What would you do with this lens?

<p>I found this lens at the flea market and thought it would go great on my FTb...until I got home and saw all of the stuff inside the front element. I've seen worse and in fact the rear element is spotless; all of the other elements look good. It's just the front element that doesn't. Is this one worth keeping, in your opinions, or is it trouble in the making? I love the fact that it's a 24/2.8, and I've had quite a bit of luck with Vivitar lenses for the most part. What do you think?</p><div></div>

<p>i would try it and see if I like the result. Not much point knocking yourself out trying to sell it. It isn't worth much.</p>

<p>I have an air vent that blows directly onto my desk and is always moving things about. That lens would go a long way toward solving that problem. JR</p>

<p>I for one doubt that even severe fungus and the like does affect image by much in normal situations. We should start a shoot-out with our very worst lenses and see if any unwitting thread visitor will notice anything. Alternatively you could send the lens to Jeremy and help him improve his desk-air vent issue...</p>

<p>No, I'd never try to sell it. I guess I wonder 1) if it's worth trying to dismantle to attempt to remove the fungus (provided it hasn't etched the glass), 2) if I should ignore it and see how it does, or 3) send it to Jeremy for his desk use.</p>

<p>Hi Andy! I would try and open it up. Document and photograph every step of the way with a digicam and take notes too. It looks from the picture that the etching due to the fungus may be only in the periphery. The rest of it may come clean with mixture of house hold Ammonia and Hydrogen Peroxide 50-50 mixed just before applying it to the glass.<br>

It may work out fine; in which case, you will have a great sense of achievement. If it does not clean up fully, you would have still learned something. Have fun if you can spare the time! I won't throw it away! Regards, sp.</p>

<p>Andy take a crack at it, remove the front element. From the picture I see no spanner slots, so most likely you will need some friction tool, to remove the name ring; it should be easy from there.<br>

I have heard that applying unscented Pond cream and gently rubbing it against the affected area for a couple of days, and then wiping it clean with lens cleaning solution cleans most of the lens fungi, unless they have damaged the glass. I think you should try it.</p>

<p>It not pretty but its far to the edge. I don't think you will see it's effect much if at all. It's totally worth taking some pic with it at different apertures. In any case you wont lose much giving it a shot at home brew repair. I am a fan of Vivitar lenses and have four for my FD gear. Although the Vivitar Kiron-made 24mm f/2 is the more sought after, I have heard the Tokina-made 24mm f/2.8 (yours), is good performer too.</p>

<p>I would chuck it in the bin super quick, fungus spores can transmit and can infect other lenses too.</p>

<p>I would keep it and try and clean it .I did it once with a 200mm Gemini brand lens and it cleaned up nicely, the only problem was that i lost the friggin ball bearing and the aperture ring doesn't click into place when you twist it. SO i would suggest that you get a big box and cut one side off to use as your work space in case anything popes out it wont roll away from you like what happened to me. Also light is important. A cheap drafting or work lamp will help alot. Besides that, Subbarayan got some good advice with the documenting procedure.<br>

Also let em know if you find anymore cheep 24mm lenses at f2.8. THe auction site always has them for over 50 in the Minolta MD mount. And i would love to finally get a wide angle but can only aford about 30 to 40 right now</p>

<p>Many years ago I had the Vivitar 28mm f2.8. It looked very much like your lens but without the fungus. It was a decent lens without being in any way stellar and filled the 'cheap but good' end of the market below the camera/lens makers own-brand offerings but noticeably above some even cheaper brands. In those days Vivitar aspired to making quite interesting lenses which filled unconsidered niches in the line-up of other brands - rather like Sigma do today.I seem to remember 24mm was quite adventurous in those days. The 28mm f2.8 was samller than your lens and quite a lightweight lens so it may be that Jeremy's suggestion would be beyond the abilities of the 24mm. Otherwise I think that is about it's current level of usefulness.</p>

<p>I'd throw it at that cat relieving herself at the bottom of my garden.</p>

<p>I would disasssemble it clean it up. Asssemble it back and see how it works. If it does it is great, if it is not well tough luck. BTW rumor sais that the most efficient and gentile way to get rid of fungus is to lick it out.</p>

<p>I have this same lens for Exakta. It's worth saving. I'd try to remove and clean like the guys say. It might not improve the situation much; the fungus may have eaten the coating, and may not even be there any more; but it's worth a try. I bet you will find the lens works well even without touching it. The cleaning would be mainly to kill the fungus so it doesn't spread further.</p>

