Fungus in a lens?

[stu_the_flat]

There is a very cheap ancient lens on eBay (I have a feeling there is a reson for this!)

However is says its got a fungus infection. Can a lens be refurbished? How much would it cost? ball park figures.

If its usable in its current state. Is there any chance that the Lens could cause an infestation in my camera? If there is any chance of this then I'm not touching it with a bargde pole. Which is just as well because I don't own a bargde pole! :D

Cheers Stuart

[dragonfly]

not worth the hassle in my opinion.

[arclight]

Short answer is don't touch it.

That lens probably has been stored somewhere damp.

Without knowing what fungus is involved you have no way of checking whether damage is likely. Some fungii are acidic and will burn lens coatings.

Spores from fungii can spread in the right conditions.

No one could give an estimate without knowing what has to be repaired.

Very cheap on ebay = worth damn all.

[V8burble]

I think you should buy it and give it to Andy (Puddleduck) to sort out for you :D

[stu_the_flat]

Cheers for the advice. Its a pity I really like Zeiss as I work with there microscopes and this looked quite fun. (Can’t quite imagine carrying it around with me though!)

Here is the listing just encase there is anybody on here that has a passion for restoring lens! It looks like there will be a lot of elements inside it so doing anything to it will be exspensive.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=160320667242&Category=48556

Cheers Stuart