Camera Lens Internal Cleaning

[justin.mah]

Does anyone know where I can take a camera lens to be cleaned internally? I've used the 17-55mm F/2.8 IS in Japan a lot and ended up getting a lot of dust inside the lens. I've been meaning to clean it for a while, but the dust spots started to really show up in my pictures lately, and it's annoying.

I was originally going to take it to the Cannon repair/service shop in Calgary, but I just went there recently and apparently they shut down their office here.

Is there any other local place I can take it to for internal cleaning?

[KKY]

Are you sure it's the dust in your lens that's showing up in pictures? have you checked your sensor?

[BerserkerCatSplat]

I've never seen internal dust show up on a photo before, ever. Have you cleaned your sensor properly?

[justin.mah]

Yes I have checked my sensors.

Here's how I know it's inside the lens:

1) I took a test shot with different lenses (70-200mm F/2.8 IS and 24-70mm f/2.8) and I don't get the "dust specs"

2) I took a test shot with no lens and I get no "dust" on the image.

3) I do routine cleaning on my lens with a hand squeezed air blower

4) I can visibly see a lot of dust inside the lens itself.

Maybe I should try posting a picture of the lens to show you guys...

[Mitsu3000gt]

A pic of the lens and a sample pic with the dust might help. It would be surprising to see lens dust affect a picture much other than a slight loss of contrast.

[justin.mah]

Okay here are the images...

The first image is my lens. Take a look at the "dust" in the middle. I cannot clean it off, it's all under the glass.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_xLjvKpI474c/SmlCClB8nOI/AAAAAAAAG8g/NzL5eZfNO0o/DustyLens.JPG

The next image is a shot I took of a group of people. I blacked them out for their privacy, but if you look at the sky, you'll see darker spots everywhere. I've highlighted most of them with red arrows. Sorry I didn't save this image in high JPG, but I'm sure you can see some of the more obvious ones.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_xLjvKpI474c/SmlB9Xk1pjI/AAAAAAAAG8c/GfdlZCfvM3s/17-15mmSPOTS.jpg

[Cos]

doubt there is dust on the lense. I remember there was a post on here a while ago about scratching a lense and it still took good photos.

Probably something else.

[BerserkerCatSplat]

Originally posted by justin.mah
Yes I have checked my sensors.

Here's how I know it's inside the lens:

1) I took a test shot with different lenses (70-200mm F/2.8 IS and 24-70mm f/2.8) and I don't get the "dust specs"

2) I took a test shot with no lens and I get no "dust" on the image.

3) I do routine cleaning on my lens with a hand squeezed air blower

4) I can visibly see a lot of dust inside the lens itself.

Maybe I should try posting a picture of the lens to show you guys...



1.) Did you compare them at the same small apertures? Sensor dust won't show up at large apertures, f/22 is the best way to check.

2.) Sensor dust will never show up on a lenseless shot, the light is too diffuse to show the dark patches correctly. For the same reason, testing at large aperture doesn't work.

3.) Not always enough.

4.) Yep, however I would like you to read this page and tell me again how a little dust in your lens is going to cause well-defined spots on your images.
http://www.lensrentals.com/news/2008.10.30/front-element-scratches


So, basically, you haven't tested for sensor dust correctly and I'm still quite certain that's what this is. I looked at your photos and they still shout "sensor dust" to me.

[justin.mah]

Originally posted by Cos
doubt there is dust on the lense. I remember there was a post on here a while ago about scratching a lense and it still took good photos.

Probably something else.

Did you look at my pictures?

[KKY]

That's quite a bit of dust. but again, they should not show up on pictures as dark specks.

Check your sensor. shine a flash light on it and you'll see.

[justin.mah]

Thanks...

BerserkerCatSplat, thanks for the tip about setting the camera to F22. I was able to reproduce the spots on ALL my lenses.

And thanks to everyone who kept insisting that it was my sensor...

I went to do another sensor cleaning, and it's VERY difficult to see the dust! I had to keep shining light at various angles (directly reflected light actually hid the dust more) to be able to make out the dust, but still, very very difficult to see.

The blower could only move away so much dust, but I think I got the majority of it. There were a few specs that I could see that I could not blow off no matter how much air pressure I applied.

What other ways are there to clean the sensor?

Once again thanks everyone!

[quazimoto]

Yes the camera store sells proper swabs that are fit for your specific sensor as well optic cleaning fluid for tin oxide coated sensors. It makes cleaning the sensors extremely easy.

[Cos]

Originally posted by justin.mah


Did you look at my pictures?

if i could find the thread you would know what I was talking about. The lense was scratched with sand paper and then a picture was taken. You couldnt tell the lense was scratched.

Because you can see your imperfections in the pictures, it leads me to believe it was something else.

[lint]

Originally posted by Cos


if i could find the thread you would know what I was talking about. The lense was scratched with sand paper and then a picture was taken. You couldnt tell the lense was scratched.

Because you can see your imperfections in the pictures, it leads me to believe it was something else.

check out the link berserkercatsplat posted

[Cos]

Originally posted by lint


check out the link berserkercatsplat posted

ah I didnt even see it, yeah that is the one.