Advise on damp please

I took a gamble on ebay with a BIN for a KM with 55mm f1.8 attached. (See here for why: http://www.pentaxforums.com/lensreviews/showproduct.php?product=29). Bought in 1979 he said. Arrived this morning well packed, but the smell hit me the moment I took it out. I quickly detached the ERC from the camera and determined that this was the culprit. The camera and lens themselves are in great shape with no visible blemishes or mould on the lens. A quick clean to get rid of some dust and I attached the lens for a few (quick) sample shots. Lovely! At 1.8 the bokeh is sweet and the sharpness fine, which is what I was really after.

Now, the lens and body do smell. But, as said there is no visible mould. I have two choices - return and ask for my money back, or try to salvage. Does anybody have any advice they could share please?

Regards

Tony

I would contact the seller immediately. If it is that damp as to create its own unique aroma, though it is working now, you may have bought yourself some serious problems later on. I would have it returned and ask for a refund.

One of the reasons why I shy away from e-bay.

The Photomonk

It depends on how bad the smell of damp is. If you air the camera thoroughly in a warm dry room (central heating is great for this!) and use silica gel sachets to remove any moisture, after 24 hours how bad is it?

If it's going back it needs to be quick, but if there's not much amiss apart from the smell then it's a pity to lose a nice camera and lens. It depends how much it cost as well.

With a good airing the smell might dissipate, but you're the only one who can judge that.

Spray some frabreeze on a lint free cloth and give a good wipe you might have to do it a couple of times depending how bad the smell is

Jack.

Photomonk - that was my initial reaction. However, other than inappropriate storage, this is a very nice item!

John - I paid £30, which I don't feel was bad for the real thing (although do say if you think I've been robbed:blush, but it is more than my "oh well, life's too short..." ceiling. I'll give it a try as you suggest and see what happens. I'm only really interested in the lens, so if it does work I'll put the body on here - with full history of course!

Regards

Tony

(Damn - I hope George isn't on. Just realised it should be "advice" not "advise" in the title!)

£30 is excellent. With that small an outlay, if it was me I'd keep it unless it was really bad. A few days in some fresh air may do wonders!

Well for the price paid it is worth hoping that it can be properly died out and used without problems. So here's hoping.

The Photomonk

Did you ask the seller if the camera had an odour before you bought it?

Did the seller specify in his listing that the camera was "odour free"?

Does the smell make any material difference to the operation of the camera and/or lens in their intended use as photographic instruments?

If the answer to all of these questions is "no" then you have no recourse to return the camera as you cannot claim it is "significantly not as described". PayPal will back the seller in this instance and quite rightly IMO.

Sorry to sound unsympathetic, but (with my eBay seller's hat on) I don't see why the vendor should go through the hassle of taking a return, coughing up listing / final value fees and stumping up for the postage just because you didn't ask the right questions then changed your mind about the transaction.

Keep the camera and give it a good airing for a week or so. Somewhere outdoors that gets a draught (but obviously not water) is ideal - I use a passageway at the side of my house for such things. Jack's suggestion about using Fabreeze is a good one too but make sure you apply it with a cloth and don't spray it directly onto the camera or you'll end up doing more harm than good.

Isn't that a bit harsh hefty1?

After all, that could apply to anything. You don't expect a camera to smell of damp, so that's a significant defect not described.

By the same logic if I bought a camera that had mushrooms growing inside it, it surely wouldn't be expected of me to ask about the possibility of it contaning such fungus would it?

I think there are some things we are allowed to surmise from the general tone of a listing and we should also expect a defect to be duly noted if it is a significant one.

Hefty1 - after reading your first line I thought you were 'avin a bit of a larf, but then you got really stuck in. John has kindly answered on my behalf. Maybe I should have been a bit clearer that it wasn't the smell per se (which is only noticeable on the lens if you stick your nose to it), but the risk of contaminating my camera/other lenses with fungus, that bothered me.

Anyway, thank's for all the advice everyone. I'll go the with the airing/drying tactic and see what happens.

Cheers

Tony

No.

No it's not. It doesn't make any difference to the product's ability to work as it was designed to (ie. take pictures) and so is not any sort of defect, let alone one of significance.

If a mushroom was growing inside it then I would expect it to impact upon the performance of the camera (at the very least it would be probably blocking the mirror). A smell is not a mushroom - see point above.

eBay works on the basis of caveat emptor. The only things you should ever surmise from a listing is what is written therein. If a nasty odour is something that means so much to you then you should ask before buying, not after the event. The seller has (presumably) advertised a working camera and has supplied same - any smell cannot be classed as a defect as it in no way renders the camera defective as a photographic tool. If the object in question relied upon a particular odour as part of its make up (like a perfume) then the "wrong" odour could indeed render it defective. Last time I looked cameras are not sold in bottles and squirted onto your neck.

One lens with fungus cannot cross-contaminate another without fungus - this is an old wives' tale.

The fungus spores are present all around you all the time (you breathe in millions of them every time you inhale) and every single lens that you own already has them inside (and probably have since they left the factory).

The spores will remain dormant until they are given the conditions they require to grow in - damp and warm as a rule which is why lenses in tropical climates are more at risk. They also require food - lenses from the 1970's and earlier used a form of Canada Balsam to glue elements together and fungi tend to enjoy this particular organic compound. Since the 1980's most lenses have been assembled using synthetic glues which very few fungi find palatable, hence incidences of fungus in modern lenses are almost unheard of (and are of a different strain to those that damaged older lenses anyway). If you don't want your newer lenses to get infected (which, as mentioned above, is highly unlikely to happen anyway) then store them somewhere dry and airy and give them some exposure to daylight now and then.

All of this is moot though as you say yourself that the lens has no fungus in it. Any mould that may be on the leather case would be yet another different strain and incapable of cross-infecting a lens.

Which brings me back to the point I was trying to make originally; given that the camera is in perfect working order and free from defects (I do not accept the smell as a defect as pointed out several times above) then I cannot see how you could even consider sending it back for a refund. You say the seller has owned it since 1979 so he's obviously not a trader, so what you're asking is do people agree it's fair for you to pick his pocket? I certainly don't and I'm saddened to see that I appear to be in the minority on this.

Hefty

Thanks for your long and detailed response. Some fascinating information there. You seem to be an authority in which case my mind has been put at rest and I will enjoy my purchase! Personally I would never have sold an item in this condition without mentioning the rather strong odour, but there you go.

You're not in the market for a lovely KM body with a wiff of rotten leaves are you:wink

Regards

Tony

Thanks for the offer Tony but I've already got too many camera bodies taking up room.

Enjoy the lens - I'm sure it'll give you many years' good service