Cleaning Beach Sand Out Of Lens Barrel? Help!

Hi,

I took my Canon EOS 630 with my new Sigma 105mm 2.8 EX Macro lens to

the beach today and got caught in a sand storm. The camera cleaned up

nicely with a bit of water and towel. However, my brand new lens now

sounds gritty when I turn the barrel. Ack! I'm mortified that I've

gotten sand into the workings of the lens.

 

Before posting this I searched in these forums and read previous

posts on the subject, so I won't be attempting to clean it myself.

This appears to be a no-no.

 

Please someone tell me it can be cleaned, by whom and how much I

should expect to pay?

 

Thanks in advance. ~Mike

Your best bet is look on the Web for 'Sigma repair sites' or in the back of Shutterbug magazine. Then request a estimate on cleaning for the lens. I doubt Sigma will clean it under the warranty, but they may. (Next beach visit, find an old clunker lens that is not going to be used except as a beach lens....)

Michael,

 

you must be especially careful with taking sand from State Park and National Park beaches! They generally do not allow you to take any fauna, flora, shells, or rocks etc with you. Just pictures! And memories.

 

Maybe the State Park Ranger could have helped you when you exited with the about-to-be-stolen public property: sand ...

 

You write: "Thanks in advance" ... a little correction would let you see the writing on the wall: "Think in advance ~ Mike"

 

When you take your gear out anywhere, simply develop a backup plan if something fails; a cover for the camera would have been nice, cuddling it under your Parka in the winter cold would have worked, ... Now you know, having learnt from experience.

 

And now you will be $ 100 short for the repair. Sorry, but education is not cheap, never was.

Try this: Point the lens downward, now work it. Hopefully the law of gravity will allow the grit to leave on its own. I have had this happen once, and this procedure worked.

I have to diagree with the "work it" part of the previous post.

Definitely do not "work it", because the risk of inflicting terminal

damage by grinding the sand into delicate focus helicals, AF

motor and aperture is too great. Don't even try to shake it out --

you may wind up moving the sand into uncontaminated parts.

Get a quote on cleaning.

 

If that is unacceptably high, try to do it yourself (what have you got

to lose)? But do not "work it" until you are certain you have

cleaned every last grain of sand out of it.

Like you said: what do have to lose? My advice is based on the fact that finding a repair shop for the lens is probably a worse solution. Do you have homeowner's insurance? You might be able to file a claim....

Thank you all for your answers and your advice. They were very instructive.

 

I phoned Sigma Photo in Ronkonkoma, NY and discovered that they're the "only" Sigma authorized service center in the U.S.. I described the condition of the lens and the friendly service person said it would be inexpensive to clean, so I'm shipping it to them tomorrow. Sigma also offers free estimates on all repairs, so I asked them to look the lens over thoroughly.

 

Thanks again for validating my trust in Photo.net members.

 

Mike

You may beat me with a bat for potential very crappy advice (conceptual, however). But..for your knowledge, based on your incident, I am doing the following on my planned beach trip at the end of the month:

1. My large zoom lens is staying home. 2. I am bringing along some large ziplock bags to protect the camera/lens 3. I am replanning some trips along the beach by bringing along an older camera.

Hi John,

I'm going to find some way to rig a zip-lock or food storage bag around the camera and lens too. I don't want to go through this again, but I do want to be able to use the lens/camera in most situations, including wind, light rain and on the beach. I just didn't plan ahead, as you are doing, and anticipate a wind storm blowing sand all over me. Doh!

 

Thanks again!

Mike

Its one of those, "very cold outside" Saturdays. I have some pics buried somewhere from when I went to Mexico several years ago and got caught in a sandstorm on the Penasco Highway, had to park the truck with the windshield turned away from the wind for about an hour. If I find them I will post them. Luckily for me, I usually carry all of my equipment in a Tamron bag and keep it zipped shut..But I did get some good pics of this storm.

A funny update..Went to Mexico last weekend (drove down to Puerto Penasco). Put up my tent, had some drinks and during the night a driving windstorm started which finally got so severe that I had to drive the front of my truck into the windy side of the (large) tent as a windbreak..My cameras were locked up securely inside the truck. The next day I took some pictures, went inside a dockyard and got a tour, but now the skies were hazy and overcast from the night's stormy weather and it was cold!! The film camera barely came out of the bag and I only took a few exposures with my digital unit...The best laid plans of mice and men WILL GO ASTRAY!!

Hi John,

How did your shots come out?

 

Mike

With overcast weather...Fair..Got into the dockyards, but Puerto Penasco is now in a "development stage" which means, uncontrolled construction of tourist palaces and "small villas" (See my Mexico folder of some samples)

Hi All,

I wanted to post the outcome of my misadventure with sand in my Sigma lens. The long and short is Sigma Photo in Ronkonkoma, NY is fabulous! They took the lens, cleaned it inside and out (it's like a new lens!) and had it back to me in under two weeks. They originally quoted a flat charge of $80 to clean and return it, but only charged me $55? I called and questioned why the price had dropped and was told that was all it cost. Who charges less than the qoute?!

 

Kudos to Debbie, the person I spoke with most often in the Sigma repair center. She was kind, courteous and professional. She really followed through and provided an outstanding customer service experience. In fact, everyone I spoke with was terrific.

 

To all Sigma lens owners: Sigma Photo in Ronkonkoma is the "only" certified Sigma repair center in the U.S. In other words, all those techs that claim to be Sigma certified are lying. That's not to say that there aren't good techs out there who can do a great job repairing your lens, there are, but they are not Sigma certified (according to Sigma).

 

I highly recommend Sigma Photo, and will probobly by Sigma EX lenses from now on, partly because the are excellent quality lenses, but also due in large part to their customer service.

 

Mike

<p>Most camera outlets have a repair service or send on place. Usually a good brand camera has its own service centre. In our case it is offshore ( : If it is under gaurantee it helps and you may get it cheaper or no charge. To take part a camera and lens could be looking at up to $200 or more.</p>

<p>I have the same problem.<br>

The sand, just a couple of flecks can sometimes be jarred out by tapping locally immediately after you notice the griity feel to the zoom retraction.In some cases it simply jams the whole camera and it will not load up [digital]. The lens has to expand out to allow the LCD to enable.<br>

I have some flecks of white particulate may be sand on the inside of the lens now and it provides an opaque haze spot like smoke from a fire in the final prints or images.<br>

Some compressed air may help but could make it worse or damage the delicate nature of other camera working parts .</p>