The Dangers of Fungus

It is a weekly thing for me to see fungus and the damage it does to everything in our environment.

The destruction of lenses, Hard drives, Tapes, Film, everything that we don’t want destroyed. The problem is that with most things that we don’t use everyday they are stored away until we need them, then we pull the box out of the cupboard and open it up to see a thick white crust all over the carefully stored away object.

The thing to remember is that if you can grow mushrooms where you have left it, then that is what you are doing.

The best thing you can do is to store your cameras, lenses, tapes, hard drives, film in a airproof damp proof container, ideally a dry cabinet, but anything will do, a Tupperware container, pelican case etc. Just make sure that there is a desiccant in there to absorb any residual moisture.

Unfortunately in summer, a couple of months is all that is needed to get fungus in your things. Once it is in, you cannot really get it out.

For me having my stuff safely out of the humidity really takes the stress out of owning susceptible things.

Kris Gardner