Large Particles in Lens

tomoarigato · Oct 9, 2021

Hey guys,

First post here! Have been lingering in these forums for a while, getting lost in the wealth of information.

I decided I would like to get into film so I've just bought a Nikon FE and a Nikon 85mm f1.8 AF D off ebay. Unfortunately, the lens has two large (dust?) particles in the front element, which wasn't shown in the ebay images.. The particles aren't visible in the viewfinder, so was wondering whether I should be worried about them or not? I don't have a nikon digital camera to test the lens hence why I'm posting. I should be able to return the lens due to the seller not showing nor mentioning it in the ad. So thought I would just get an opinion from you guys first.

Cheers

bdial · Oct 9, 2021

They won’t hurt anything except for possibly the resale value.
It’s an awesome lens, I like mine better every time I use it.

AgX · Oct 9, 2021

completely negligible

MartinCrabtree · Oct 9, 2021

Yes it will perform as if they weren't there. This site explore what effects a scratch has in images.

AgX · Oct 9, 2021

And then there is somewhere that report on a shattered front element...

I would say the biggest problems one typically gets from haze inside and fingerprints on the front or rear.

BradS · Oct 9, 2021

Those are completely normal (for a lens this age) and will have absolutely no effect on the photographic results.
Don't worry, everything is going to be ok.

Sirius Glass · Oct 9, 2021

Do not worry about it.

Welcome to ~~APUG~~ Photrio!!

MartinCrabtree · Oct 9, 2021

AgX said:
And then there is somewhere that report on a shattered front element...

I looked for that one but gave up.

reddesert · Oct 9, 2021

AgX said:
And then there is somewhere that report on a shattered front element...

I would say the biggest problems one typically gets from haze inside and fingerprints on the front or rear.

Probably this:
https://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2008/10/front-element-scratches/

Generally, the front element is very far out of focus, so defects on or near the front element are not seen as in-focus image artifacts. This is often less true for the rear element, so marks on the rear element surface are of more concern.

If there are a lot of small scratches on the front, that can cause more light scattering and flare, but a few scratches typically only hurt resale value.

tomoarigato · Oct 9, 2021

Thanks, everyone for your replies! Appreciate it. That lensrentals blog makes a lot of sense, thanks for sharing reddesert. Now time to shoot my first roll of film!

BradS · Oct 9, 2021

AgX said:
And then there is somewhere that report on a shattered front element...

I remember, some years ago, Jim Galli posted some photos of a lens that looked so bad, I would have thrown it away as a total lost cause.
He posted photos of the lens and photos made with the lens.
Amazingly, the photos made with the lens didn't look too bad. In fact, they were shockingly good.
If I remember correctly the title of the post made some reference to an explosion in a pillow factory or some such.

Large Particles in Lens

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