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Shoutout to the crusty lens spanner that made me admit I'd been lying to customers about fungus for three years
Last Tuesday I was doing a CLA on a beat up 50mm that a guy dropped off at the counter, and when I pulled the front element group I saw the fungus had actually etched into the coating. I'd been telling people for three years that a good soak in peroxide and a wipe would kill it, but the truth is once it eats the coating the glass is toast and you can't undo it. The thing that tipped me off was a return from a customer in Tacoma who came back eight months later with the same lens and the haze was right back, worse actually. I felt sick. I'd charged him $85 for a clean that never really fixed anything. What I should've been doing the whole time was checking with a raking light and a 10x loupe before quoting anyone, and being honest when the damage was already permanent. Now I tell people straight up: if it's etched, I can clean it but the damage stays, and it's their call whether to pay for a partial fix. How do you all break that news without sounding like you're making excuses?
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butler.finley1d ago
That raking light trick changed my whole approach too, I used to just quote the clean and hope for the best. Now I show them the etching under the loupe and let the glass speak for itself.
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