How to deal with clouding?

[petre_petrov1]

The situation is simple, yet vexing: I noticed something on the

inside of one of my lenses that looks like clouding. Certainly, the

image in the camera's viewfinder is clouded and a hazy spot is

visible when I look through the lens itself. The question is this:

how can this be removed? Does it require my taking the lens to the

repair shop? Does anyone have any idea how much such an intervention

might cost?

[yakim_peled1]

I can think of two things:

 

1. It may be that water crept in. Solution: Put it in a dry and warm place.

 

2. It could be fungus. However, this one looks more like spider web than a cloud. Solution: If it is an expensive lens and you want to keep it, send it to cleaning. If not, sell it and buy another.

 

Happy shooting,

Yakim.

[fmueller]

The third possibility is that oil has run off the focusing helix onto the inner glass elements. If the lens can be opened, it is not a big deal to wipe it off. Unfortunately the last time this happened to one of my lenses - an old Vivitar 18mm 3.5 in YS mount - even a workshop that specializes in lens repairs and that had repeatedly done an outstanding job for me was not able to open the lens despite concerted efforts over several weeks. Just take the lens to a workshop and get an estimate for the repair costs.

[petre_petrov1]

I know for certain that it's not fungus. It looks just the way cold glass looks if you breathe warm air onto it. It is definitely on the inner elements, very close to where the diaphragm blades are. Yes, oil is a possibility, but don't oil spots show colored reflections?

[bob_bell]

I would guess condensation before something else. Put it in a warm dry place with good circulation and maybe some of those packets for removing humidity. It should go away in time. I would avoid putting it in directly sunlight as you might cause warping or something else bad.

[frank granovski]

I noticed "clouding" on a lens I owned. It didn't seem to affect the pictures but I threw it away, nevertheless. Gotta have perfection. ;*)

[fmueller]

I've seen the oil thing in two lenses. In both cases it gave the glass a light amber tone, and if inspected very closely, there appeard to be millions of tiny little dots on the glass, which could be air bubbles in the oil film, but I am not sure. The lenses were notably soft and a little on the warm side, but not unpleasantly so - if you were after this effect.