Older lens - have it cleaned (internal) or don't worry?

Recently purchased a 300/f4.5 EDIF AIs lens, good shape, early serial

# but front glass is spotless, blades, etc work just fine. However, a

bright light source does reveal internal dust. Is it worth

sending/taking it in to have cleaned after 12-15 years? Anyone sent

old lenses to Nikon for this, or just do it locally? I have a Nikon

authorized facility in town.

Many thanks!

Probably not - have you tried to take any photos with it? Have a look at this thread - the principals are the same!

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=003nvt

Take pictures, if you can't see problems with them don't worry, if you do then send it in... same goes for scratches and scuffs on front lens elements... who case if it is there if you can't see it on a print. Everything has dust in it, including the air we breate and the light that passes through the air before it reaches the lens... its a part of life.

Dust spots are not a problem. What can be is a haze that developes from the evaporation of the lighter hydrocarbons in the helicoid grease depositing on the glass. You should be able to see signs of it when using a very bright light source. The effect is to cut down on contrast in pictures.

No, and here is why:

 

I sent to the local Nikon service some of my lenses. One was broken, the other one had something (~0.5sqmm) on the internal optics. So I asked them to clean it out.

 

Few weeks later, when I got my lenses back, the lens had some really small particles on the internal elements - observable only after careful inspection. The point was that I requested them to clean it out, and they could not make a proper job. Bleah. I still get angry. I was very disappointed witht the quality of work they have done.

What Bruce said.

 

Internal dust is almost never a problem, and you can't get it all out anyway. I have a lens with a smudge that seems to be in the coating, and it does not affect picture quality in any way that I can see. If there is hazing in the internal elements, you may want to have it cleaned professionally.

 

If you are real anal about this, try removing one of the small screws in the external rings and blowing compressed air in. Careful not to blow in propellant from the can of air. You may be able to blow the dust to one side or the other. I personally would not do this as I would be afraid of blowing lubricants on an internal lens surface, but I have heard of this done successfully. YMMV.

 

But frankly, take some pictures. You won't find any effects on the film from the dust 99 times out of a 100. I have heard of a famous portrait photographer whose name now escapes me, who stored his portrait lens face up to let dust accumulate on the front lens. Softened his portraits to his liking. Never cleaned the front of his lens.

That dust was probably there from when it was new. That's been my experience. If I bought it new and it had dust in it I would complain (simply because I paid for a pristine lens and that's not what I got) but in your case I wouldn't worry about it. Unless it's really bad you won't see it.

My advice is not to worry about it, most of the old lens will have this kind of problem, the trouble you are going through to send the lens in for service and the quality of the service can be a real headache for you. For an older lens, most of the service facility probably will not do a good job anyway, you may get more trouble for whatever it is worth.