How can we prevent dust getting into Canon 17-55 f/2.8

Sirs,
1. Anyone could tell me how to prevent dust go get into our Canon 17-55mm f/2.8.[/U][/B]
2. Besides using filter to protect, can we use some kind of soft rubber or any other substance to seal on the side where the dust can get into it while zooming.
3. Or, is there any product to help solve this problem on the market ?
4. Pls advise. Really appreciate your advice - Thank you very much.

I have had mine for about 9 months with no dust issues. There may be some with use in very dusty areas though. I can not help you otherwise as I have not researched to resolve the issues.

Langin wrote in post #15854518
Sirs,
1. Anyone could tell me how to prevent dust go get into our Canon 17-55mm f/2.8.
2. Besides using filter to protect, can we use some kind of soft rubber or any other substance to seal on the side where the dust can get into it while zooming.
3. Or, is there any product to help solve this problem on the market ?
4. Pls advise. Really appreciate your advice - Thank you very much.

The only way to keep dust out is to never use the lens and keep it in a sealed, dust-free area. Since the barrel of the 17-55 f/2.8 extends as focal length changes, that means air must move in and out of the lens The air must come from somewhere, and real-world air will contain dust.

You may need to consider another lens that does not change lengths, such as the Canon 16-35mm f/2.8 lens.

You cannot, should not try to add to the factory seals. A protective filter does help. Common sense when shooting in a dusty place is key. Actually the front of the 17-55 is failry easy to remove should you get too much dust inside. Relax, may not be the issue you think it can be. Gene

We used to see a lot of complaints about dust in the 17-55. But it's really not common to see those any longer... at least the last couple years. Maybe Canon has added a seal already, so the newer ones are less prone to getting dust inside. (If so, it wouldn't be the first time Canon did a "quiet upgrade" during a lens' production lifespan.)

amfoto1 wrote in post #15854615
(If so, it wouldn't be the first time Canon did a "quiet upgrade" during a lens' production lifespan.)

Examples?

Genuinely curious!

Put a high quality UV filter on it when I bought it 4 years ago and still no specs. Maybe it helped. Maybe I didn't need it anyway? Makes it easier to sell.

I have often wondered if Canon does silent upgrades too. I bought a used 15-85 and it has no dust issues. It was designed after the 17-55 and I wonder if the newer 17-55s incorporate something from the 15-85 design, since both extend when zooming.

I doubt we could get an actual confirmation, one way or the other, from Canon. Manufacturing changes are seldom shared with the public.

No dust... no glory

I clear protective filter will minimize dust coming in from the front element, but that means it's going to have to come in somewhere else. As pointed out, the lens changes volume when zooming so it's going to displace air.

However, the amount of dust that enters is quite small an few have any serious issue. Also, if dust does enter, cleaning the front element is a very doable DYI task and requites no special tools or skills. If you can unscrew a screw and screw it back in, you are technically able to do the cleaning yourself.
http://www.pbase.com/r​cicala/1755_is_surgery
The only thing I changed from this procedure is that I heat the front plastic seal with a hair dryer before removing it. This softens the glue making removal much simpler.

Invertalon wrote in post #15854655
Examples?

Genuinely curious!

Okay. Here's a lens example.... I know for certain that the 70-200/2.8 IS "Mark I" got a revised IS system a couple years after production started. I bought the lens early on and, either through their product registration program or CPS, a year or two later Canon contacted me to offer it . Their description of the revision said it had nothing to do with effectiveness or durability of the IS... Mostly just made the lens more easily serviced. My lens was out of warranty, so the "upgrade", which was being incorporated in all lenses being manufactured thence-forth, would have cost $600 at the time and I said "no thanks". The lens still works fine, some 8 or 9 years later.

Heck, it isn't at all uncommon for manufacturers to do "on the fly" production improvements to their offerings. Canon has plenty more examples...

