"Champignons" - why I now hate mushrooms

Now having the pleasure and privilege of living in Paris, I've picked up a few useful French expressions that at the same time, frankly, I regret having had to learn.

One of these is "champignons" - mushrooms to most of us but also, cross yourself and keep the Devil at bay, mould.

Having spend a good few years living and visiting all sorts of amazing places, like many of us, I have lugged camera gear and used it in some, shall we say, less than ideal places in terms of camera care. The ones linked to "champignons" that spring to mind are North Sulawesi and various bits of Borneo. Sweaty places with high humidity.

Giving my gear a good clean after a recent trip I noticed what I can only describe as a slight bloom on a number of my lenses. Taking these to our local Nikon workshop I learned the dreaded term "champignons". Mould to we English speakers.

The sheer attractiveness of the Nikon saleslady did not quite compensate for the repair quotes: my Nikkor 18-200 almost $200, my Nikkor 80-400 almost $1500 and my beloved Nikkor 60mm, hero of many an underwater image, written off - "not economically repairable".

Lesson learned there: if I'm heading anywhere sweaty again I will be packing re-sealable plastic bags and lots of silica gel.

And I may give up eating champignons. Mind you, the saleslady was cute when she burst out laughing when I confused "champignons" with "cornichons" - gerkins to the rest of us. Easily done eh? One man's mushroom is another man's gherkin.

Grrrrrrrrr

I had this with ALL of my old 43 glass from my E-1. 50mm, 50-200mm, 7-14mm, it was a very sad day when I too discovered the 'lines' etched into the elements within the lens. And its one of those things that only gets worse..

Luckily someone wasn't as picky as I was and they had absolute bargain for their E-3!!

I lived on a boat at the time, had a large silica gel pack in the bag with the lenses, but a few months of not using them, obviously the silica pack gave up and the local air was very humid.

I have got hydrometers (cheap from the garden centre) now which I keep with my lenses, and lots of silica gels. If I'm not using the lens, I make a habit of keeping them out in the open in the office - sat with a hydrometer!

I wondered why people have special 'dry' cabinets for their lenses - not at more!!!!!

Sorry to hear your story too, feel your pain.

Dry cabinets eh? Hmmmmmmmm......

"ALL" your lenses??!?!

Yeah Tim, same problem here.
I had a hard discussion with Nikon Switzerland as they refused to repair my 6 month old 800$ DX tele zoom lens under guarantee.
My arguemt that a semi professional zoom lens from Nikon should be able to stay in humid locations and if not they have to state that

helped to convince them to repair the fungus infected front lens.

To avoid any further discussions with my professional lenses i keep them here in a air and watertight safe packetd wit industrial size silicia gel bags.

There are a lot of treads regarding fungus and how to avoid or slow down infection, ZEISS have a nice write up here:
http://lenses.zeiss.com/camera-lenses/en_de/website/service/fungus_on_lenses.html

It is a common accordance that UV exposure will reduce/kill the spores so my safe is probably not the best place,
a dry glass showcase may be better or a UV irrdiating lamp inside the dark place.

Chris

Since your Nikkor 60mm is not "economically repairable", you might want to try desperate measures on it. I have no personal experience, but I wonder why you couldn't use an ultrasonic washer (even a cheap one less than 100€) to remove any mold residue. Of course you'll have to open the lense casing before the wash. And you'll need to keep replacing the original washing solution with 100% pure water until the surfaces are clean enough that you can dry off/evaporate the remainder. If the mold has caused any etching on the lenses or their surface treatments, the wash alone will not be sufficient.

The following source mentions removing algae and fungus from lenses, but it also mentions that spores might not be removed:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultrasonic_cleaning

You can get lens mould anyplace, not just in the tropics. The spores are everywhere. All they need is warmth, darkness and humidity above 50%. So, while it might have started on a trip to the tropics, it could also have grown in your apartment in Paris...

I store all camera equipment (and all negatives and slides), in automatic dehumidifying cabinets with a hydrostatic monitor. They are kept at 40% humidity. They cabinets have glass doors so there is light inside during daylight hours. Toyo Living make a range.

When traveling on longer trips, I always pack camera stuff in ziplock bags or waterproof cases with silica gel inside. Replace the silica gel often (or use an oven to slowly rejuvenate them). I used to buy the silica gel in bulk and pack it in bags made from coffee filter material. But, then I discovered that the Japan $2 shop, Daiso, sells a variety of different sized packs for $2 each - much cheaper than anything from a photo shop.

Touch wood, I have not yet had a champignon problem...

Regards

Peter