Hi Stan, First let me say that I use your site ALL the time as a reference when I'm looking for used Pentax lenses on Ebay or other places. It's a god send.. thank you.
Now.. your fungus problem. All I could find on the web that seemed to sort of validate your point was the following: http://www.biotech.ufl.edu/EM/data/lenseatingfungi.html which is a biotech/biomed account of some instances amongst some collegues at university of florida http://www.chem.helsinki.fi/~toomas/photo/fungus/ an interesting page on lens fungus with images and a particularly interesting statement that may help you in your arguement: "If you use your equipment in damp environments, let it dry as soon as you return into a drier room. Never leave your equipment in a closed (splashproof) camera bag when it need not be there. Leather lens cases are known to be especially bad, because leather is a natural product where fungi can grow before they proceed on to the lens" The mere fact that the fungus can transfer from a leather lens case to a lens may suggest it's ability to move/transfer from lens to lens should lenses be stored together. Most of the pages/sites I spotted are good at explaining why fungus grows and how to stop it but not one of them actually stated that it does actually "spread" from lens to lens. Hope this helps. Cheers< Dave -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Stan Halpin Sent: Wednesday, March 20, 2002 8:12 PM To: PDML Subject: Fungus sanity check please . . . I recently bought a used lens on eBay. It arrived with slightly smeared glass. I cleaned the lens, front and back, and looked through and saw little squiggly lines 1mm or so in length a few places around the edge of the front element. Cleaned the front some more to be sure, and confirmed that the little squiggly fuzzy lines are on the back side of the front element. Fungus I said. Actually what I said first was something else that rhymes with hoover. As Wendy would say. So I email the seller and tell him I don't want fungus. Fine, he says, send it back. I could clean it, I says, but I could not be sure of sanitizing it, and I don't want the fungus to spread to my other lenses. How about a professional cleaning? The seller is willing to have me get an estimate for a professional CLA of the lens. But he is also ridiculing the notion that a lens which is all fungused up is in any way a danger to other lenses. Like, "how would the fungus get out to 'infect' the other lenses!?!?" Tell me I am not crazy! Tell me I am not repeating a myth, that fungus is "contagious" and destructive. Even better, give me the URL of an authoritative source on this topic. Thanks. Stan - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org . - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
