Fungus spores are everywhere, but they only germinate in humidity and they thrive on dust.
A lens that has a dose of fungus has it because it has dust inside (and all lenses have some specs of dust even if they’re hard to see), and it’s been kept in a humid/warm environment. Fungus likes dark, damp places with warmth. Fungus generates spores which look to feed on dust, but the amount of dust in most lenses isnt enough for the fungus to spread.
When you clean a lens you move the dust around and push it into the edges. If the lens is then stored in a humid environment it’s more likely to encourage fungus growth. The fungus wont spread from lens to lens but it may appear in other lenses if the conditions are right for it.
So it’s best to store your lenses in a dry place in good light with minimal humidity. Also use them – the UV in sunlight kills fungus.
The above photo shows one patch of familiar fungal veins. This is on a rear element and is hard to spot without scrutiny.
The best way to check for fungus is to shine a bright light in through the front or rear. A mini torch such as a Maglight is ideal.
Can fungus spread from camera lens to lens?
Does lens fungus spread from one lens to another? It’s a common question. Much is written about the subject on the internet…and views are mixed – some saying yes it does spread so you should isolate the infected lens and some say no, don’t worry about it.
This lens has lots of fungal attack ont the front element that’s creeping out to the centre. At present this could be used without any real loss in quality.
Using infected lenses
You can often clean fungus off the lens elements providing it’s not etched into the coating. If it’s on the inner elements you’ll need to strip the lens down but only attempt that if you’re competent with mechanical items as they’re not always as simple to take apart as they look.
If the lens is stored well once fungus is found it’s unlikely to spread.
Lenses can be used and results will vary depending on the level of contamination. A small colony here or there is hardly likely to affect anything while a more severe case will cases a dramatic reduction in contrast and sharpness, especially when shooting into the sun.
This lens is badly affected and will result in lower contrast photos that lack sharpness and have a diffused look.
For those who want more info check out this informative web page: All about lens fungus
Back in April 2012 Grays of Westminster sold the ultra rare Nikon 6mm f/2.8 fisheye lens for £100,000
The 220º Nikkor fisheye lens weighs 5.2kg, measures 171mm in length and has a diameter of 236mm. It’s one of the few 220º Nikkor fisheye lenses ever to be made.
Last week another one turned up on ebay : Nikon 6mm Fisheye on eBay
This one failed to reach the $49,500 dollar reserve (approx £30k), which compared with the previous sale price was an absolute bargain.
Even so is any lens really worth this kind of price tag? Would you pay this kind of money for a lens?
We have lots of low cost camera lenses for sale here
Hoyarex filters were arguably the best filter system made. Optically superb, several made from glass, solid filter holder, brilliant adjustable rubber hood for wide or super telephoto, and a useful range of filters.
Hoyarex was a filter system developed by Hoya. Hoya was the big name in optical filters and then French manufacturer Cokin appeared with a system that would revolutionise the filter world.
Hoya reacted fast but not fast enough. Cokin had soon taken hold of the filter market with serious and special effect filters. Photographers were no longer buying one or two filters they were investing in cases full.
The Hoyarex system emulated what Cokin had done, but in our opinion did it better, some filters were glass, others had frames around them so handling was better. The holder was more flexible and had a more versatile lens hood. The filters slotted in more comfortably and the adaptors clipped in easier.
But they were too late and Cokin won the battle. Hoyarex disappeared as quick as they came.
You can still find remnants of the system sold in the second-hand sections of various photographic retailers, and there are many here on PhotographyAttic.
The illustration above shows the filter holder with an adaptor ring (available in sizes from 43mm up to 77mm) and the wonderful rubber Pro hood that clipped on the holder and had a variable extension.
Two filter holder can be clipped together and rotated when special effect filters were inserted.
Here in numeric order is the entire range with links to buy individual used filters at photographyattic.com
The Multi-purpose UV is similar to the skylight, absorbing the ultraviolet rays which often make scenic shots hazy and indistinct. Moreover, the UV, especially when used with black & white film, increases contrast, reduces haze and generally improves the “sharpness” of your photographs
Many photographers buy a UV filter for each lens and leave them screwed on to protect the lenses’ front elements.
UV filters are available in round type that screw into the lens in ever size imaginable.
UV Filters available here
They were also made by Hoyarex for their square filter system.
Links to buy
Hoyarex 021 Filter
Unless you’re lucky enough to have chosen a camera with a tilting /hinged screen taking photos from ground level can be very uncomfortable or awkward. The titling screen feature on certain digital cameras allows you to view and compose from a height by looking down on the screen that is angled upwards.
This makes the camera easy to use when shooting flowers and fungi or other similar subjects from ground level.
Many of us don’t have such luxury feature, but there is an option available if your camera has a viewfinder with a slide in eye cup frame. The right angle finder slips over the viewfinder in place of the eye cup and provides an optical path set at 90 degrees. so you look down into the viewfinder. It still means you have to bend down to see, but at least it’s from a more convenient angle.
Many right angle finders also have built in diopter correction so they’re prefect for those of us with glasses. And some even have a built in magnifier going from standard 1x view to a cropped 2x or even 2.5x view. This is great focusing aid as you can be sure your subject is in perfect focus.
Finders are usually sold by the camera manufacturer, but there are also several available from accessory manufacturers. They’re not quite as popular as they used to be but there’s plenty around on eBay and we have several on PhotographyAttic – Right Angle Finders and Viewfinder attachments. You need to choose one that fits your camera’s viewfinder as each brand can be slightly different. Check before buying.
