Lens Fungus?

[Dirtygoat]

I've taken a picture of the lens from a bit of an antique binocular. My best guess is that it made well before the 50's. Do you think the fungus has got to it? Looking thru them, stuff seems pretty contrasty. What do you think?




Its pretty dusty, but try to look thru the dust. If not, I might try and very carefully clean it, but I'd prefer not to at this point.

[Dirtygoat]

Isn't she a beauty?

[another view]

Never seen fungus on the outside of a lens before. Some binoculars have slip on rubber lens caps; these would be able to trap moisture in and may make it possible though. Usually fungus is more smooth and even so I'm not even sure that's what you've got here.

The picture says "fully coated" so try something like Eclipse lens cleaning solution, Calumet has it (and will ship it unlike B&H). If it is fungus, it's not something that can be cleaned off - it etches the lens surface. I have a slide projector that came with a fungus-infected lens - so bad you couldn't recognize an image projected thru it. I took it apart to see what the elements looked like, and the one that had fungus felt and looked like someone took 800 grit sand paper too it.

[92135011]

Looks like it might be.
If im not mistaken by the pictures, you can actually see the clusters of basidia (place where you can find spores). What you might be dealing with here is from the Phylum Basidiomycota Class Teliomycetes, however it would seem strange since they are known obligate parasites. Maybe it's not.