tobymarshall

Pierre Angenieux applied for a patent on the retrofocus design in 1950, and it appears that he beat Zeiss to it by a hair. A really nice retrofocus is the Auto Takumar, 35mm f2.3, which has marvellous bokeh (similar to, but more pronounced than the Angenieux)

A fungal infection that has etched into the glass, either as spiderly scratches or pitting, is impossible to remove without virtually machining elements and repolishing.

A lens that old is probably not worth the work in salvaging from such a problem. I would not disassemble the lens for risk of allowing any active fungal spores to spread to other equipment.

 

There are active fungal spores everywhere all the time. They only time they are a problem if if the lens is stored at relative humidity above 50% and temps above 30 C degrees, and in the dark. UV kills fungus, and low humidity and/or temps will not allow it to grow. I have over 100 vintage lenses, many with traces of fungus, happily living together in dry containers and I have never had any problems.