Thread: Canon Lens Servicing

Before you stress out tooo much, - can you see or prove any effect the gravel boulders are having on the image ?

Have you tried a series of test-shots, against the light and contrasty subjects? - Do both lenses. See how much flare you're getting from each... and what sharpness degradation is evident. Don't look at the lens, look at the whole photo.

You can get away with a lot more than you think!

$250 would be cheap to have a lens stripped, cleaned, lubricated and put back together again.

Cheers

James.

I received an email quote from a mob in the city that I found with a search. Also try Canon in North Ryde. They probably have a fixed price service for that kind of work.

are your lenses Canon L series? If not, in all honesty its probably not worth bothering with.

Put them on ebay and buy new replacements. Chances are, even if they are clean they will not be anywhere near as good as today's, cheaper lenses.

Sign of the times Im afraid!

Hi Redback,

I doubt the dirt will have any effect on your images.

I only use old manual focus lenses on my DSLR's, many are over 30 years old, i actually prefer using old glass, it forces me to slow down. I must disagree with John, many of the older lenses clearly outperform todays offerings. Where todays lenses offer better performance is in regards to Autofocus and flare, modern coatings are fantastic.

Here is an article that may help you understand what will happen to your images with dirty lenses..

Dirty lens article

I am not advocating treating you lenses like this, but to spend good money on cleaning that may create more problems than it solves seems like a bad idea.

Cheers

Steve

If it's really bad, I'd suggest going straight to Canon in Ryde. They have fixed prices for most things, and this could be one of them. If it's not a fixed price, they'll probably be able to give you a rough estimate via email once they know the lens.

I've been through Canon before when my 24-70's aperture blades got stuck, they were quick, friendly, and although it was pricey it was a very easy process for me. Big thumbs up for them.

If it's a cheaper lens, it may not be worth doing, you could always putt he cash into a sneaky upgrade.

Originally Posted by s7000

...

If it's a cheaper lens, it may not be worth doing, you could always putt he cash into a sneaky upgrade.

And thats sort of my point Baz... Value for money.

Just because its old, doesnt mean its better than something that maybe marginally more expensive than a Canon clean / service.

Someone mentioned that older lenses make you "slow down" and that thats somehow a good thing? How does being slow make a better photo? The key things are good lens and thought to assess where you are and what you want to achieve.

Are your old lenses fully compatible (auto focus, auto aperture etc) or are they simply old manual lenses that happen to have an EF mount? What focal length are we talking about anyting upto 200mm nowadays is pretty cheap (check out Sigma and Tamron for best value for money).

If you were talking about old, hard to replace lenses or super tele-photo's that would be detremental to the camera if you had to loose them, well that would be a different story. But there are so many good, every-day and relitavely cheap EF mount lenses out there now I just cant see the logic in giving good money to Canon for something that will still be old and slow when you get it back, albeit a bit cleaner.

I'd be interested to know what lenses you have that you are considering cleaning and how much Canon say it will cost to clean.



Thinking outside the square a little, how dirty are they? Id be very suprised if more than a few specks are visible on the images. That being the case, coupled with the quantity of pictures that you may take. Could you simply post-process and get rid of them in photoshop or some other software?

Also, normally speaking its not the dirt you can see but the effect of the dirt, i.e. how light bounces around and off it. Often this effect can be drastically reduced by using a lens hood, aka suitably sized bucket forward of the end of the lens (matt black inside).

hth
J

You should be able to clean the back element yourself with a blower and brush to get rid of the rocks and then use a lense cleaning cloth and fluid if there are any grease marks etc.

If the dirt is on the internal elements then you needs professional help. But as said before, what are the lenses? Is it worth it?

I sympathise Redback, having been there myself ( invaders in the internals of lenses), can send one into a panic.

Interestingly, the Technicians at my old work never worried about dust, -only the odd case of water inside a lens, collimation or mechanical damage would cause them to strip & clean a lens. (Nikkor/Nikon in those days)
Their reasoning was that all the inner surfaces were far away from any focal points, so could not affect the image. At worst, reducing the amount of light passing through.
Excessive flare was usually the result of fingerprints or lots of cleaning scratches on the front element. (Guilty as charged, for my First Camera...)

Take pictures and enjoy your lens,,, use a tripod, focus with care, exclude the sun from your compositions or use a hand/lens hood, sort out the 879 other settings and..... don't tell anyone that you used a lens with visible DUST inside it !!!