inside the lens is filled with particles????

[papatooth]

Hi,

this cant be good. how do i get the inside of my camera lens clean and how the heck did dirt and fine particles get in there?????? i never dropped it!!!??????

 

[musicaleCA]

Depending on the lens, this can happen. Zoom lenses with a duo-cam system are particularly vulnerable. Getting dust inside a lens isn't because of dropping it, it's the environment you subject it to and whether or not the body and lens are weather-sealed. I got sand in my 24-70mm f/2.8 recently (the lens is weather-sealed, but my body is not) after being in an absolute downpour with no way of covering my camera from the water. The only thing you can do is get the lens serviced. Don't even attempt to take it apart yourself and clean it.

 

[Derrel]

You know the old expression, "Grit happens!" right? I mean, you've seen it on bumper stickers for years now, right?

The atmosphere is filled with very small particles of dust and grit and pollen and junk; it finds its way inside of lenses that are used. The older a lens, the more junk it might tend to have inside of it.

I have a 1982 105mm f/2.5 AiS Nikkor lens I bought brand new, and I have a very early 2000's model, identical, which I bought in mint condition used. The 27-year-old model that I carried and used every day for years has a lot of "gunk" inside of it; the newer model is almost pristine. But you know what? The images coming out of either lens look basically identical.

MOST older, used lenses have some stuff inside of them....it's not that damaging to the images under most conditions, If you go out to your car and look at the paint finish really,really closely, you'll see hundreds of thousands of minute scratches. Take a magnifying glass, and LOOK--you'll be aghast at the damage that your paintjob has. Molehill does not equal mountain.

 

[Garbz]

You won't prevent the dirt ingress completely. Even my "environmentally sealed" lenses have dirt in them, though less than my other ones.

But really it makes no difference. The entire lens element is responsible for focusing just a single picture, the closer a tiny defect is to the element the less it will effect the picture. Even a lot of dirt would likely make zero difference to your photos.

This is quite the opposite to a spec of dust on the sensor. The closer the specs are to the focal plane of the lens the more they will have a tendency to block light.

 

[musicaleCA]

Case and point, my 24-70 has a scratch on the front element (albeit a VERY tiny one). No effect on IQ at all.

 

[table1349]

Hi,

this cant be good. how do i get the inside of my camera lens clean and how the heck did dirt and fine particles get in there?????? i never dropped it!!!??????

The prudent photographer would ship it off to the manufacture to have cleaned. Unless you know how to calibrate a lens once you have taken it apart and cleaned the elements. If not, then you will be shipping it back to have it calibrated.

 

[Dwig]

...how the heck did dirt and fine particles get in there?...

One common entry point is the rear of the lens. Even "environmentally sealed" lenses often aren't sealed where the body covers them. Its very, very important to keep rear lens caps clean and always in use. Never leave the rear of a lens uncapped.

 

[beala]

If it's an old lens, it might actually be relatively easy to open it up and clean yourself. I did it to a lens I got for $20 off ebay. Of course, if it's valuable I wouldn't mess with it.