Fungus...

[Mylkinut]

I was given an old M42 mount Zenit 11 35mm SLR with 4 lenses pretty recently, just before I went on holiday to Berlin. I took the camera with me since I'm just starting out in photography and I thought I could get a couple of good shots of the Berlin Wall, Sachsenhousen etc. The pictures came back brilliantly (to me at least)...

However.

Once I was back I decided to take a look at some of the lenses more closely and it turns out my Helios 135mm 2.8 has some pretty bad fungus. I also have a 80-200mm telephoto which has a tiny bit of it in there and the aperture is stuck wide open. I haven't taken any pictures with either lens (I only carried/used a Helios 44m-4 in Berlin considering the Zenit already weighs more than a small car) so I need a bit of advice. Should I replace them, carry on using them, open them up (I have no prior experience and every manual I find is in Russian) or send them off for cleaning? In the meantime, should I be storing the infected lenses away from my 'healthy' ones?

If you think I should replace them can you offer any advice as to what I should get?

Thanks in advance and sorry if I sound like too much of a noob.

[Dotty.c]

my advice sent them off for repair and pro cleaning, and check your other stuff mould can spread.

[Mylkinut]

Thanks for getting back to me so fast! If that's the case, could you advise how much that might cost? These are old Russian/Japanese lenses and I can't seem to find a quote anywhere. I don't know if it might just be cheaper to replace them.

[chaz]

Probably cheaper replacing them, there are thousands of M42 lenses going about in charity shops,car boots,ebay,etc, most can be had for peanuts:)