New lens, dust inside - some advice needed

[rocdoc]

Hi everyone,
I want to ask the advice of more experienced folks. I increased my lens collection with the 17-50 f2.8 Tamron lens, as I was aching for more wide angle options. I ordered it from Amazon (and now I'm sorry I didn't stick with B&H like I always do, but that's another story). Out of the box I can see specks of dust inside the lens. At least two visible spots behind the front glass and a rather large one behind the rear. Otherwise the lens looks nice and shiny

Is this a common occurrence? Or should I return it (I literally just got it today)? I have been browsing through the forum here and it appears that it's not uncommon for zoom lenses to have some dust inside, but for a brand new lens it kind of makes me apprehensive, not to mention it takes some of the joy of the new toy away…
Do you guys normally return a lens like this?
Thank you for your kind advice.

 

[Dao]

If that dust make you nervous and keep bothering you, return it. Once it is in your mind, you may keep thinking about it.

If the dust is closer to the front element or in the middle of the lens, chances are you cannot see them in your photos. And dust will get inside the lens anyway. It is really up to you whether you want to return it or not.

 

[Derrel]

Somebody gave me a horse, for free!!!! Valued at over $1,000. Then, I started looking inside his mouth, and noticed his teeth are kinda' yellowed. And one of them might actually be bad! I am thinking of giving the horse back!!!
Similarly, a bird crapped on my car yesterday...I'm pretty tweaked off about it too...thinking of getting the car repainted in another color--one that will not show bird do-dos!!!

See where I'm goin' with these analogies???

 

[Dao]

Derrel, my thought exactly. We bought a new car this spring. On the day we picked the car, my wife noticed a tiny little spot in the from bumper. A size of 2-3mm chipped spot. My thought was "It doesn't really matter since it will have spots like that in the next few months anyway".

 

[rocdoc]

Thanks! I'm more concerned about the speck near the rear element. I think I'm OK with it just being there if indeed it's a common occurrence (folks tell me it is, although it's a first for me), I just have to take another good look and make sure that what I see is indeed dust and not small nicks on the glass!
I'll see how it performs for about a week and if doubts remain I'll return it.

 

[rocdoc]

And well, regarding the analogies, I completely see the point. However, this horse was not a gift, but rather paid with money I have to be careful with. And my question here was whether this yellow tooth is a common occurrence or a serious problem. If dust is likely to show up inside in the next few weeks anyway, I am a lot less concerned.

 

[tron]

are the spots showing up in your photos? if not then fogettaboutit

 

[penfolderoldo]

If there's dust in a brand new lens and it's as noticeable as you indicate then by all means send it back - it's not unreasonable to assume if there's dust in it already there may be other issues with it, you just never know, and Derrel, i'm not entirely sure about your analogies, principally because its not a free item, and whilst we all know EVERY lens will get dust in it at some point it's a bit off that this one has it so soon, which may indicate less than perfect build quality / storage.

 

[cedricb]

Shoot at a white wall. If you don't see any spots on the pic, don't worry about it!

 

[Derrel]

All lenses, except those sealed 100 percent against the ingress of water, like lenses for the Nikkonos underwater camera, will get dust in them. Here's a good example of how absolutely little part dust and junk inside a lens plays. I own two Nikkor 105mm f/2.5 Ai-S lenses...one from the very first year the lens was made back in the early 1980's. The second lens, made late, in the early 2000's. The first lens I carried on an old NIkon F body during wheat combining season back when I was a kid...it is FULL of DUST....it is FILTHY inside. The new lens is nearly immaculate. One summer, I decided I'd shoot just those two lenses. Each one went on and off more than a dozen times during a day. Looking at the images made, it is impossible to tell which lens shot which pics. Again, virtually ALL regular lenses will get dust inside them--and it has absolutely nothing to do with "build quality". Dust is simply exceptionally small stuff. Even the tightest tolerances of say .003" (three-one-thousandths of an inch) are Grand Canyon-like compared against the size of most dust particles!!!!!!

Jeeze people...let's go out to our car bumpers and lay a 10x magnifying loupe on the paint job and feel all bummed out! Get one look at that mole on Cindy Crawford's face and kick her out of bed!

 

[Nikon_Josh]

Ah this is interesting, I didn't realise this was being asked! I just posted this article as a new thread...Dirty lens article. It explains how much abuse a lens can take before it degrades image quality!

Derrel you are bang on the money once again it would appear!

 

[penfolderoldo]

you're right - EVERY lens will indeed get dust and other assorted crap in it eventually, which is exactly what I said! The dust specks may well not be an issue in terms of image quality, however if the OP is concerned about them they MAY become an issue in his photography, so getting a perceived placebo-like 'boost' of a dust free replacement may mean one less thing for him to stress about. Thats all I was saying.

 

[Nikon_Josh]

You make a valid point Penfolderoldo. If I get a a brand new piece of equipment, I don't really expect it to have any negative factors upon purchase. It is a sign of poor QC. And i guess there is something to be said for holding manufacturers accountable for their actions, if they are allowed to get away with second rate quality control then they will feel no need to improve.

 

[djacobox372]

Unless the particles are larger then a typical spec of dust I wouldn't worry about it. Dust in a lens won't cause any issues, but larger debris might.One way to think of it: the air between your lens and your subject is full of dust, a few specs in your lens won't add much to the equation.

 

[rocdoc]

I wanted to give everyone an update on the resolution of this. I returned it to Amazon and got another copy for B&H. No problem with the return to Amazon, as always. The new copy is free of any blemishes, and (might be just me) might be slightly sharper and more color neutral, but I really won't be able to test that properly. It also arrived almost instantly in classic B&H fashion. Happy with the decision I made. Thanks everyone for your advice!