How OCD are you about gear?

Take an out of focus shot at f/22 against a plain white background and tell us again if you have no spec's...

On a slightly more serious note, I used to very OCD about the cleanliness of my gear. A slight dust mote on the focusing screen, or visible dust bunnies on images at apertures so narrow that I never use them and I used to go into a frenzy trying to eradicate them. However, that is not the road to peace of mind as you might win the dust battle but you'll be forever fighting the war.

Now I take a much more relaxed approach, there's a few tiny specs in the viewfinder that cause me no ill as they don't appear on shots and I now only reach for the sensor cleaning kit if there spots visible at f/11 as I don't shoot narrower than that very often.


Already tried :D and my sensor needs a scrub, no lens mark showing up though.

With M43 I'm never stopping down much beyond F8, for macro I'll go F11-16 if needed but even those sensor bunnies won't be showing up in those cases. They barely do at f22

What bothers me is that this was brand new out the box, it tells me it wasn't checked by QC and I still don't know if it'll affect images in harsh light, will it cause flare or glare or ghosties? That's what will play on my mind, also the re-sale part of it. I sell on gear all the time, if I find I'm not using it enough I'd rather someone else did and I can try something else. I'm not the kind to keep every lens I ever bought, or I'd need a shed dedicated to them!
 
....I still don't know if it'll affect images in harsh light, will it cause flare or glare or ghosties? That's what will play on my mind, also the re-sale part of it. I sell on gear all the time, if I find I'm not using it enough I'd rather someone else did and I can try something else. I'm not the kind to keep every lens I ever bought, or I'd need a shed dedicated to them!

To address your first point about possible flare, glare or 'ghosties' I would direct you to this website. I have this bookmark saved for these very occasions. In short, while dust on your sensor (a AA filter to be more precise) will cause shadows when narrow apertures are used (because the light is more directional), dust specs in the lens won't be an issue unless very severe due to their distance from the focal plane.
 
To address your first point about possible flare, glare or 'ghosties' I would direct you to this website. I have this bookmark saved for these very occasions. In short, while dust on your sensor (a AA filter to be more precise) will cause shadows when narrow apertures are used (because the light is more directional), dust specs in the lens won't be an issue unless very severe due to their distance from the focal plane.

It's not dust though, it appears to be a tiny scratch or etch on the element so my concern is when hard light passes through it there could be some deflecting
 
Highly unlikely, it would have to be pretty substantial to cause any flare.

Well it's back around to the original question, if you bought a new lens and it had such an obvious mark internally, would you just carry on regardless?
 
All this absolute guff about an 85 quid lens that has a mark on it. Send it back as it's obviously not meant to be there. This forum is bonkers

Calm down drama llama, It could be 20p, principle remains. It just happens to be this particular lens I found the issue with - what took you so long to come in and have your Grandpa moan this time? The price of the lens is completely relevant, it was also an attempt at discussion on how precious we are about gear. Don't like it, don't let the doorknob hit you on that cantankerous arse of yours
 
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If something's being bought new then it ought not have any flaws.

When I've decided an item of gear will be kept and used long term I store it carefully in well padded bags and am meticulous about keeping it clean.


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:giggle:
 
If something's being bought new then it ought not have any flaws.

When I've decided an item of gear will be kept and used long term I store it carefully in well padded bags and am meticulous about keeping it clean.


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:giggle:

There's a spec of dust on one of those lenses! :D
 
Calm down drama llama, It could be 20p, principle remains. It just happens to be this particular lens I found the issue with - what took you so long to come in and have your Grandpa moan this time? The price of the lens is completely relevant, it was also an attempt at discussion on how precious we are about gear. Don't like it, don't let the doorknob hit you on that cantankerous arse of yours

I love you really bro
 
I would send it back. In the future, however, if you want to sell it privately or trade it in, it might make it difficult. I might have missed somebody saying this already so sorry if am repeating something.
 
I would send it back. In the future, however, if you want to sell it privately or trade it in, it might make it difficult. I might have missed somebody saying this already so sorry if am repeating something.

I'm waiting for HDEW to get back to me, emailed them Fri eve, and according to their website they are opened till lunch time on Sat, but still no reply. It's not the end of the world I know, it's a cheap as chips lens I bought just to try out an AF adapter I got. I bought another lens the other week from them for the same purpose and have had zero issues with that one. I know it shouldn't annoy me, and as I said it wouldn't if I bought used and was aware of it beforehand. But I kind of expect a brand new lens to be spotless, if any specs or marks or scratches are going on there I want them to be done by me! I don't think it's too much to ask. It's only £100 [inc postage] but it's £100 I could have put toward something else. I could have bought a bunch of cheap vintage primes that I already have adapters for and I wouldn't care in the slightest about some specs of dust or marks etc
 
If something's being bought new then it ought not have any flaws.

When I've decided an item of gear will be kept and used long term I store it carefully in well padded bags and am meticulous about keeping it clean.


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:giggle:
Eeessh, that lens bag, I won't sleep tonight.

:runaway::runaway:

;):LOL:
 
Anything from HDEW?

Just been collected about 30mins ago. HDEW had no problem, they arranged the pick up and will send a replacement once it's checked in. Turned out more of a PITA than anything really, but makes you ponder on buying from further afield. If that was from China I'd have just stuck with, and if it was a pricier lens I'd be p***ed off about it. This was more a 'will I bother' scenario.
 
HDEW are good to deal with. You could have phones them as they are based in Croydon (Sarf Lundun) I believe

Yeah, but I'm in the Irish midlands :D it was as easy do it via email.

End of the day it wasn't a real big deal, it just had me curious as to how finicky some of us are when it comes to bits of gear - what i have learned is that HDEW are indeed very easy to deal with and I would buy from them again no problem. This wasn't their issue really, but Canon's iffy QC - I guess they churn out so many 50mm they can't check every single one
 
True,
It's a shame Pentax insist their distributors stick to the retail prices.
I can't find a single grey place that sells Pentax bodies.
 
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