Is this Lens Fungus?

It's been a while since I've contributed to NPN, but I'm hoping all of you can help me out with something. I recently purchased an expensive Canon "L" lens on eBay. I've purchased camera equipment on eBay many times without a problem...until now.

I believe that there is some fungus inside the front element of the lens. I'm attaching three photos here, each moving a bit closer. The last photo is not entirely sharp, but I think it gives you a sense of what I'm observing. The spot of fungus is very small, perhaps 1-2mm, so it is difficult to photograph (and even locate, particularly when the camera is on a tripod). What's interesting is that in addition to the white spot of the fungus, you can also observe some sort of effect on the internal coating of the lens in an oval shape around the perimeter of the fungus.

The seller seems willing to work out a refund, but two months into the back and forth via e-mail he's still not entirely willing to agree that this is fungus (or another significant defect). I think it's clear enough. What do you think?

Picture 2.

Picture 3.

seems to be fungus to me. and whatever it is, it's a defect that might (or might not) have been included in the description of the lens - if not, it certainly should be returned!

Phil, although a bit hard to tell even with your excellent images here. The last photo almost looks like a spider-webbing crack of sorts.
If not fungus maybe some separation taking place at that particular location.

Things you might verify is where the lens came from and where it was stored. High humidity can really bring that stuff on.
I've only had one lens after a lengthy list of lenses over the years in 35mm, MF, & LF, that ever had a fungus event. It showed up in my images immediately. Thankfully, I'd bought that one from KEH and they exchanged the EX I bought with an EX+ at the time.

I assume you've been using it, so, are you seeing issues in the images zoomed in at 300 or 400% when in PS? I do also have one lens to date that has a spot at 300% that shows up in ever image, it is always in the sky for the most part and is a 1 second clone job.

Good luck.....

Thanks, these are helpful responses. The listing on eBay said the lens was "never used" and that it had no defects, specifically including "no fungus."

Paul, I've been reluctant to take many shots with the lens. I don't know, mainly out of ignorance, whether the fungus could migrate to the camera and from there to other lenses in my collection. That would be a disaster. And even if I didn't see any flaws now, I have to expect that the fungus will spread within the lens over time and I'll be left with a problem.

Phil, I'd have to admit I'm not sure about the fungus migration issue. I'm sure most anything is possible and if bad things can happen they just might.
Seeing the location of the anomaly in these photos appears to be in an unforgiving location being a bit centered. The lens I have with the ongoing "spot" issue is on an outer edge. So, it's easy to find in any image and make the fix in PS. This one on yours might be troublesome if it does show in images, especially if it becomes larger over time.

living where I do and where I have, I have had fungus issues with a number of lenses. it does look like it to me. I'd return it anyway!

Ah yes, any area as I mentioned earlier, as well as Stuarts historical observations with his own lenses, no doubt where there is a humidity factor the fungus culprit is surely lurking.

First thing I thought of was a crack, but I haven't dealt with fungus so I don't know what it looks like. I would absolutely demand the return and if there's no agreement in 24 hours, I would open a dispute with eBay and if you paid with PayPal, contact them also. "Never used" my foot, they sold you a damaged lens. You said "but two months into the back and forth"... I hope it's not past a deadline but you need protection, this guy's stalling the inevitable, he probably spent the money already and is hoping he can get you past the dispute deadline. I'm probably being the pessimist here but you've been delivered damaged goods and it needs to be rectified. If the seller was really willing to do a full return, you'd have the money and this post wouldn't exist.

If there was time it'd be interesting to see what Canon's repair center says. You;re in the Bay area so the lens wold get to Irvine (or wherever the new location is down there) in a day or two with priority mail. You can choose to not fix the lens if the repair price is too high, but having an official repair quote from Canon is firepower against the seller's skewed opinion. And if Canon can fix it for a decent price then maybe you can get that out of the seller, otherwise you can threaten an eBay Dispute if he won't comply. In the end, you end up with a cleaned and fixed lens out of Canon and at worst a couple hundred extra bucks for a repair that could possibly be gotten out of the seller ( I hope only a couple hundred! ).

Here's the link to Canon Repair: http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer?pageKeyCode=onlineRepairLanding&WT.mc_id=C126149. Just enter the date you bought it from eBay, and in the description I would tell them what happened. You never know, they have done free repairs out of warranty before, they did for me once on a lense I bought on eBay.

Thanks for the last round of responses. I've got an idea of what to do next. I'll report back in a couple weeks with an update for those interested.

If I were you I'd file a claim with Ebay right away. You can always cancel it later. I had a similar issue in the past and Ebay was very good about taking care of it.