Dilema Return Super Takumar 55 F2 for Fungus or Keep

[eddieitman]

Well i purchased a Takumar F2 on Ebay for a Tidy £19 it came from a Charity that sells on Ebay the listing says it was perfect optically but scratches on the outside.
I received the lens today and on inspection it was Half covered in Fungus.

I took the lens out regardless to test it and see how bad it was and i dont think it is bad at all seems very sharp and excellent colours.
Considering that shipping back is going to cost me around £5-6 should i just keep the lens.
I did message them on ebay and they said that all there lenses where checked by profesional Photographer. Hope not to deal with Pros like that.

[ManualFocus-G]

To be honest, £19.00 is above average price for a Takumar 55/2 when in good condition. So your copy with fungus is bad business. If you are happy with image quality, why don't you negotiate a part refund?

[eddieitman]

TBF the price of Takumars seems to be rising not many under £30 these days, Although the odd ones on ebay go for less.
I dont really like the idea of a partial refund this charity gives 100% of what i paid to the charity.


"St Giles Hospice provides high-quality medical and specialist nursing care for local people with cancer and other serious illnesses in the Staffordshire and West Midlands area. The Hospice is a registered charity and relies on fundraising and donations to support its work. St Giles Hospice Shops raise vital funds to support this care. The nineteen shops - sell a wide range of high-quality donated goods. "

[CarbonR]

Influence of fungus :
http://kajiwara.weebly.com/champignons-le-grand-test---partie-1.html

As stated, 19£ is quite high, especially if it is not a S-M-C/SMC. But you should not have to loose money if you received something different that was listed

[Kathmandu]

I have had similar experiences ,from charitable institutions . I bought a Fujica St801 with EBC Fujinon 50mm f1.4 -which had a serious case fungus on the inside (and not cleanable so far),and a Yashinon DX 50mm f1.4 that has a damaged focusing helicoid .
I am sitting on these and sucking up my losses for the greater cause of the charity I bought these from.. The fujinon renders beautiful pictures with fungus and all. I did leave the Fujinon in a UV box for 2 weeks, for peace of mind and hoping it does not spread. The Yashinon DX is a parts lens .

Somehow I feel that the donors of bad , fungused lenses should be ashamed for knowingly donating such crap.
I would keep it and practice my fungus cleaning skills and lens disassembling skills-and make something positive out of it.

Just my 2bits.

[ManualFocus-G]

[peterqd]

Well, if the body is in good condition I think £19 is quite a fair price, and considering it's a charity I'd feel I'd got a bargain and wouldn't argue about it.

We established a long time ago that it's optically the same as the f1.8 version (see Nesster's pictures in the gallery section) so it will be a very nice lens to use, quite sharp and contrasty. It's a very simple job to clean the "fungus" (I prefer "mould") from inside the front element, using cold cream, and then after you've done that, if you feel you don't want to keep it, I'm sure you'll be able to sell it for more than you paid.

[eddieitman]

Well that was nice and easy decided to see if i could clean and repair the lens myself, after getting instructions I managed to unscrew the rear element using a slightly modified paint-scraper to make a Lens Wrench on the indicated arrows .
The element poped out and i was able to access the offending area and clean the lens it is now perfect.

[Pancolart]

Nice samples! I really like the idea of making a poll to help you decide .

[ManualFocus-G]

Excellent result all round then!

[Attila]