I'm seeing dust spots appearing more often and when I look at my ef-s 18-135mm lens, I can see quite a few dust particles on the interior glass. Does Canon clean that too as part of their lens maintenence?
Posted Jul 24, 2023, 10:13 PM UTC
Tiny dust particles within a lens typically don't show on photos. A fly is noticable, but a bit of dust isn't.
If there's dust spots on images I'd be looking at the rear elements of the lens or if there is dust on the sensor. That's much more likely to be the cause. Canon can clean your sensor, or if you feel confident, it's easy enough to do with sensor swaps that you can purchase.
I sometimes take pictures of lightning and will stop my lens down to F/16 or so to get a longer exposure time. The dust spots show quite a lot there vs my usual f/8 for landscape photography. I use a handheld blower on my sensor occasionally and there's no dust on there. I also clean the rear element occasionally and the spots still show when I stop it down. And shining a flashlight into my lens shows the breadth of dust particles and I also bought this lens used so who knows if it's ever even been cleaned professionally.
Sounds like you've tried everything first. You get people who see some dust in the lens and think it needs to be cleaned, but for most things it doesn't matter. Expect to pay ~$200-400 USD to clean the lens, so at that point it might be cheaper to just buy another 18-135mm. If that's too much an ND filter might be an option to cut down the light while keeping the aperture at f/8.
Too many over clean gear, and thus create problems where none previously existed.
Yes, I had the same lens cleaned. You’d have to let them know when you send the body and lens.
Great thank you. That'll make the cost worth it for me