DUST in my Nikon 50mm 1:1.4 lense

B

Baddgsx

Well-known member
I got one for a good price on ebay and everything looks good about it , no scratches on lense , shutter is snappy , cometically outside in great shape , however when i look through it closely i can see dust particles inside. Will that affect my picture using my sgblade. I just got it in today and havent be able to test it out.

Is that dust cleanable?

Thanks,
Chris
 
As a photographer first, director of photography second, I'll tell you not to worry. On film or high resolution digital SLRs, I see no detrimental effect of small amounts of internal dust on my images. I have a Nikon 28mm f/2.8 AI lens that I bought for $40 at a yard sale that has a dead gnat that's about 1/16" long IN THE LENS, and it has yet to show up in any of my shots.

Dust is cleanable, but it might cost you a lot to clean the lens, and you really won't see much effect from small particles. Even a lens with a heavily scratched or even a severely cracked front lens element works quite well. See here:
http://www.lensrentals.com/news/2008.10.30/front-element-scratches

My advice is to try it out in bright conditions with high contrast subjects. You'll be surprised how the good the image quality is.
 
JasonAllen127 said:
As a photographer first, director of photography second, I'll tell you not to worry. On film or high resolution digital SLRs, I see no detrimental effect of small amounts of internal dust on my images. I have a Nikon 28mm f/2.8 AI lens that I bought for $40 at a yard sale that has a dead gnat that's about 1/16" long IN THE LENS, and it has yet to show up in any of my shots.

Dust is cleanable, but it might cost you a lot to clean the lens, and you really won't see much effect from small particles. Even a lens with a heavily scratched or even a severely cracked front lens element works quite well. See here:
http://www.lensrentals.com/news/2008.10.30/front-element-scratches

My advice is to try it out in bright conditions with high contrast subjects. You'll be surprised how the good the image quality is.
Click to expand...

good to hear , thanx buddy!!!!
 
No prob! Post again once you've had a chance to check it out! Unless the glass is visibly hazy from arm's length away (usually due to fungus, or mold in older poor condition lenses), I think you'll be fine.
 
My 50mm Nikon has also some dust in it, and it never shows up. My problem with my 50mm is that whenever I change the apparture the focus gets really hard to pull, you have to yank it until it dosent get "unstuck".

Any ideas? =)
 
That focus pull issue sounds like something you're going to want to send it in for. It could be an issue involving a bent focus helicoid, a problem with the spring or lever arm in the aperture mechanism, or gummed up lubrication grease on the focus helicoid.

Has the lens been dropped, landing sideways to the ground or directly on the edge of the filter thread at an angle? Has it been stored in a very cold environment for a long time? Is the aperture ring cracked or bent? Are any of the protruding bits of the lens on the butt end bent?
 
Thanks for the time you take to help me =)!

I'm the second owner, I got it really cheap, 35 bucks. It looks really nice, no fungus, no dust, no bumps or so.

I suspect that it might be sand or something stuck in between. Sometimes it gets really hard to pull the focus when switching to 1.8, change to f22 and it goes ultra smooth. Then change to f4, and there we go again, change it back to 1.8, pull it a couple of times, then back to f4 and it smooth again!

So it makes me belive that it might be something like hard dirt stuck in there..Don't think it's worth to send it in, when I bought it that cheap... Anything I can try by my self?

Thanks
 
Which lens is it, exactly? Nikon's made a lot of 50mm lenses over the years... some more complicated to dissect than others!

If it's an AF lens like the 50mm f/1.8 AF (or AFD), or the 50mm f/1.4 AF (or AFD), I wouldn't recommend self-service. Also, if it's an AF lens, it could be a damaged AF gear component, in which case it's probably permanently broken unless you remove the AF gearing.

If it's one of the various older manual focus Nikkor 50mm lenses, you stand a better chance of successful disassembly/reassembly, but even still, open it up expecting that you won't get it to fit back together.
 
I wouldn't spend the money to fix the Series "E" 50/1.8. It'd be cheaper to replace it! That's one of Nikon's most widely produced primes. It was sold as a kit lens with their less expensive SLRs in the 70's and 80's. Maybe a 3rd party lens shop would fix the lens for cheap, though... check out www.KEH.com for a quote.

If the focus issue is driving you nuts, and you decide not to service the lens, pick up a used Nikon 50mm f/1.8 AF-D lens for around $100. Similar image quality, slightly bigger size!
 
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