Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/12/30
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Hi Simon wrote >A local leica dealer told me that only Leica (Germany) could fixe it (he >talked to 1000-1500F HOW much???!!! Jings. I've never had to have that done to a Leica lens, but I had a Nikon135 de fungus-ed recently- cost £40 (about 400FF) and I would have said that was plenty. Any good lens mechanic will do it. There is a caveat- usually the fungus is on a glass/air surface and is therefore easy to get at. Very rarely it is in the cement between the elements in one of the groups, and if it is, and has spread to the centre of the lens, you're in trouble. Quite commonly though, this sort of attack can be seen around the very periphery of older lenses- it does not seem to do any harm there. Funnily enough, fungus isn't really Leica's fault. Simon probably compounded the situation by causing condensation inside the lens barrel and then not taking steps to dry it out thoroughly when he got home. If you go on a trip in the mountains, please put everything in a warmth, dry _well-ventilated_ area when you get back. If practical, use silica gel when travelling in conditions of extreme temperature change such as Simon encountered, and certainly when putting lenses away afterwards. All the sort of stuff they tell you to do in the textbooks and very few of us (and it should be clear from the Nikon that I am no exception) very rarely do, I know. If you see fungus, put the lens in a sunny place - OFF the camera. The UV will help kill the fungus and stop the spread. Somewhere or other there's a Web page on this- I seem to have lost the URL, but a quick search should find it. Cheers Rod