My Brand New 70-200 2.8 IS has a speck of dust inside it. Should I send it back? Help

[EricKonieczny]

I got home tonight and unwrapped my brand new 70-200 2.8 IS and started inspecting it to make sure it was 100% fine before I even took a picture with it.

To my dismay, I noticed a speck of white dust inside the lense very noticible from the front. I couldn't believe my eyes. I looked closer to make sure it was under the glass and not on top but it looks to be inside the glass by the inside threads.

Should I immediatly send the lense back to BH and ask for a new one.
I am really disspapointed in Canon's qaulity control for a $1700 lense. I was already to test it out, but I haven't even mounted it on my 20D yet.

has anyone every had this problem?

It looks there is no alternative but to send it back.

Do you have any other suggestions?

http://www.ekreating.com/images/2full.jpg

100% crop of above image

http://www.ekreating.com/images/2Crop.jpg



Another view

http://www.ekreating.com/images/3full.jpg

[guitarman3]

I'm no pro but I doubt the speck will affect the performance any. Trouble is you always will know it's there and that will bug the heck out of you (it would me anyway). And, if you ever sold it, you'd have to mention that in your description which would surely devalue it some. For $1700, I'd get a clean one although it would be tough to wait for the replacement to come. What a bummer! Sorry you had this trouble.

[grego]

Send it back if you think it will get to you, since you never used it and what not.

[Citizensmith]

They've all got specs of dust inside, its more a matter of if you can see them.

If it was a big speck wedged onto the glass I'd be tempted to say yes as it may occasionally cause flare that wouldn't have been present otherwise. Where that spec is though it will have absolutely no affect on your photos.

Oh yeah, and congrats on the new lens. Have fun.

[Sicily1918]

You sure it's a speck? It looks like a white dot in the pics to me... anyone else?

[Jackal]

He wouldn't have taken the picture of he didn't see the speck to begin with, Sicily. ;)

Congrats on the new lense. Even though it didn't come perfect. :p

[DReb-MO]

$1,700 for a "new" lens. No question. I'd send it back. If I am spending that kinda money on something that is near the top of the Canon lens food chain and it's not perfect, "see ya". I'd rather wait a week to switch lens's and be happy about what I bought than to look at that lens every time I shot and said darn, wish I would've.

[ddelallata]

I bought a Canon lens with something similar to that speck about a year ago. Try this... With the camera mount pointing down and the lens at the highest zoom(200mm in your case), quickly twist the barrel back to 70mm a few times and hopefully the light impact will dislodge that little bugger. If that doesn't work just send it back.

[MAD DOG]

My 70-200 f4 has just arrived this morning and it has no such marks.

Like everyone else I doubt it will affect the images, but it is going to annoy the hell out of you. I know it would me.

You'll never feel 100% happy with it, so bight the bullet and send it back.

As also stated, it could affect any future re-sale value.

[EricKonieczny]

I guess my question is, will the dirt/ speck show up on all images I take?

I don't want to have to edit every dang picture for a blurry spot.


If i look straight into the lens from the wide end. The spot looks to be inbetween the first two pieces of UD glass (seen in green in the illustration below). Or right after the 2nd peiace of glass and third piece. It is hard to tell. But the speck is not sitting on the side completely, it is on the glass. It is hard to tell from the angle of the shots above.

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/images/ef_70-200_28isx.gif

This is from Canon's website: The 70~200mm f/2.8L IS uses 23 elements, four of which utilize UD glass (seen in green in the illustration below). It features a rubber lens mount gasket making for a very water and dust-proof seal when used with either an EOS-1V or 1D.

[cdhender]

If you can stand the wait, send it back. For $1700 I would expect it to be perfect.

[kb244]

Well heres the thing that concerns me from reading this, it is my understanding that the White L Glass, as supposed to be weather sealed, especially when placed on the right body (1D, etc) , so things like dust, rain, sand, etc are not supposed to even make it inside the lens, unless of course you leave the back cap off and let things creep up inside the back. But it's been my experience that every zoom will get something inside of them just a matter of time, but for one of the L Glass thats supposibly weather sealed, I would think even brand new shouldnt have a thing in there. Its quite possible due to the bright white of the speck that it was maybe peice off an antistatic cloth or something else, when being assembled. But ya if B&H will take it back by all means, but if not I wouldnt be raising all hell about it, especially if its a loose peice it'll probally change position to a hidden portion of the lens.

[slin100]

Dust specks seldom have any visible effect in images. A speck that far out from the center of the glass is not going to be a problem. Nevertheless, I would probably send it back.

[paulhillion]

I had a similar problem with my first 70-200, sent it straight back & got a replacement.

[steibeldj]

It should be in a box on the way to UPS right now!:mad:

[EricKonieczny]

I just talked to B&H and it it will be exchanged. I will be shipping it out as soon as I get my packing label.

THey said they have had a few others returned with similar specks of dust.

