Is this a true . . .

. . . statement??

Found a Canon 17-55/2.8 lens for sale on eBay. The following line was in the description of the lens.

Member said:

There is a bit of internal dust, but if you're buying this lens, you know that it's
completely normal for this lens and will not impact image quality.

Click to expand...

Is this true of this lens? or this something I should be leery of and not purchase?

yes this lens is quite known for being a dustsucker

Ok. How does it affect picture quality??

For example, I have a "nifty fifty". I shot with it for a year and half before I realized it had a nick (and a good sized one, too) on the inner element behind the first element.

Never saw anything noticeable in the pictures I took with it.

There are plenty of videos on YouTube on how to fix the problem.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOZRN2mxajk

Its not a problem, but the seller has to mention it, because some people obsess over dust in a lens.

A small amount of internal dust is common with use, and the issue affects virtually all lenses, especially zooms. You will never see any effect from this in your photographs. (Do be cautious about a lens with a lot of dust. Really bad dust could have an effect, and it also suggests either heavy use or careless use.)

You might use the presence of some dust as a negotiating point.

Dan

Silverwind said:

Found a Canon 17-55/2.8 lens for sale on eBay. The following line was in the description of the lens.

Silverwind said:

There is a bit of internal dust, but if you're buying this lens, you know that it's
completely normal for this lens and will not impact image quality.

Click to expand...

Is this true of this lens? or this something I should be leery of and not purchase?

Click to expand...

--
---
G Dan Mitchell - SF Bay Area, California, USA
Blog & Gallery: http://www.gdanmitchell.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/gdanmitchellphotography
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gdanmitchell/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/gdanmitchell
IM: gdanmitchell

Gear List: Cup, spoon, chewing gum, old shoe laces, spare change, eyeballs, bag of nuts.

look here

http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2008/10/front-element-scratches

Dust is not a problem for me .

Mold is . So watch it closely and if you think it might be mold , follow the u-tube and clean it out .
--
1st it's a hobby
7D gripped XTI gripped
Canon - efs 10-22 , 17-55 , ef 18-55 IS
EF 28-90 , 28 @ 2.8 , 50 @1.8 , 28-135 IS
L's 35-350 , 70-200 MK II IS
Quantaray lens 70-300 macro
Sigma 135 - 400
2X III , Life Size converter
KSM filters for all
kenko auto tubes , EF 25

Yes, that lens is known for acquiring more dust internally than many, so it will be pretty rare to find a perfectly clean used sample.

Yes to the second part too - some dust won't have a negative impact on your image quality - because of the way the light is bent and controlled through the optics, any dust or marks are thrown hugely out of focus and as such won't have an effect.

Common sense does say that there will be a limit though, but unless the lens is kept in a flour mill I can't see a huge problem.
--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/narcosynthesis
http://www.illaname.deviantart.com