiev , lovitazoe . So is there any way to prevent that happen to lenses? Does this affect all lenses or just old once ?