Dust in my lens....normal?....

[slick316]

I forgot to post this yesterday. I was cleaning some smudges on my 18-200mm VR (I have a tiffen filter on it). I noticed some dust on the filter that wasn't coming off, it was obviously on the other side. I unscrewed the filter, and found that it was actually behind the glass of the lens. About 4-5 white specks, right in the middle of the lens.
Sorry for the lack of pictures, I didn't take any and I'm not at home right now. But is this normal? I looked back at pictures I have taken recently and I don't see any issues with them, so I am thinking its not a big deal, but I know that they weren't there when I bought the lens.
Just wondering if I am over reacting or if I should have it taken care of.

 

[Westside guy]

Any lens that's seen a moderate amount of use will have some dust inside - it's just the result of normal wear and tear. Unless you've got clouds of it, the dust won't affect the optics (neither will small scatches on the lens btw).

 

[epicwelshman]

And even if you do see some in your images (like dust on the sensor) then it's easy to remove them in photoshop, or I imagine any image editing program.

 

[slick316]

Its good to know. I wasn't panicking or anything, I was just wondering since my other lenses don't have dust in them (yet).

Thanks for the help guys.

 

[digitalfrog]

Dust is okay, fungus is not !

 

[rogersmj]

Dust is okay, fungus is not !

Words to live by

 

[ChrisA]

Dust on a lens element is not like dust on the sensor. Dust on the lens has not effect on the final image. Even scratches on the lens have no effect. What you have to look at is the total square area blocked by the dust/scratch compared to the total square area of the lens' front element. The dust is very, very small compared to the size of the lens.

Remember that every part of the lens contributes to each pixel, so dust does not make a shadow like it could if it were on the sensor

It gets inside because when to focus or zoom a lens, parts inside move and act like a piston inside an air pump, dust gets sucked inside and blown around.

If the area becomes larger then it will have some effect. Photographers have taken advantage of this by making filters with things like black or white dots painted on them. It's a way to soften the contract an image without introducing blur. Tricks like this were common with Hollywood film makers 60 years ago.