Cleaning Sigma 50-500 EX DG HSM Glass

plamen_gb · 6 Nov 2013

Basically I have some dust behind the front glass, and I was wondering if someone had the guts to unscrew the front element and cleaned the lens himself. I am actually trying to do it but the screws are incredibly tight and haven't got any luck unscrewing them partially due to the precision screwdrivers which are quite small and provide almost no grip for me to apply enough force. Does anyone has an idea what I can use to loose them a bit or any screwdriver that might do the job better?

gramps · 6 Nov 2013

Have to ask ... does the dust impact on your images?
If not why do you need to remove it, especially in such a haphazard way?

Joshwain · 6 Nov 2013

Yeah, unless the dust is showing in your images then I wouldn't bother. If I was to bother, I'd send it off to be done professionally!

Even if some specs do show up, they can easily be cloned out. Most of the time they don't though, it's just annoying to be able to see it when you look at the front element. It's best just to try and live with it, rather than to risk losing so much money!

dinorock · 6 Nov 2013

send it to sigma £131 for a full service including a calibration mine was sharp as a pin when i got it back hth mike

plamen_gb · 6 Nov 2013

The thing is that I think I see some fungus and it got me quite worried...

plamen_gb · 7 Nov 2013

So has anybody tried this?

Joshwain · 8 Nov 2013

Your best bet really would be to send it off

a1ex2001 · 8 Nov 2013

plamen_gb said:
The thing is that I think I see some fungus and it got me quite worried...

If your really worried send it off, personally I'd just monitor it if it is fungus you will be able to see it getting bigger over a period of a few months then you can send it off for a clean which will be the best option as you can bet the fungus will be on some of the other elements too. If it's not fungus then I really wouldn't bother as you will only get new dust specs down the line it is inevitable with a a lens like this.

plamen_gb · 8 Nov 2013

a1ex2001 said:
If your really worried send it off, personally I'd just monitor it if it is fungus you will be able to see it getting bigger over a period of a few months then you can send it off for a clean which will be the best option as you can bet the fungus will be on some of the other elements too. If it's not fungus then I really wouldn't bother as you will only get new dust specs down the line it is inevitable with a a lens like this.

Thanks for the replies, I think I will take the advice and just wait couple of months and see if it grows