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That flooded parking garage in Austin taught me about lens fungus
I picked up a used 50mm from a guy whose car sat in that big parking garage flood last spring. The glass looked clean but the barrel had that faint musty smell, sure enough fungus was starting between the elements. I took it apart and wiped everything with a mix of 50% isopropyl and 50% distilled water, then left the parts under a UV lamp for 2 hours. It worked, but now I always open up any used lens and smell the inside before I even hand over cash. Has anyone else had luck with UV treatment on older coatings or did I just get lucky?
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oliviac2219h ago
The "smell the inside before you even hand over cash" part is the real takeaway here and honestly kind of gross to picture doing in a parking lot. I've bought my share of musty old glass and the smell test has saved me more than once, so you're not alone there. As for the UV part, my track record is mixed at best. I zapped a fungusy 135mm for a few hours and it came back a couple months later, so I'm pretty sure UV only kills what's on the surface unless you already broke the lens down like you did. The wipedown with iso and distilled water is probably doing most of the heavy lifting since it strips the junk the fungus feeds on. My dumbest version of this was buying a lens that smelled like a wet basement and telling myself it was just the case. It was not just the case.
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