Dust in lens...

[mllanos1111]

I just bought a Nikkor lens on eBay it was a good price but not an amazing price.
Anyway, the lens showed up and it looked a little beat up, but the closer I inspected it the more dust I noticed inside. Not a speck or two, but several pieces and a larger piece that almost looks like a thread.
I was a little upset about it, but I tried the lens anyway on my D300 and it's razor sharp.
Now I'm torn what to do. On one hand I like my gear to be immaculate and this may away bug me. On the other hand the lens is very sharp and works good.
What would you all do?

[M. Valdemar]

A little dust, or even a great deal of dust, has absolutely no effect on performance.

It's neurotic to worry about it. Just don't look at the dust and it won't bother you.

[mllanos1111]

A little dust, or even a great deal of dust, has absolutely no effect on performance.

It's neurotic to worry about it. Just don't look at the dust and it won't bother you.
Lol, thanks, I gues I'm a bit neurotic, but that makes me feel better and I guess I will hold on to it.

[nikonhswebmaster]

Oddly enough dust does not scatter the light, but just stops it.

A single fingerprint is much worse. The rings of grease can really scatter light. All that dust is doing is annoying you.

[sienarot]

Dust? That's nothing. If you're going to lose sleep over that, hope this never happens to you! :D

http://www.certo6.com/gallery/planar.html

(And as you can see, even that has very little noticeable effect on image quality.)

[mllanos1111]

Dust? That's nothing. If you're going to lose sleep over that, hope this never happens to you! :D

http://www.certo6.com/gallery/planar.html

(And as you can see, even that has very little noticeable effect on image quality.)

How the heck did that happen! too funny. Ok I'll forget about it and just use it.
:p

[mllanos1111]

Oddly enough dust does not scatter the light, but just stops it.

A single fingerprint is much worse. The rings of grease can really scatter light. All that dust is doing is annoying you.

What kind of chain rings are those in your avatar?

[Peter_Jones]

I concur with the above posts re dust in lenses, some of my Zuikos are quite dusty inside, but give excellent quality to large sizes.

I agree, it's an annoyance, but if you ignore the dust it won'y affect pic quality (as you have noticed)

[Spyderman]

Look at all the positive aspects of dust in lenses:
- owners of dusty lenses are getting rid of them
- prices of dusty lenses are lower
and if performance remains the same... you've got a bargain :)