The Parisian concept store Colette has sold out of the very limited Hello Kitty Playboy branded Leica camera. Stalwart Leica fans might have been horrified that their upper crust brand had been tarnished with a cartoon character and a price tag of £750. Only 10 were sold, so perhaps Colette thought is was a risk to jump in with bigger quantities.
What do you think? Is the cartoon something more suited to plastic toy cameras or, being an iconic character, did it deserve place on such a prestigious brand that has, over the years, usually been reserved for some form of exotic animal skin.
ePHOTOzine’s tech editor Josh Waller was covering the Photography Show at the NEC Birmingham – full report here Photography Show 2014 show guide
The guide includes previews of the following new cameras
Nikon Coolpix P340, the 30x optical zoom Nikon Coolpix S9700, Nikon Coolpix P60 and waterproof Nikon Coolpix AW120.
Canon Powershot SX700HS, SX600, N100, D30 and IXUS 265.
Samsung WB2200F
Canon’s EOS 1200D entry level Digital SLR
Canon Powershot G1 X Mark I
Panasonic Lumix GH4
Nikon D4s
They also looked at the following lenses:
Zeiss OTUS 55mm f/1.4 lens and Zeiss Touit 50mm f/2.8 macro lens for Sony NEX E-Mount and Fujifilm X-Mount cameras.
Panasonic Leica DG Summilux 15mm f/1.7 ASPH. lens
Tokina 11-16mm T3.0 (f/2.8) for APS-C cameras and the 16-28mm T3.0 (f/2.8) lens for full-frame cameras.
Tamron 16-300mm 18.8x optical zoom lens for APS-C cameras, as well as the 28-300mm full frame lens.
Fujifilm Fujinon XF 56mm f/1.2 R lens for Fujifilm X cameras.
Kowa Prominar Micro Four Thirds 8.5mm f/2.8, 12mm f/1.8, and 25mm f/1.8 lenses
The Photography Show, organised by Future Publishing, replaces Focus on Imaging and is the UK’s largest photography exhibition. From feedback it seems as though the first of these shows was a huge success.
The Neutral Density (ND) filter is one of the more useful filters you could include in your collection. Digital image processing can do many things but it can’t reduce the light reaching the film or CCD. That’s the job of the camera’s exposure system and an ND filter throws in a helping hand.
The name explains its purpose. It’s neutral (in colour) and it has a density (level of opaqueness).
Neutral Density filters come in a range of densities. The basic ND2 has a 2x exposure factor (or one f/stop) and an ND4 has 4x (two f/stops). There’s also an ND8 (8x or three f/stops) and a less common ND64 (64x or six stops). You can go even further with specialist ND filters such as the Big Stopper from Lee Filters. This one has ten stops light reduction. So a shutter speed of 1/30sec would need to be increased to 30 seconds!
The filter goes over the lens and reduces the light reaching the film by the exposure factor of the filter.
If, for example, you had an exposure of 1/125sec at f/11 and you added an ND8, the shutter speed would reduce to 1/15sec or the aperture would need to be opened to f/4.
The reason to use an ND filter suddenly become obvious. If you want to force a slow shutter speed, for motion blur, or you want the lens at the widest aperture, for shallow depth-of-field, the ND filter can help.
It can also be used in combination with a flash to effectively reduce the guide number for close range photography.
The ND2 is hardly worth bothering with so we’d suggest you’re first ND filter be a ND4.
And another interesting type is the variable ND, like the one illustrated above. These are variable in strength, but, as reviewers have found, tend to cause criss-cross patterned illumination at stronger settings.
Wratten is a brand name from Kodak used for their series of coloured gelatin correction and conversion filters.
There’s a wide range – each one identified by its Wratten number.
The filters are very thin so are optically very good, but can be easily damaged
Wratten filters can be held or taped in front of the lens (or flash). Alternatively you can buy a gelatine filter holder for most filter systems for a neater way to attach the filter to the lens. Example include the Hoyarex Gelatine Filter holder and the Cokin P-Series Gelatine Filter Holder
They are also used in the darkroom for colour printing using an enlarger with a filter drawer. Cyan, Magenta and Yellow are available in increments of 5CC. Owners of the Bowens Illumitran and other similar professional slide copiers can use the filters to correct colour casts when copying from one film to another.
Photographers can tape a wratten filter over their flash and have a cancelling one on the lens so anything illuminated by flash will be the correct colour while the background will be the colour introduced by the filter over the lens.
The top ten filters you should own will obviously vary from person to person and is dependent on the subjects you photograph. Our choice is most definitely the following:
- Circular Polariser (glare reduction and colour saturation)
Great for landscapes, still lifes and architectural photography
- Grey Grad 4x (balance sky brightness)
Great for landscapes
- Skylight (protects lens)
All purpose photography
- Neutral Density x4 (reduces overall exposure)
All purpose photography
- 81A (warms up skin tones)
Perfect for portraits but also useful for landscapes
- Close up +4 (for the macro shots)
Ideal for nature also good for still lifes
- Grey Grad 2x (a weaker variation on 2)
Great for landscapes
- Neutral Density x8 (a stronger variation on 4)
All purpose photography but idea for blurry waterfalls
- Softar style diffuser (best softener for when you cant be bothered doing it in Photoshop)
Perfect for wedding and portraits
- Star 8 (Adds star burst)
Great for jewellery, also interesting for landscapes
Good selection? Let us know your favourite filters and what you use them for
Load of camera filters for sale