There's a lens going cheap on ebay because there's some internal haze. Aparently it doesn't effect the picture quality It's going for about 1/3 of the normal price (it's a second hand consumer film lens that's normally 75 quid or so that's reasonably well regarded for the price) What is haze, what causes it, can I get rid of it and does it impact picture quality? I've read a bit on the web and some people note no apparent effect, others saying it does. What say urban? Worth a punt?
Lens haze is something you get on older lenses in particular. Modern lenses are treated with a special coating that prevents it from gathering. It is basically a deterioration in the glass by atmospheric pollutants, mould, dust etc. It DOES effect picture quality, most noticeably the contrast. Thing is... you can get some quite interesting results with mucky and scratched lenses.
If it's got fungus, store it well away from your other camera gear or it may spread, especially in warm and humid conditions.
Is there actually any reason not to use or keep a lens with fungus in it? I got a Zenit SLR with a Helios 2/58 lens that works well and I like, but which definitely has something which looks like fungus in it, odd white tufts round the edges and a few small white clumps in the middle that definitely aren't dust. It may be unusable in a few years but, well, it survived since 1980ish. I've heard things about fungus spreading but tbh I've also heard things about this being a bit of a myth, in that there are mould spores in the air all the time everywhere and it's the storage conditions and exposure to UV that makes a difference. In any case it's not sitting in a bag with other lenses in storage, it's sitting on a shelf.
Fungus does spread. Believe me. Keeping silica gel with your camera kit stops it, but I still wouldn't wanna keep a fungified lens with non fungified lenses. Keeping your kit with silica gel is just good practice imho anyway.
You can even have cracked elements and still get quality results.Here is an extreme test of fungus filled lens: http://www.deansphotographica.com/deans_of_idaho/old_stuff_pages/dirtylenstest/dirtylenstest.html
Well, one of the lenses I bought not only has some weird haze, it also has some weird red fibre in the middle. Not fungus, more like some bit of a cleaning cloth that got stuck when someone tried to remove the haze imo. It's terrible
I'm wondering about this again now. I scored a cheap OM-2n on eBay (it had a broken self timer and the winder sometimes needs two strokes, neither of which I give a shit about) but there are some odd blobs on the 50/1.8 lens - no tendrils or fluff but tiny spots with slightly irregular outlines. No effect on the pictures, which are great. Fungus, or just, well, some shit that doesn't matter?
