Dirty lens experiment

[kvbarkley]

How progressively worse dirt and damage affects image quality:

http://kurtmunger.com/dirty_lens_articleid35.html

[BurnUnit]

Thanks for that. I've always suspected as much. I guess I won't even bother knocking a bit of crud or a smudge off my lenses with a shirt tale anymore.

[RobertTheFat]

Well ... yeah. But it's pretty obvious that the lens being destroyed was old. Very few modern lenses turn while they're being focused.

The bottom line, which I think we all knew, is that you can get away with a dirty lens if it isn't too dirty. (I was once photographing the meet 'n greet session after a lecture and accidentally dangled my Sigma 50-150mm f/2.8 into a bowl of sour cream dip. And didn't notice it until the shoot was almost over. But my pictures came out OK.) But a clean lens is still better.

It's also true that cleaning a lens can do more harm than good unless you're careful. The best idea is to keep the lens from getting dirty in the first place. That's what lens caps are for.

[kvbarkley]

I have heard of putting vaseline on a lens, but sour cream is a new one!

8^)

[BurnUnit]

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@RobertTheFat wrote:

..(I was once photographing the meet 'n greet session after a lecture and accidentally dangled my Sigma 50-150mm f/2.8 into a bowl of sour cream dip. And didn't notice it until the shoot was almost over. But my pictures came out OK.)

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LOL! Thank goodness it wasn't guacamole...

[ebiggs1]

:...dangled my Sigma 50-150mm f/2.8 into a bowl of sour cream dip"

As long as you didn't double dip!