Is this fungus?

[imkap]

Hi,

this is a prism from an Olympus om2 camera. I'm not sure if this is fungus. It sure looks like it is
The usual culprit of prism damage on this model of camera is the foam degradation. It melts and gets inside in time.
There is no more fungus elsewhere on the camera, so I'd like your opinion...

I was unable to focus properly probably because the stuff is inside of the prism...
Thanks

DSC05339.jpg (45.22 KiB) Viewed 1436 times

DSC05338.jpg (75.72 KiB) Viewed 1436 times

[BramHuntingNematodes]

Could it be adhesive?

[WWWW]

It looks fungus to me.

[apochronaut]

Is that a cemented prism. as in a beamsplitter type?

[imkap]

Could it be adhesive?

It could be, it is the usual culprit as the sponge melts in these cameras.

It looks fungus to me.

Me too, but I'm hoping someone will tell me it's not (like Bram did ) It doesn't bother me to look through it in the viewfinder. I'm just a bit paranoid about keeping it in my cupboard with other (healthy) glass. There is no fungus elsewhere, so maybe it is something else.

Is that a cemented prism. as in a beamsplitter type?

It is this type of prism, a pentaprism, looks like it was made from one piece

[zzffnn]

Can you reach inside and wipe it off with cotton swap? If yes, then it is fungus. It doesn’t look like fungus to my eyes, but I am not positive.

It does look like melted foam bubble to me. That would not be easily wipe off unless you carefully apply a controlled amount of xylene and quickly remove the run-off residues.xylene may hurt other parts of the camera, so be very careful.

[imkap]

I'd need to remove the black paint to touch it, I think that would do more harm by itself.
You're the second person here saying it does not seem to be fungus, which is great.

I left it sunbathing on the window for 2 days, so that would probably kill it if it was fungus ... I'll see if it spreads in time, dry foam bubbles don't reproduce.
I'll just clean the dust and put it back into the camera, tomorrow I'll receive the new light seals and a focusing screen. So hopefully I'll have a new old camera

EDIT: I'll probably stumble on a prism donor camera in time and then I just might try to reach these bubbles. And then we'll have a definite answer

Thanks friends for your help...

[zzffnn]

You can put the camera inside a sealed zipper bag, along with desiccants (such as some rice grains if you don’t have chemical desiccants). Fungus doesn’t like dryness and UV light.

[apochronaut]

It looks like a residue to me.

[imkap]

It looks like a residue to me.

Thanks, I'm glad you say that