In an Ecuadorian cloud forest, mycologists Danny Newman and Roo Vandergrift have spent more than a decade studying, cataloging, and photographing the diverse fungi of the region.
I recently had a bad case of fungus in a Sony kit lens. The fungus was between the two outermost lenses that are assembled together in a glued plastic case.
A few years ago, I saw an article on water-damaged film that claimed the damage was due to bacteria and fungus eating the film. Having a bit of experience with fungus and bacteria from various scientific projects over the years, I thought I would explore this topic. Could I speed up the process? I also wanted to know which film aged the fastest, and was bacteria or fungus really responsible for the damage?
Photographer Mathieu Stern made this 2-minute video walkthrough on how you can remove fungus on the glass elements of a camera lens.
There’s nothing quite so frustrating as discovering a lens you own has developed a bad growth of fungus on the internal elements. Lens fungus is commonly found in older lenses. It is indiscriminate of brand, build-quality, or price tag. If humidity stays in your lens for too long, the dreaded fungus may appear.
Fungus is one of the banes of a camera lens' existence. In humid environments, nasty things can begin to happen if some fungus spore-laden dust particles make their way into your lens. To prevent fungus from growing inside a lens, photographers often silica gel packets to control the amount of moisture in and around their glass.