Possible: dust in the lense?

[EOS mE]

today i've noticed something.. a spec of dust in my brand new 17-55mm lense. how in the world did it get there? it's right behind the glass in the dead center and i can't get to it. :cry:

so should i be worried that it's there? this is my one and only lense right now and since i got it... it's been on the camera and never came off. so how did that dust get there? anyone else have the same thing happen to their lense?

[BryanP]

Yes it's possible for dust to get into the lens. You can get dust in there by doing things like switching the lens out.

As far as seeing it in the pictures, its very unlikely you will see it. The reason why is because DOF usually does not span far enough to even come close to capturing the dust into "focus," and the focal plane is definitely not where the dust is at. Just think about being able to shoot through a fence with your camera.

It will only adversely affect your shots if you have a blotch of dust there that actually affects the incoming light rays in a harsh manner (which is also very unlikely). Even small strands of fiber that some lenses also have straight from the factory will not affect the images. Technically speaking, there should be a degradation in quality, but it is so negligible that your eye can't decipher it.

I would just recommend not worrying about it.

[FlashZebra]

My advice:

Forget you ever saw it. A few dust specks here and there will not affect you images in any meaningful way.

I have a pile of lenses, for many different camera formats, almost all of them have a few dust specks.

Just remember, if the best a lens can do is focus a foot or two in front of the lens, how can it possibly focus on someting inside the lens.

Just ignore the dust specks.

Enjoy! Lon

[EOS mE]

oh ok.. thank you! scared me half to death! :lol:

[Permagrin]

I was so happy to read this post. My 50mm 1.4 has a dust spot and I only recently found it and wondered what I should do (get another one (not in the budget at the moment), send it in to see if anything can be done...) These answers definitely made my evening.

All the best.

[EOS mE]

peregrin.... u can always send me the 50mm 1.4... ;) i'm drooling with envy now.. cuz that's one of the lens on my list..... i hope you are loving your fifty.