Dust in lense

[JM]

I've got some dust/fluff in a couple of Cannon lenses.

What's the best way to clean them properly, diy or send them away?
Who cleans them and roughly how much would it cost?
Any recommendations in/around Edinburgh?

Thanks

[markmullen]

Is it actually appearing in shots? Lenses can be pretty filthy without anything appearing in shots.

Otherwise Canon at Elstree will clean them for you.

[LongQ]

markmullen said:

Is it actually appearing in shots? Lenses can be pretty filthy without anything appearing in shots.

Otherwise Canon at Elstree will clean them for you.

What Mr. Mullen says.

Also the official Canon Service agents will do it although for certain rare lenses (DOs for example) they may send them to Canon anyway. For a list of approved service centres try the Canon web site or Google - I don't have the links to hand.

There seems to be a fixed price for a 'service' whatever that entails. For my 70-300 DO IS (considered to be a Pro level spec.) it was about £160 (including VAT) last winter. Not sure about others. But that was a full service, some repairs and a thorough clean. on a lens that has an rrp of about £1200.

[JM]

markmullen said:

Is it actually appearing in shots? Lenses can be pretty filthy without anything appearing in shots.

Otherwise Canon at Elstree will clean them for you.

Yes it appears in shots, spoiling some decent images.


Thanks, would Jessops do it/send to Cannon?

[Skaffen]

markmullen said:

Is it actually appearing in shots? Lenses can be pretty filthy without anything appearing in shots.

What he said - don't bother unless it's showing up on shots

Also I wouldn't try to DIY clean a decent lens myself. I had a go with some cheap tatty old manual focus zoom lenses I bought on ebay (with bad internal fungus/haze) and having done that I know now I wouldn't want to try on a decent lens (quite apart from anything else, stopping dust specs from a normal room getting back in while putting the thing back together is nigh on impossible).

[markmullen]

JM said:

Yes it appears in shots, spoiling some decent images.

Are you sure it is in the lens and not on the sensor?

[JM]

markmullen said:

JM said:

Yes it appears in shots, spoiling some decent images.

Are you sure it is in the lens and not on the sensor?

I can see spots spots inside the lense and a small strand of fibre, they appear on images.

[LongQ]

JM said:

Yes it appears in shots, spoiling some decent images.


Thanks, would Jessops do it/send to Cannon?

Very unlikely to be dust on or in the lens if you are seeing spots or dark marks. Mush more likely to be something tiny on the sensor. Dust/dirt on the lens will usually manifest as loss of contrast but even that will only be in any way evident if you can compare with the results of clean lens side by side. Even large water drop often result in little more than a slightly soft/blurred/lower contrast area on the final image.

[Skaffen]

JM said:

I can see spots spots inside the lense and a small strand of fibre, they appear on images.

Are they near the front or rear element? I seem to recall, from playing with the cheap e-bay tatty lenses (including one with a huge scratch on the front) that larger bits of junk on the rear element (when stopped down) can start to manifest in images. The front element seemed much more resilient.

[JM]

Ok, thanks for all the replies so far.

It's on the front element that I'm seeing the stuff, but going by what's been said here, maybe it is more a sensor issue than a lense issue.

I was pretty sure it was the stuff in the lense that I was seeing that was the problem.

It's a Canon EOS20D, I'm sure there's a bit in the handbook about sensor cleaning setting, I'll have a look at that over the weekend and if not satisfied I'll maybe take it to Calumet to get it cleaned properly.

Thanks.

[Skaffen]

JM said:

Ok, thanks for all the replies so far.

It's on the front element that I'm seeing the stuff, but going by what's been said here, maybe it is more a sensor issue than a lense issue.

I was pretty sure it was the stuff in the lense that I was seeing that was the problem.

It's a Canon EOS20D, I'm sure there's a bit in the handbook about sensor cleaning setting, I'll have a look at that over the weekend and if not satisfied I'll maybe take it to Calumet to get it cleaned properly.

Thanks.

If you've got a second lens then it should be pretty easy to find out - shoot something flat and evenly lit and if it shows up with both lenses it'll be the sensor .

I've cleaned the sensor on my two prior Nikon cameras before due to getting stuff on the sensor (I found any spec on the sensor will show up in bright solid areas of images, like the sky). If you can lock up the mirror and carefully peer inside (careful as you don't want more dust wandering in) you can usually see anything on the sensor quite easily.

Never try to wipe the sensor with any normal cleaning stuff - careful use of a blower is the first thing to try (careful because you don't want to make it worse by blowing additional stuff onto it). Sometimes you'll get a particle that a blower can't dislodge - I was unlucky enough to have this happen within a month of getting one camera. To sort mine I used special sensor cleaning kit with swabs and eclipse fluid - a doddle to use, and it did the job (I think the kit I went with gives a guarantee against damage if you follow their instructions and make sure you use the kit listed for the particular camera model).

[GetCarter]

99% Sensor, 1% Lens.

Do as above or send off (like I do) to get it done professionaly.

[Elderly]

JM said:

markmullen said:

JM said:

Yes it appears in shots, spoiling some decent images.

Are you sure it is in the lens and not on the sensor?

I can see spots spots inside the lense and a small strand of fibre, they appear on images.

If you are seeing it on the finished image it's probably sensor related (as others have already said) but the spots and strand of fibre you can see in the lens MIGHT be fungus or mold,
and if so, there's most probably no satisfactory remedy.