I was sitting outside in the sun and noticed my Sony 70-350 has a lot of specs inside of the front element (see attached; not the big dust particles around the rim at the top, but the small dots distributed everywhere). I'm not sure whether this is dust/haze or fungus, although it best google matches with dust (small evenly distributed specs, no filamentous strings). I think it's severe enough to be giving me hazy images when shot towards the sun. Any recommendations on either how difficult this is to clean or repair companies to try/avoid?
Thanks,
David
May 7, 2023
2
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They are looking like dust to me, and it seems some of them are on the surface, not under the front glass element.
Had you ever tried a blower, or a Lenspen before taking that shot?
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The inner one look like fungus to me.
Top lens element cleaning is fairly easy for me, and fortunately, never ended with disaster. I use foamy/cotton/wool sticks, no pressure, and isopropyl with water either one after another, or 50/50. With proper technique, smaller front lens element is clean in like three to five minutes, medium lenses take 10-15 mins, and large lenses are hardcore for hours or two. I have succesfully cleaned quite few sensors too. No damage, no issue, 100% clean. But one has to gain some experience before ruining his camera/lens, and I cannot gurantee that some lens coatings don´t like that. Cannot recommend it to everybody.