Lens fungus!!!

[jainondavid]

hi there! my Tamron 18-250mm is infected with fungus in the front glass element. need some advice on how to remove them. i tried exposing my lens into direct sunlight, but nothings change. is it bringing it to a professional is my last resort? thanks!

[flake]

Can you actually see it in the images? Superzooms like this do not produce supersharp images, so if you can put up with the inferior quality they produce, why bother when you will hardly be able to tell?
The front glass element is a strange thing, many photographers are fanatical about it being clean & free from scratches etc, but the reality is it doesn't matter, it's the rear one which is important!
Try a little experiment - take a post it note and tear off a pea sized piece and sick it to the front of the lens, see if you can see it in the view finder, keep making it larger until you can, you'll be surprised how large an object you need before you can see it.

Having said that if it is bothering you there is nothing much that you can do to get it out, you should speak to Tamron, this lens isn't all that old and should not have grown fungus in the time since you bought it, you could argue that the spores were already in the lens when you bought it and it has taken a long time for them to grow to the point where the fungus is visible. Tamron should really sort this free of charge, but they also probably have a system of lens servicing like Sigma has.

I'm not a big fan of the superzooms, if youwant this kind of do it all lens, a point and shoot might have been a better choice, why buy a camera body capable of high quality image production and the cripple it with a lens which is not?

[browndog 2]

@ Flake Stop being a lens snob...... you dont need L glass to take decent shots ...... get over this supersharpe image thing and start thinking outside the frame.

@jainondavid you need to get the fungus removed take a look at this


Cheers

David

[flake]

This is not lens snobbery! & I never said that L quality lenses are needed to take decent shots. It is however a known fact that superzooms cannot give the same kind of image quality as a standard zoom, the whole point of owning a DSLR is that you are able to change lenses to give the optimum quality to suit the shot you want to take, superzoom lenses try to do all of that in one lens, and the compromise is image quality - in a big way. If you think there's an issue with wanting supersharp images go take a look at the forums on the Alamy contributors site, QC rightly demands a certain standard for good reason, when images are printed clients want them sharp!

Thinking outside the frame? So now your suggesting that shooting poor quality is OK? I don't believe it is and will continue to advise that superzoom lenses cannot return the Image Quality a decent DSLR is capable of delivering.

I still don't think a small amount of fungus will affect IQ in any noticeable way, of course it's not going to go away and will only get worse over time, the advice I gave about looking at Tamron cleaning this still stands, but the OP lives in the USA so things might not be the same as they are in the UK.

[Robster]

Well i am with Flake on the Lenes.
after spending the first five years of my career working in a proper camera shop, super zooms have never been much cop, not that I am saying they are still total rubbish as they have come a long way but they will never be as good as standard zooms.
with regards to fungus most decent camrea repair centres will sort it out.
But I did have fungus in a Pentax M42 fit lens and even after having it removed it came back.
not much chance of getting fungus on a L lens though because of the way its put together

[browndog 2]

Flake you are a lens snob you virtually told the OP that his lens was crap and not worth repairing "so if you can put up with the inferior quality they produce" to me that would always win you the award of lens snob.

As for thinking outside the frame i was suggesting that you image dose not need to be super sharp.....why not use it to your advantage ....if you need help with this take a look at the holga ,lensbaby or why not try a pinhole camera.

Cheers

David

[flake]

I think it might have been fair to call me a lens snob if I was saying that the only lenses which will do were Canon L or Nikon N, but that isn't what I've said. Perfectly good results can be obtained from Canons cheapest lens the 50mm f/1.8 and also other mid range standard zooms in manufacturers ranges.

That last sentance is funny though I might of been saying that it wasn't very good, but I didn't compare it to a Holga or a pinhole! LOL

[GraemeMather]

See my thoughts on this argument in my signature.
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[browndog 2]

Originally Posted by GraemeMather

See my thoughts on this argument in my signature.
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[BobtheTog]

One of my favourite lenses is a Nikkor 55mm AIS Micro f2.8.

It's less than perfect, has dust in it and I'm sure it leaves a slight colour cast on the images. I love it because it has a bit of character, but it depends on what you want from a lens.

If it's your only lens then it would be a good idea to have a look and see if you can fix it, but at the end of the day only you can decide if it makes a difference to the images you want to produce.

Bob