Internal dust (old lenses)

hobodan

hobodan

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Dan
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I have been looking at buying some Nikon Ai / Ais lenses. A lot advertised used are described as having some internal dust, I wanted to know if I should avoid these? Obviously fungus on the element is a big no no.

Has dust in a lens you have ever effected the image?

Ty
 
If it's in the wrong place, it could in some situations cause some flare. Generally not a major problem though.
 
Ask them for some wide open shots in a situation that will cause potential flare. That'll answer your question.
 
I wouldn't worry about a bit of dust inside. It happens. No matter how careful you are, particularly zoom lenses where internal elements are moving quite a lot, as they act like a piston, sucking, and blowing air around every time you use it.

You;d be amazed at how much internal crap you need to have any appreciable effect on quality. So long as the front element is clean and no physical damage is evidence, it's nothing to worry about.
 
If it is genuinely a small amount of dust, it's just an honest description and it's very hard to truly keep dust out of lenses. Most good descriptions of old lenses will mention a few small specks of internal dust, because no lens 20+ years old would truly be free of dust.

However, if they use that description to cover the fact that inside, it looks like the bag of a vacuum cleaner, then it could be one to avoid. But if the supplied pictures look good, then it's more likely it is just an honest description.

One thing to bear in mind; there's tens of thousands of most Nikon lenses, in various iterations, various models, and often multiple versions of the same focal length. Another one will pop up in due time (unless you happen to be in the market for a 6mm f/2.8!).
 
Thanks people.

I have been looking at the 50mm 1.2 ais to use on my xpro1, the prices being asked for used I'd rather buy new from Amazon for an extra £100 or so. So I'm leaning towards that at the mo :)
 
The 50mm f/1.2 AIS is quite overpriced on the used market. Also, any reason why you must have the f/1.2? The f/1.4 AIS is pretty good, significantly smaller, and not much slower, and significantly cheaper.
 
None really.

I'm just looking to get a few nice manual lenses that I can use on multiple systems. I'd rather buy once and if I get the 1.4, I know I'll sell it in favour of the 1.2 at some point (crazy I know), and I see it as a cheaper alternative to the upcoming Fuji 56 1.2, which will probably float in at near £1000. I'm also eyeing up the (all ais) 28mm 2.8 & possibly 80-200 4.0
 
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