Cleaning inside of your lens

Dustinside · Jul 3, 2024

Hi,

I have an old Nikon 70-210 F/1.4-5.6 telescopic lens. It’s got dust inside of it and needs to be cleaned. It would cost me $300+ to have it cleaned by a local shop. The lens’ market value is $150 so it doesn’t make sense to spend $300. I’m trying to clean it myself and does anyone know how to open the front part that’s coving the screws?

randyB · Jul 3, 2024

I don't see much dust. If this is the currant state of your lens, dust wise, then I wouldn't attempt to take the lens apart. Some can be tricky, you may not be able to get it back together so that it works correctly. A small amount of dust won't screw-up your photos.

beemermark · Jul 4, 2024

All lenses have dust inside. Except for underwater cameras lenses aren't hermetically sealed. Use it to shoot with and don't overthink it.

Dustinside · Jul 4, 2024

randyB said:
I don't see much dust. If this is the currant state of your lens, dust wise, then I wouldn't attempt to take the lens apart. Some can be tricky, you may not be able to get it back together so that it works correctly. A small amount of dust won't screw-up your photos.

I use it for wedding videos and the dust shows on the videos. The quality of videos is fantastic with this lens and f1.4 is great for low light! It’s only a $150 lens but buying a zoom lens with f1.4 is gonna cost me a lot more. I have no choice but to clean it as it affects my work. It’s either done by a shop for $300+ or do it myself.

bernard_L · Jul 4, 2024

Dustinside said:
70-210 F/1.4-5.6

Dustinside said:
buying a zoom lens with f1.4

Are you sure the aperture at 70mm is f/1.4? Is it not rather f/4? Which would make it a common and relatively cheap lens.

Dustinside · Jul 4, 2024

There is it!

koraks · Jul 4, 2024

bernard_L said:
Are you sure the aperture at 70mm is f/1.4? Is it not rather f/4?

It's most definitely f/4, not f/1.4.
The going rate of these lenses is $50 to $100 or so.

Dustinside said:
does anyone know how to open the front part that’s coving the screws?

Use a spanner tool that fits in the marked slots to unscrew the front retaining ring. Then work your way further down the lens stack.

Be careful not to scratch the optics.

Don_ih · Jul 4, 2024

Dustinside said:
I use it for wedding videos and the dust shows on the videos.

$300 is a low price to pay if you're using it to shoot wedding videos you get paid for. Or you could buy another lens that possibly doesn't have the problem (there's one on ebay right now for 85cad with free shipping). Zoom lenses have the elements move in relation to one another and getting access to all of them can be very difficult - and the dust you see could be on the element that's hardest to reach. There's no guarantee you can access all elements just from the front.

Andreas Thaler · Jul 4, 2024

If the dust is visible in the videos, I suspect the rear lenses need cleaning as they are closer to the image plane.

Can you locate the dust in the lens?

dxqcanada · Jul 7, 2024

Dust on the lens elements would never be "visible" on the image ... it can only reduce the light transmission. I you can see dust in a video then it would on the sensor.

Cleaning inside of your lens

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Cleaning inside of your lens

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