Dirt IN lens?

[minicoop1985]

I have an Olympus OM-1n and a Zuiko 50mm F1.8 lens. I thought I saw some dirt on it, so I cleaned both ends of the lens. Well, it turns out the dirt is, in fact, INSIDE the lens (degrading material perhaps? It is 30 or so years old...). Is there any chance I can (DELICATELY) take it apart and clean it? Or should I be on the lookout for one on eBay? I'd much rather get some advice before diving into this. It would be a shame if I had to replace it, since the glass is absolutely perfect otherwise. Sorry, I can't seem to get any of my available digital cameras to focus on it, so I can't get any pictures of the dirt to help. Any help is, as always, appreciated.

 

[tirediron]

If it's an older, all-mechanical lens, then yes, you can disassemble them, usually without too much trouble (as long as you're patient and have a set of small screwdrivers), BUT... is the dirt degrading the lens's performance at all (I'm guessing probably not)? If the answer is no, then leave it alone - chances are you will introduce more dirt into the lens in the "cleaning" process than you will remove. It's very common for there to be some dust/dirt inside older lenses and 99.9999% of the time it has NO visible impact at all.

 

[Gavjenks]

99.9999% of the time it has NO visible impact at all.

This.

I accidentally dropped a lens a couple months ago on a pile of quartz gravel and then fell on top of it, and got like 5 huge gouges in the rear element.

Picked it up, brushed it off, did some test shots at very small apertures, can't see any scratches in the images. Still use it all the time.


Here are two images shot right after one another:



One of them had nothing in front of the lens. The other had this covering up the entire front element:


Can you tell the difference? Probably if you squint hard. If you weren't looking for it though, you probably wouldn't. And that bookend is the equivalent of HUNDREDS of little pieces of dirt.

 

[vintagesnaps]

If it's dust it may not show up in your photos; with vintage cameras I do as little as necessary, the more so the older the camera. If you're not seeing any specks in your photos I'd probably leave well enough alone.

I have a set of camera repair books by Tomosy but I think they're out of print; if you found a copy of Book 1 online used there's some good info. there about repair and cleaning mechanical film cameras.

 

[Big Mike]

Many lenses, even new ones, will get dust and 'dirt' inside of them. It's usually not something that will affect your image quality. At worst, it may catch the light when pointing at a bright point light (the sun etc.).

Lensblogger: Front Element Scratches

 

[minicoop1985]

Sweeeet. I just put a roll through it and dropped it off for developing a couple days ago (the camera shop only runs film when they have enough to make it worth setting up the machine), so I should know if it affects anything probably Monday or so. This actually answers another question I inevitably would have had later on about an Aires with some minor scratches on its lens. Thanks a ton!

 

[Buckster]

I would personally never attempt to take a lens apart, clean it, and put it back together. Besides the fact that dust probably won't affect performance, here's why I wouldn't even try it:

There is No Such Thing as a Perfect Lens

 

[TCampbell]

Sweeeet. I just put a roll through it and dropped it off for developing a couple days ago (the camera shop only runs film when they have enough to make it worth setting up the machine), so I should know if it affects anything probably Monday or so. This actually answers another question I inevitably would have had later on about an Aires with some minor scratches on its lens. Thanks a ton!

If you get bright light (e.g. outdoor sunlight) shining on the front of the lens, then a scratch or dirt particle might show up as a halo or flare. But you can get flares when the sun shines on the front elements even if the lens is pristinely clean.

I have a professional photographic repair guy in my town -- not a store, he just does repairs -- and he cleans lenses. I'd take it to such a facility for repair rather than attempt it on my own. Some lenses (typically budget lenses) have element groups that are literally glued together. Once these are made, they don't come apart and, consequently, they can't be cleaned.

 

[minicoop1985]

I got a roll processed and put on a CD at Walgreens (I much prefer using our local camera stores, but waiting 5 days for film makes me antsy) and I'm pretty sure it's fine. Yeah, they look bad when the lens is off, but you guys were absolutely right. Here's a result:


R1-04325-0021 by longm1985, on Flickr

Thanks everyone. And TCampbell, I didn't know some lenses were glued together. I guess if it DOES become an issue, I'll see how much it would be to fix, but these lenses are available camera bodies for $20, so I have a feeling I'd just replace it. If it were one of our Sony/Minolta or 4/3 lenses I would be repairing it rather than replacing, that's for sure.

Edit: I'd also like to tell everyone that you've been a huge help. Thanks!