<p>It's hard for me to tell whether there is fungus on the lens or if the coating has been etched. If it's fungus, I'd get rid of the lens fast.</p>

<p>I would list the lens for $1050 on eBay and describe it as one of the finest nature made Lomo lenses to be discovered in more than a decade. Works great with the $15 a roll RedScale film. http://www.lomography.com/redscalefilm/ LOL!</p>

<p>Shoot some pictures and see what it does. I suspect in many situations it will work fairly well. It's not a super expensive lens so it might be a good exercise in dismantling and cleaning a lens.</p>

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<p>There is a lot of fungus paranoia in various photo blogs. An individual fungus-challenged lens will either perform OK or not,; only a test can tell. Proper storage may arrest fungus growth.<br>

I invite anyone to document any case where fungus inside a lens "infected" any other equipment the lens was attached to or used with.</p>

<p>I had one of these that I used on my Topcon Super D. I thought it was a very well designed and made lens, especially for what they sell for on the auction site. I think mine was $20 with the Topcon mount. It seemed quite sharp. As far as segregating it from other lenses, I would do that even as a precaution. Everything I've ever heard about fungus is that it can migrate to other lenses through production of spores. With a fair amount of money invested in my stable of Topcor lenses, I just wouldn't take the risk. </p>

<p>Dennis, spores are virtually everywhere, but fungus in lenses is not. This suggests that factors other than the mere presence of spores are very critical to fungus formation and growth.</p>

<p>I have cleaned fungus out from my CZJ Sonnar 135mm, one Oreston 50mm and a couple of 2X converters. If one does it early in the game there is not much etching, even nothing at all. The lens comes out very clean. In Andy's case the peripheral scratchy items look like fungus etchings. But unless one opens the lens one cannot be sure.<br>

Because, the Greenish color could be caused even by some grease running over the lens surface from the helicals. My experience has been only with fungus that looks like a spider-web and almost white in color. I have not dealt with the Green fungus.<br>

Andy! I think you need to open and clean this sytematically, at least, by popular appeal on these posts! :) sp.</p>

<p>Bob, I'm not an expert on fungus, in lenses or anywhere else, I just wouldn't store an infected lens near other glass that I cared about. Just my opinion...</p>

<p>The lens on my Cannonet QL17 GIII has fungus, pretty much like you show here and so far it has no visible impact on the pictures I take with it. I would like to try to remove the fungus with the ammonia-hydrogen peroxide solution. Are these chemicals available in stores, where can I find them? thank you</p>

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<p>Wow, thanks for all of the responses, everyone! I'd like to try cleaning it out, however I don't have the proper pressure tool to remove the front of the lens. As far as the green color, I think that's just how the fluorescent lighting struck the coating on the lens due to the angle I had to shoot it at to make the fungus visible. Normally the lens doesn't appear to be green. With regard to the spread of fungus, I must admit that I'm a little afraid of it happening but at the same time I would imagine that it would've spread to other elements of the lens itself, and this doesn't appear to be the case. I've had this lens for the better part of a year (in a cabinet) and it doesn't seem to have changed much. Also, as I said earlier, the rear element looks beautifully clean and clear, and even the next element after the infected one looks to be clear. I'm tempted to just slap it on and use it, but part of me wants to play it safe and not use it at all.</p>

<p>Wow Andy, pretty colour, kind of reminds me of those pictures that were popular in the early seventies....just needs a couple of Dolphins leaping about.</p>

<p>Andy -</p>

<p>A Retina IIa was given to me, following an estimated 30 - 35 years stashed in a closet. The Xenon lens had internal fungus behind the front element, in geometric patterns essentially throughout the lens surface area. They were about 1/16th inch in width, I'd estimate about 10 - 15% of the lens' square area was affected. I ran a color roll through it and was very pleased with the results, nothing unsatisfactory was visible.</p>

<p>After professional camera restoration and thorough lens cleaning, I saw no perceptible difference in results when compared with first photo's. When looking at your lens' image I would rate the affected surface area as minimal, compared with that of mine. I suspect you may not see anything of consequence, but possibly flare could be a concern? Looking at the involved area and the pattern, I have to wonder if an attempt to clean it at some time allowed cleaning solution to wick behind the front element edges.</p>

<p>I'll bet it can be saved, and I have had very good results from some Vivitar lenses in the past. Good luck with it. </p>

<p>Patrick</p>