Hi Gang! I live in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, my home is 2 miles from the sea shore. This is how I decided to get rid of the fungii problem I had a couple years ago with a 50mm lens, that went to Pentax heaven. The humidity here ( been an island) is a constant from 75 % to 100% RH. As David wrote, I do not leave my cameras, or lenses in any camera bag. All my bags are left open and empty when not in use. Where do I store my photographic gear when not in use? I bought a dessicator cabinet from Fisher Scientific (www.fisherscientific.com). I tried to find a used one with no luck. This one is a basic, more economical I could find with the capacity I wanted. It measures about 45.5cm High, 34.5cm Wide and 34.5cm Deep. It is made in lexan and has a door seal. I paid around $330 including shipping. You can argue that it is expensive but, hey!, I have more than 4 grand in lenses and cameras. I was able to fit all my lenses including a 400mm AF -F5.6 SD Tokina lens, an FA F2.8 100mm, an FA* F1.4 85mm, all my other lenses ( total of 22 lenses 5 of them for mid format cameras I have). Also inside the cabinet are my 4 Pentax bodies, when not in use. The cabinet has 2 trays and the bottom area. It comes with a tray for indicating silica gel, which I ( I am a chemist) got from labs I visit. I use the microwave oven to regenerate the silica. I am going to buy new fresh silica from Fisher also. My plans is to buy another cabinet for my 2 medium format bodies, I can not afford to loose any of the equipment due to fungus or ( if you have never seen this, I have!) fungus eating bugs!. I had this into the prism area of my now dead Pentax ME Super some years ago. The humidity inside the chamber is kept at 35 to 40 % RH as measured with a small digital RH meter I bought in Wind and Weather for 25 bucks (www.windandweather.com) which is inside the cabinet.
If any of you need details just let me know. Angel David Chang-Sang wrote: >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 . - 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 .
