Lens surface issue.

[P.Esquerdo]

Hi everyone,

this is my first post in this forum. During the last year I'd been introducing to the large format photography world. I bought a Scheneider Symmar-s 150mm and a Fujinon w 210mm. But I wanted a longer lens for portraits and landscape photography.
My first option was the Nikkor M 300mm, due to his compactness and lightweight. Also considering other options as G-Claron or Fujinon C.

Last week I was searching online when I found a Scheinder Xenar 300mm f5.6. The seller warmed me that the lens has some issues and it was damage, but the price was around 140 Euros (shipping included) so decided to pick it for that price.

I received the lens yesterday, and shows some issues in the inner element. The rest of the lens is perfect, front and rear element are pristine (no fungus, scratches or other issues) and the shutter works smooth. My concern here is to know what is this that issue because I'd never seen something like that before (I own few lenses with scratches or fungus). I attach a picture here with the problem.
My intention is keep it but I'm still looking for another compact 300mm.

Best regards and thank you in advance.

[ic-racer]

Nothing you can do about it, so I'd just use it. Who knows the type of imagery you like but it may work just fine.

[Nodda Duma]

Fungus damage to coatings. Shoot it and see what you think. Impact to imagery will be minor.

[JohnDGerndt]

I too have worked with lenses that have similar "damage" they still work beautifully. It reminds me of those early lenses that had bubbles in the glass; they worked just fine too. It is more of a bother (coating issues) with eye glasses ( I am an optician). IT is different according to how many elements and where they are in the scheme of things.

It is of course better if there are no "issues" but as everyone has said, just shoot it and see if you can live with the minor effects or indeed, see them at all! I have been very happy with some "undesirable" glass :=)))

[xkaes]

I can't tell if it's fungus, but to stay on the safe side keep it away from your other lenses.

Are there NON-invasive ways to kill fungus, such as UV light, etc.???

[Drew Wiley]

Active fungus can certainly be stopped, and even its evidence reduced, with prolonged UV exposure, including sunlight. Just don't get the lens hot. And make sure it's not a humid spot, or subject to ambient air condensation, which is the root of the problem to begin with.

A Nikkor M would be the most modern multi-coated rendition of the tessar design, while the Xenar an earlier less expensive tessar. A 300 Fuji C ("Compact") is a 4-element airspaced multi-coated design with a significantly bigger image circle, and optimized at infinity. The G-Claron is plasmat design with a large image circle and especially well close-range correct; single-coated and slightly bulkier than the others, but that's no problem in real world shooting.