Remember all the problems with the 1D Mark III focus system when that model first came out? It took a year until Canon even admitted there was a problem, after which they fixed existing cameras through warranty and incorporated the fix into all subsequent production cameras. They never made a Mark III"N" to reflect the change. If memory serves, there were colored dots added to the cameras and/or their shipping boxes to indicate those that had been fixed.

But Canon is fickle! ISTR there were very few difference of much note between the 1D Mark II and the 1D Mark IIN, or between the 20D and 30D. Yet they made model name changes without very significant differences in the products themselves.

Another "silent upgrade", the 5D Mark III had those exposure problems initially, easily fixed with a piece of light-blocking tape under the top LCD. After warranty work resolved it on the existing cameras, they simply incorporated the change into production. Same with the 5D classic's loose mirror issues, which didn't start showing up until the cameras were in service for a year or two... The ones later in production had the changes incorporated right from the factory. Yet there were no "N" versions or model name changes.

And there were the fitment problems with the early BG-E2 grips originally sold along with the 20D.... That was fixed and incorporated into all following production without any model number change, some years before the BG-E2N was introduced (along with 404, if I recall correctly... and at a higher price, while the only known difference is a 2 cent dust seal added on the battery door).

There were tons of complaints about dust in the 17-55 early on... but we rarely see any posts about it any more. I also suspect they've made some changes to that lens' IS system... I seem to recall a lot of early failures of that, the first year or two. We don't hear much about that now, either.

Some place like Lensrentals, who test and tear apart the lenses themselves on occasion and have multiple, even multiple dozens of copies of any given item, could probably tell us a lot more. On their blog they do note some "batch variations" at times... such as a propensity for a batch of particular lens' AF motors to fail, for example, while other batches of the same model they bought earlier or later seem fine.

So, yes, Canon does "silent upgrades"... along with some not-so-silent.... Look at all the hullabaloo about the 7D and 5DIII firmware upgrades (In many respects, there's more difference between these cameras before and after the firmware change, than there was between 1D MkII and 1D MkIIN models).

The upshot of all this being that I wouldn't worry too much about buying a 17-55 new today.... It appears llikely that Canon has worked the bugs out and it's a fine lens.

Just like others said, the only way to stop dust getting into the lens is to stop using it, but even that may not be enough, as most probably your lens came from the shop with dust arleady preinstalled. If it's not on the glass, it may sit on the inside of the barrel and it will only take a few zooming actions to move it onto the lens. I can't imagine filter would make much of a difference, since majority of dust, fibre, hair etc gets into the lens through extending the barrel while zooming. I have experience with a few 17-55 and it's ability to attract dust seems to vary from one copy to another, but I have also seen extremely polluted 17-55 used by a pro, and there was no decrease in image quality whatsoever. My advice would be, to clean the inside of your camera bag and your lenses regulary, keep your lenses covered if not in use and stop worrying about dust. If you find the last one too hard to accomplish, Canon's fixed price for lens cleaning is £80 or you can easily do it yourself.

don't look into the front end of the lens, and you'll never see dust...

other than what's already mentioned, look into "dust donut"

amfoto1 wrote in post #15854969
...
Heck, it isn't at all uncommon for manufacturers to do "on the fly" production improvements to their offerings..

Remember all the problems with the 1D Mark III focus system when that model first came out? ...
Another "silent upgrade", the 5D Mark III had those exposure problems initially, easily fixed with a piece of light-blocking tape under the top LCD. ...

And there were the fitment problems with the early BG-E2 grips originally sold along with the 20D......
such as a propensity for a batch of particular lens' AF motors to fail, for example, while other batches of the same model they bought earlier or later seem fine.

So, yes, Canon does "silent upgrades"... along with some not-so-silent.... Look at all the hullabaloo about the 7D and 5DIII firmware upgrades ...

The upshot of all this being that I wouldn't worry too much about buying a 17-55 new today.... It appears llikely that Canon has worked the bugs out and it's a fine lens.

Your examples are not what I would consider an upgrade to an existing product but a fix of a defect, no different than a product recall. Your firmware upgrade may come closer to a product re-design mid-cycle but those are available to all, not just those who purchased a new camera.