anirbanbanerjee Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 <p>Since my recently purchased (Oct 2008) Tamron 90mm SP Di Pentax KAF lens is startting to<br> show specks of dust, I am planning to send it to Tamron to be cleaned under warranty. Does anyone<br> know how much time it would probably spend at Tamron's?</p> <p>Thanks.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgredline Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 <p>I have had a lens down there for a month and was told, it is still three weeks from getting done. ;-(</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leo_papandreou1 Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 Should that have happened? It's only 5 months old. What are you going to do every 5 months after the warranty expires? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
personalphotos Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 <p>Don't bother sending it in every lens (maybe not weather sealed ones) will get some dust inside. It's a simple fact of live. When the lens focuses and moves in and out, It will suck in small specks.<br> Dust won't effect the image quality at all unless you can't see through the lens.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael R Freeman Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 <p><em>"... is starting to show specks of dust, I am planning to send it to Tamron to be cleaned under warranty."</em></p> <p>You can certainly send it in if you want to, but it is a COMPLETE waste of time. Perhaps you will feel better knowing that it is temporarily "clean". But when you get it back you will see ZERO difference in your images, and the dust specks will return eventually.</p> <p>As Peter indicated, almost all SLR camera lenses will get scattered specks of dust inside between the element groups, and it takes a lot to have any effect (reduced contrast). It's unavoidable, inconsequential, and unless one makes a habit out of shooting during dust storms in the desert, nothing to worry about. Dust specks inside a SLR lens can not resolve as spots (blurred, sharp or otherwise) at the image plane.</p> <p><em>"Should that have happened? It's only 5 months old."</em></p> <p>Age is irrelevant. Any lens that changes its physical volume as it is focused or zoomed MUST also "breathe", i.e. suck and blow air. If it did not, the lens would be extremely difficult to focus or zoom (the lens tube / camera mirror box would vary from a pressurized to vacuum state). So it is inevitable that small fine particles of dust will find their way into such lenses. Some lens designs are more prone to dust accumulation than others. The Tamron 90mm, being a macro lens with significant focus extension, also changes volume significantly as it focuses from infinity to 1:1, so it is a design that is more susceptible to dust ingress.</p> <p>Anyone worried about a speck or two (or more) of dust inside their SLR lenses should not shine flashlights through them. You're not going to like what you see. ;-)</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anirbanbanerjee Posted February 25, 2009 Author Share Posted February 25, 2009 <p>Hey guys, thanks very much for the inputs -- after reading those, I really doubt whether sending the lens would be helpful at all,<br> and I am not going to wait three months. BTW, the lens is excellent as a macro and an indoor portrait lens.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glivingston Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 <p>Anirban, I'm fairly certain that your warranty does not cover cleaning. I have the same lens and I just read the warranty card. It says the lens is "warranted against defective materials or workmanship...." Dust isn't either of those. If I were you, I'd just leave it alone unless it affects your images. More than likely, you'll never see the dust on your images.<br> </p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
personalphotos Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 <p>Michael outlined the situation far better than I did and he's absolutely correct. I've shot lenses with scratches and fungus inside that worked just fine. All my glass has a bit of dust inside. A few specs of dust don't make a difference. I have lenses that showed dust within a few days of ownership.</p> <p>Plus Tamron or any other company will not clean this lens under warranty. You will have to pay that cost. This is not a service issue because there is nothing wrong with the lens. Warranties cover 'Manufacturers defects" which isn't the case with dust.</p> <p>As for how well a lens can do in poor condition, check out these pictures. As the owner said, the front of the lens was cleaned with a brick. But the images still look great.</p> <p>http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/30581-post4.html</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miserere_mei Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 <p>With respect to Tamron's turn-around time, I sent a lens in on Jan 7th and was told "about 3 weeks". I'm still waiting for it. I e-mailed them last week but have not heard back, so I think I'll call them tomorrow.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miserere_mei Posted February 26, 2009 Share Posted February 26, 2009 <p>I just spoke to Tamron and, what a coincidence, my lens was fixed yesterday. It should ship today or tomorrow, so I won't get it until next week. In the end it will be a total of about 8 weeks to get it back, instead of the promised 3. On the plus side, they will not be charging me.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgredline Posted February 26, 2009 Share Posted February 26, 2009 <p>Hmmm, you just prompted me to make a call.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anirbanbanerjee Posted February 26, 2009 Author Share Posted February 26, 2009 <p>Miserere, what was the problem with your lens that you sent it for repair?</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miserere_mei Posted February 26, 2009 Share Posted February 26, 2009 <p>Anirban, it backfocused <em>a lot</em> . I tried it on both my K10D (which had just been adjusted by Pentax) and my K100D Super, and it happened with both cameras, so I know for sure it was the lens.</p> <p>How the lens itself can produce backfocusing when it's the camera that decides when the image is in focus, is something I cannot understand yet. The Tamron rep on the phone didn't sound surprised when I told him what the problem was so maybe it's not that uncommon.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgredline Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 <p>I called tamron today and my lens is shipping tomorrow. :)<br> By the way, it turns out the focusing mechanism was also out on my Lens.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miserere_mei Posted February 27, 2009 Share Posted February 27, 2009 <p>Javier, maybe they don't fix the lenses until you place a call LOL!</p> <p>My update: the rep I spoke to told me she couldn't see a tracking number and asked if I wanted her to notify me when it shipped. I said "yeah, sure" and she took down my e-mail address. I never thought I'd hear back from her. But lo and behold this morning I got a personal e-mail from her sending me the UPS tracking # and letting me know I would receive it on March 3rd. A couple of hours later the UPS guy delivered the lens, so she was wrong! :-D</p> <p>Apart from taking 5 weeks more than they said they would, I have to give them 5 stars for customer service; certainly much better than the service I've received from Pentax.</p> <p>As for the lens, it now focuses perfectly, and I'm extremely happy to finally have a quality wide angle zoom at my disposal (it's a 17-35mm f/2.8-4 full-frame lens).</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revolver Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 <p>I sent a lens in to Tamron to be checked out and had it back within a month.</p> <p>I got it back so fast I didnt get a chance to wonder how long it was gonna take.<br> maybe becasue I am in NY (130) miles from them...who knows maybe I caught them on a shipping cusp</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgredline Posted February 28, 2009 Share Posted February 28, 2009 <p>Christopher, was your lens fixed?</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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