 Fred S. MacKenzie |
Dirt in My Lens I recently discovered what looks like dirt (dust) spots in my 70-300 lens. I cleaned the lens but discovered that the dirt is inside the lens itself. How does it get there (preventative maintenance?), and how and where do I get it cleaned? What is the average price should I look for having this done? Thanks.
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
Not uncommon. Dust when it's made, dust works its way inside the barrel when zoomed in and out. Who knows. It's not worth getting it cleaned because you pay so much for having the lens taken apart, and it doesn't affect the picture.
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Ron Burgis |
As a matter of fact, I checked prices to clean the lens last night. I found a local place to clean it for $55. Face it, it the cost of doing business... Ron
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Christopher A. Vedros |
Ron, You must have had a pretty bad case for the dust to affect your autofocus. In general, a few dust spots on internal elements won't affect the picture. You're also lucky to have a local place that will strip your lens for that price. I've been told it's more likely to be $100 or so. And if you don't have a local place and have to add in shipping, you can easily get into the range of impractical for a not-too-expensive zoom lens. More expensive lenses tend to have better sealing, so if we're talking about a relatively inexpensive zoom, Gregory's response isn't really terrible, maybe just generalized.
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Kathy Shogren |
Fred, are you sure this dust is on the lens. Just asking because I thought this was the case with my lens. However, it turned out to be dust on the CCD. After cleaning the CCD, there are still particles showing that are internal in the camera. They don't however show up on the images. Check this out with all of the lenses that you own and see if the problem is there, then you will know it is not the lens.
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
more to worry about if he got that much inside a lens one season of baseball.
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Irene Troy |
Okay - I am totally confused! I shoot both film and digital and have never had dirt get INSIDE a lens. I prefer shooting nature and wildlife and have dragged my equipment some pretty dirty places (think lots of hiking, to the beach, the woods, rafting, etc.) I do have to clean the CCD on my digital about once a week, but all the dirt on my lenses appears to be on the lens surface. Am I missing something here? How does dirt get inside a lens? I thought that the elements were sealed??? Is this something that I need to worry about as I expand my photography and is there a way to prevent this from happening -other than using common sense caution? I am not trying to sound snotty or anything, I really don't get this. Thanks!
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Ron Burgis |
I've been shooting for over 25 years professionally and cleaning my lenes and camera bodies are regular maintence for me. Ron
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Bob Cammarata |
Dust specks inside a lens is a common occurrence, especially with old lenses that get used a lot. I have a 50 mm lens that has a dead decayed gnat in between the glass elements. (Don't ask me how in the heck he got in there!). If you shoot with a medium to wide aperture with a few specs of dust, you probably won't notice any difference in image clarity. If you stop down to a small aperture the dust specks could appear in the frame as out-of-focus "halos". If this bothers you, get an estimate to have the lens cleaned or get a new one.
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Irene Troy |
Thanks Guys! Now I understand - I think. I suppose that I have been either lucky or simply have not noticed the dirt inside my lens. I do remember that about 2 years ago I accidently dumped my tripod mounted 200-500 zoom into a pile of snow and ice (very stupid -failing to make sure that the tripod feet were well seated prior to mounting lens) and had to send the lens off to have the focusing ring replaced because of a serious ding. At that time they did say something about having cleaned the interior of the lens - I actually had forgotten about this incident until reading all of this. I'll have to pay attention to my images and see if there is any sign of dust/dirt/etc. that can be linked to this problem. I suppose that there is no real way to avoid this issue unless you always shoot in a "clean" room! BTW: Bob, a gnat inside your lens? Now that is weird! Hey - a new topic - what is the weirdest thing you ever found inside a lens? No, lets not go there! Thanks for the explanation.
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
Sometimes if you look through your lenses(not with it on the camera) you may see one or a few dust specs on one of the glass inside. Maybe it was stuck to the felt liner inside, maybe it's a small piece of the liner, maybe it came from outside, but you may have one or at some point you may get one. Even at your smallest apeture you're not going to have it affect your picture. You can get the inside cleaned if you just don't want it in there, but mostly what you'll have is just one or a few small specs that don't do anything. You might hear a Hoo if your ears are good enough. Just keeping your stuff clean is all you should need to do. Getting enough stuff inside that it jams up the gears still sounds like more than just being in a dusty place. Wipe the outside with paper towel/cloth and mild cleaner. Clean the front lens with lens cleaner and lens tissue. Or as you said, common sense caution.
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Fred S. MacKenzie |
OK, OK, OK. Sheesh, didn't want to start any arguments. Thanks for ALL of the comments. Those of you that take your time to answer questions really do help. Yes the dirt spots are in the lens, and no I don't know how they got there. I wasn't shooting baseball games or mud wrestling or anything extremely 'dirty'. Since this original post, I have not noticed any 'spots' on my pictures, so for now at least, no cleansing of the lens shall take place. Thanks again.
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