Thanks for the help

[wibbly]

Well, it MAY be a very *good* sample in terms of the pictures you get. There is always a risk you will end up with a replacement that has no visible specks, but is less perfect in sharpness, for example. Just a thought...

J

[foxbat]

There's no way that's ever going to affect your photos, heck it's probably outside the image crop area of the 20D anyway. However it's your money, and it is a lot of money. You're entitled to get a product in what you consider to be perfect condition.

[edit] Just read Wibbly's post. Very good point. Take some photos. If it's super sharp I'd keep it...

[Sicily1918]

He wouldn't have taken the picture of he didn't see the speck to begin with, Sicily. ;)No, no... I meant that in the pic it looks like a dot inside the metal edge of the lens, not that it looks like there's a dot in the picture itself ;)

But who knows, maybe he can see specks only cameras can :shock:

:mrgreen:

[shiato storm]

I just talked to B&H and it it will be exchanged. I will be shipping it out as soon as I get my packing label.

THey said they have had a few others returned with similar specks of dust.
hello - new here, just hunting around for lenses and, as the 70-200IS L is on my 'want' list, I'm a little alarmed to notice that a few have been returned to source from new. I know its been at the back of my mind for a while but I didn't think canon's QC had dropped this much. if you're going to spend a lot of money on a new 'top of the line' lens then you'd expect it to be flawless out of the box. It doesn't instill a great deal of confidence to hear of this.
what other QC issues have i heard of? a guy I know is on his 5th 20D...all previous ones returned as a resut of part failures or unacceptable pixels within the sensor (i saw the example images and there were dodgy pixels all over the place!). so perhaps canon's QC has dropped a bit in all areas as this was the first I read about a lens - and a damn high quality one to boot - getting missed on the qulaity control line...
this doesn't sway me from believing canon stuff is excellent but it does worry me a tad...

[theflyingkiwi]

You know I find it sometimes hard to believe that people would accept company like canon to have a perfect QC. It can be a case that some people are just un-lucky when it comes to buying new gear. Since everything has a human component then there will always be errors.

My camera and my lens are all canon and I don't have a single problem with them (apart from operator error)

I wouldn't let small things like this effect my option on canon gear. I still believe that canon is way better than anything else on the market.

[EricKonieczny]

I wouldn't let small things like this effect my option on canon gear. I still believe that canon is way better than anything else on the market.

I have been using Canon for a while and still beleive it is the best also. I understand there is always human error even with robotics and todays technology. But If there is a error, I expect them to fix it and replace the faulty part.

I know part of this is mental, but I can't stand paying as much money as I did for the lense knowing there is a particle of something floating around in my lense.

It may not show up currently on my images, but if it moves to the middle more, it could.

I am more than happy with all my Canon gear. I am like a walking endorsement to my freinds

[ddelallata]

You did the right thing. Trust me, most of us here would have done the same thing. We want to see some pics when you get the replacement.

[wibbly]

For what it's worth, a mate who's a Nikon man replaced a new pro digital body from new (mirror was getting stuck up), and a 70-200 VR lens (bad bokeh). It's not just Canon that have bad'uns.

In the UK the 70-200 2.8L IS can be had for ~£1380 on-line. I can import from Germany for ~£1180. Maybe I can import from the US (VAT and Tax paid) for a little less. Or buy in a shop in the UK for the highest price of all.

For me the issue is just how much of a premium it's worth paying for the ease of swapout if I feel the need... This is like a trade off between the 'insurance' premium and likelyhood of a 'claim'. Alternative is just to send for service if I have to under warrantly to one of the better service centres (eg Fixation in London) and just buy as cheaply as I can...

J

[ed2day]

Even if that particle fell right onto the middle of the glass you'd never see it in photos. Way too defocussed. And even sealed "L" lenses accumulate some dust inside after years of use. But I don't blame you for sending it back--it would have bugged me too.

[NYC2BGI]

I have a similar speck on my Canon 17-85mm lens. It has not effected the image quality though I was also concerned. I kept the lens after taking some test shots with no problems yet.

[paulhillion]

Sorry to hijack this thread but I didn't think it was worth starting a new one. I was just going over my 2 month old 70-200IS with the blower when I noticed a very small mark underneath the back glass, right smack in the middle. It won't budge so I took some test shots of a blue sky and of course it doesn't show up, but as I'm a kind of perfectionist it's kind of annoying!

[PhotosGuy]

It features a rubber lens mount gasket making for a very water and dust-proof seal
...which means that it would never go away. Even though it's the very expensive "L-dust" I'd send it back. ;-) Tell the how VERY unhappy you are & maybe they'll throw in a CP!

[DocFrankenstein]

I'm not too big on optics, but it always seems like the front elements are supposed to pretty much come in contact with each other... if something is prevening it then it may affect the image quality.

But I don't know the tolerances

[RbrtPtikLeoSeny]

If it was on the side, I'd say maybe live with it, but like you said it's inside the glass and not right on the side. So, I'm guessing that could affect the lenses performance, and for 1700 bucks that isn't acceptable. Return it immediately!