Please help identify this

[FlashDrive]

I have a Scope here whose Lens shows these ' spider ' like filaments emanating from the sides of the ' objective '

Internally I might add .... not on the outer surface.....and it is an Achromatic Lens

What is this....??? .... How does a Lens end up like this....???

Anyone ... please..!!

Col..... :shrug:

[dannat]

looks like fungus, is it on the front or the back of the lens?

[FlashDrive]

I've had the ' objective ' lens off the main tube ..... cleaned both sides with
Bintel UHTC cleaning solution .. I removed ' dry swirling ' marks from the front of the Lens and cleaned the rear from general dust using a ' blower ' .
These ' spider trails ' remain and show they are between the ' glass elements '

Both the Outer and Rear ' faces ' of the Lens are clean and free from any dust or smudges ..... the ' spider filaments ' remain in between the glass... you can't get to it.

Col....

[linstar88]

Hi Col,
Mate that looks like mould/fungas that's grown on your optics, most likely on the inside. It forms after having a little moisture rest on the optics & if it's not cleaned off fast enough, this horrible mould/fungas grows on the optics (as seen in your pics).
It's an optics coatings killer! Get it (professionally) removed asap & pray it has not been there long enough to have damaged your coatings.
I lost an old TV type 1 7mm naglar to this stuff, managed to save a TV type 1 40mm plossl acting fast ( I had to send my EP's back to TV in the USA to be properly cleaned). Damn eBay purchases are dangerous.
Seriously hope that cleans up for you Col, fingers crossed.
Regards
Guy

[Profiler]

Hate to be the messenger of bad news Col but from the appearance of the photos and your description of the location "between" the elements I would say it is a fungas/mold - the filament structure/pattern is key characteristic

It can be fixed however via a variety of options - you could try some UV or sunlight - if this doesn't work then either take the cell apart (if you fell comfortable/confident/competent enough) otherwise off to a professional optics outfit would be able to disassemble and remove it.

Anyhow, sorry to learn of this situation and in light of this you might need to invest in some more dessicant or rice (uncooked:lol:).

[UniPol]

Yep, looks like fungus due to moisture getting in between the elements. Best pull the lens apart and clean it with lab grade acetone which kills it off for good. Some fungae like eating lens coatings so there may be an outline of the filaments left, a bit unsightly but usually doesn't affect its performance.

[FlashDrive]

OK... thank you Steve ( Unipol ).... Richard ( Profiler )...Linda & Guy ( linstar88 ).... dannat ( Daniel ).

Very informative , all of you... Thanks.

Richard .... nice to hear from you... taking the Lens apart would be ' new territory ' for me ( never done that )..... not really mate ... might try the sunshine treatment to see if that works first.

Steve... thanks for the confirmation of what this is....AND THE REST OF YOU GUYS.

OH... BTW.... who can I send this to, to be professionally cleaned ..... Bintel comes to mind ... do they do this service .... ??

In the 3rd pic ... 11 o'clock position, you can even see the ' filaments ' whilst outside in the Sun.

Col....

[Larryp]

Col, contact

Roger's Optics and Restoration
4/128-130 Meredith St
Bankstown NSW 2200

0425 709 508

He also has a web site

[FlashDrive]

Thank You Larry....:D

Col...

[UniPol]

"Professional" is a pretty loose term these days. Achromats are very simple to clean if you take due care. Have a go Col, you too could become a professional.

[Kunama]

Flash you've got mail......

[FlashDrive]

I just had a quote from Rogers Optical ...$230.00 to clean and collimate Lens ....and there is postal costs to send down the entire Scope to him and send back to me ... another $90.00. ( $45.00 ea way )

All up $320.00 to have it fixed.

..... and he told me ... putting the Lens in the Sun will not ' kill ' the mold / fungus ..... never mind, worth a try Richard.

Col......

[dannat]

no the Sun doesn't kill spores it but a hit of x-rays will [some dentists charge very little to use their machines]
if it were me id hit it with good quality acetone & see how it comes up-i did this with a 80mm bino & you'd never notice it had fungi to start with

is it on the vixen? -a multi el petzval wouldnt be the easiest to take apart

[FlashDrive]

No.... NOT my Vixen ...it's as good as the day I received it.

Col....

[Star Catcher]

Yes i had the same issue with my es127mm. It is a triplet and I easily cleaned the inside of the first element with standard acetone. The other two elements were in a lens cell and fungus was between those elements. Explore scientific just replaced all elements for free. One word of warning. Do not get acetone on spacer that might separate two elements as they are a plastic/silicone that might melt with acetone!
Ted

[Profiler]

Hi Col

I am just going off old school notions - I would still try a little light and see whether you can find some UV. Essentially you are dealing with a fungal growth so you need to contemplate ways of killing it.

Roger Optics is one good option but Bintel Sydney might do it as well

Whatever the case I hope it works out well for you

[blink138]

hmmmm, not sure about acetone flash, speaking opthalmically if the fungus has broken the surface of the AR coating it will lift the rest of it
i have seen spectacle lenses do this, however they are plastic and they have a quartz type hard coat between the optical surface and the multicoat which is often the cause of a coating failure
pat

[sil]

As a side as nobody else has mentioned it that i can see, the same problem can befall camera lenses. So consider where you store your optics. Avoid humidity or changeable areas where condensation can form. It may not be the death of the optics completely but certainly an annoyance and something to look for when buying any sort of optics.

[LewisM]

Having dealt with fungal issues previously in a scope obtained from Hong Kong, I can suggest a few things.

1. Sunlight does very little. You need, as suggested, high dose intense UV. You would need to store the lens facing sunlight for quite some time for the amount of "free" UV to have the desired effect once it is at this advnced stage with prevalent and obvious hyphae ("branches")

2. Bintel UHTC will do next to nothing, except temporarily remove the OBVIOUS hyphae. The spores will remain

3. Acetone WILL work, but as Pat suggests, can also be detrimental of coatings once the hyphae are easily visible, meaning they have, or will, etch the glass. A mixture of ethanol and acetone will work better.

4. Hydrogen Peroxide - at LEAST 6% - DOES kill the hyphae and spore (of both catalase negative and positive fungal spp)

5. Benzalkonium Chloride (Dettol is an example) will do NO harm to glass or coatings, and will destroy fungi, bacteria etc.

Other treatments WILL work, but can do more harm than good - for example sulphuric acid (does a VERY good job, but will remove just about any coating), bleach (will harm coatings). Some achromats aren't coated AT ALL, so you can get away with more.

[FlashDrive]

Very informative Lewis :thumbsup: ... bet you were a ' chemistry ' student ... cause they don't teach you that stuff in ' Flight ' School....

BTW ....the Scope has been handed back to its Owner.

Col....:D