Cleaning spots on lens?

I just got my Rolleiflex MX-EVS today and while I was inspecting it, I noticed some spots on both lenses. I was wondering if these are just cleaning marks or something worse. Is there any way I can clean them, or should I just let it be if it won't affect image quality? I've added some photos I took of the front and back of the taking lens. Thanks!

 

 

Someone would have to do an awful lot of cleaning to cause that much damage.

 

The front looks not too bad for cleaning marks and dust, but the back... !

 

Looks like balsam separation? It seems to be between the lenses from your pics.

It doesn't look like fungus to me, but I could be wrong!

Definitely not balsam separation. That usually starts at the edge of the lens as a rainbow coloured quarter-moon or bubble shape.

 

The spidery pattern is typical of fungus. Fungus will leave a residual pattern in the coating, even after being cleaned away, and that's what this looks like.

fungus!

 

try cleaning as much as you can. uv kills fungus but wont undo the damage to the coatings.

 

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Sadly it looks like fungus. Problem is it etches the glass so even if you kill it, you will still have the remaining glass damage. I use a 50/50 solution of household ammonia and hydrogen peroxide to soak the lens and kill the fungus. But like I said, the damage is already done.

My weapon of choice against fungus is a chlorine-rich domestic bleach. Unfortunately, many so-called 'bleach' solutions sold these days are just sodium hydroxide, that'll do nothing to the fungus, but may well cloud the glass. Always read the label.

 

You can get pure sodium hypochlorite as baby-bottle or nappy sterilising powder/tablets/solution.

I went to a repair shop today to pick up another camera I had sent in and brought this one along with me for the guy to take a look. Confirmed it’s fungus, going to return this one :(

Fungus, as said.

 

If it was sold as 'normal' condition, definitely return it.

 

I'd suspect that even it were cleaned, it would still never be as good as it was originally.

My weapon of choice against fungus is a chlorine-rich domestic bleach. Unfortunately, many so-called 'bleach' solutions sold these days are just sodium hydroxide, that'll do nothing to the fungus, but may well cloud the glass. Always read the label.

 

You can get pure sodium hypochlorite as baby-bottle or nappy sterilising powder/tablets/solution.

 

bleach is sodium hypochlorite.... not hydroxide.

 

What Are the Ingredients in Clorox Bleach?

I have had good luck against early fungus with hydrogen peroxide.....

bleach is sodium hypochlorite.... not hydroxide.

 

What Are the Ingredients in Clorox Bleach?

 

Yes, I know bleach ought to be sodium hypochlorite Paul. However, a great many solutions now sold as 'bleach' are no more than sodium hydroxide and surficants. That's why I suggested reading the label or buying baby-bottle steriliser.

Yes, I know bleach ought to be sodium hypochlorite Paul. However, a great many solutions now sold as 'bleach' are no more than sodium hydroxide and surficants. That's why I suggested reading the label or buying baby-bottle steriliser.

 

“Surfactants”........;)