It seems due to a serious issue in rising damp in the property I currently occupy and store all of my equipment, that my beloved Sony HVR Z5 has caught lens fungus!

Its very small at the moment, smaller than a fingernail at the bottom part of the lens, and I have been meticulous in storing the camera, or as careful as I thought I could be! Keeping it stored in bags with silica gel and I have now removed it from the property entirely.

It seems the repair could cost me an entire lens replacement, which is around £700+ including labour! And as a student film maker, this is serious money, I know the repair is a priority, but could further damage arise as I save up my pennies, (considering the whole lens has to be replaced) or is there any short term alternative? Has anyone had any experience with this? I have additional camera insurance, but I wouldn't imagine these things are covered on a policy but I will have to check.

Is there something I can do in the meantime to curb any further damage or growth? Bearing in mind it is in another perfectly dry house, stored in the open air, surrounded by the original plastic cover packaging the camera came in, once again with silica gel in a warm part of the house.

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!

My first thought would be to 1. Google the problem 2. Call a few video repair shops to get more thoughts...continue to monitor this board...I found the article below, in which they say the lens will need taken apart. It would appear you WILL need to send into Sony.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/814685/how_to_remove_lens_fungus_from_a_camera.html

Thanks, I already have googled the problem and I have done as much as I think I can, considering storage etc.

Repair shops advised replacement is the only option, but the money might just wipe me out, I suppose I must save!

That is a ton of money...don't forget to put it in some bright light, as suggested...it could help.

Try this:
Fungus and Camera Lenses (http://www.mypentax.com/Fungus.html)
Here's another
http://herron.50megs.com/fungus.htm

wow, i never heard of such things, guess i gotta get my de-humidifyer working again.

only things not mentioned were spores, the little "seeds" of fungi, they are impervious in thier dried state, and will start a growth all over again given any moisture for which to sprout again :-)
i would want to clean the stuff out, and remove and "poisen" the spores so even if they exist they cannot sprout again. spores are the persistant procreation of the species, and like all procreation are hard to stop :-)

remember just like O2 removing packets, the silica gel packets are only as good as thier ability to remove the moisture in existance, and once saturated are no longer capable of removing more moisture, untill the moisture has been removed from the silica.
Putting stuff in a Bag with moisture still IN there, is like putting your shoes on with your feet still wet :-) Fungi will love it dark , non-moving air, moisture.
Recharge your silica Each time you open that bag, and if there is already moisture in existance, use the silica to remove in stages, recharging the silica again after the first bits of moisture are removed from the camera itself.


also, Warm is not nessiarily less moisture in the air. it is just air capable of HOLDING more moisture.
We can be easily confused by "relative humidity" and "humidity" relative means how much moisture the air can hold AT the temperature of the air. seee, Realitive TO the air temperatures. "humidity" in general is how much water is hanging out in the air.
is better to think how many mL of water is sustaind in a cubic liter of air then to make summations about the moisture based on the Cute fun weather term of "reletive humidity".
Warm air is not (nessisarily) less water in the air, often it is more, then Bagged and re-cooled you still have as much water in the AIR as you did, even if precipitated water is no longer on the item.

those are the factors that dont seem to be discussed as much, and muddle our thought processes about the actual things that are happning, so i mindlessly rambled them out, for analisis.