Elijah wrote:
I actually have the same problem and I assume most (if not all) 105E owners have this dust issue. There has been multiple mentions of this issue.
I've had dust in my lens for about half a year now but I didn't do anything about it because 1) dust never bothered me, I always shoot wide open, maybe f/2 closed down at most and 2) it's still under warranty. Once warranty is about to expire, I'll send the lens in for a cleanup.
I wonder if your dust issue is worse than mine? I once had a photo of the dust on my iPhone, it is pretty bad. My lens looks like I haven't cleaned it it a week or more of heavy use. If I find the photo, I'll share it.
Well, I did it. I set my Nikon 105mm f/1 .4E for cleaning today. Shipped and insured through priority mail, hopefully I will get my lens cleaned with no issues or questions or complaints or Nikon saying that it's going to cost me extra mount etc. etc. here's what the dust looks like behind the front element as seen with a low power LED flashlight. hopefully it will come back clean within a week or so or two weeks at least. I'm not sure what Nikon's turnaround time is on cleaning this lens as I hear it's kind of complex.
There's lots of dust inside the lens element(s) in mine. I'm never nit-picky about dust on any lens but this 105E was the worst I've ever seen. This shouldn't happen on a BRAND NEW, just released lens (noticed this a 2-3 months after buying the lens last year)
But yeah, this shouldn't be a reason to sell & buy a sTigma
Desertcruiser wrote:
If no one gives a reaction post twice that dust?
I don't care about some rubbish in someones lens in THIS image thread.
Elijah, you started a problem thread about dust a while ago, didn't you?
Todd, you can fill this one with dusty-lens pictures as much as you want and don't make 105 owners crumbly.
You sound a little bit defensive there. I'm not getting rid of my 105, I really like that lens, I just want it clean. Also I am not trying to convince others to buy the 135mm Sigma and sell the 105. It's a totally different focal length. I have mentioned that people should buy the Sigma and add it to their camera bag, but I never said sell your 105 to buy the 135. I guess you may not care if you have dust on the surface of your lens, that's easily removable,. The dust issue that I have is between the elements that I can't get to it unless you take the lens apart to clean it. A $2200 Lens should not have dust like that from the factory. Quality control was pretty bad on this manufacturer I think. "I don't care about someone else's rubbish in this thread" .... sounds to me like you wasted some finger taping there. That could've been left unsaid. As many people may not care about your reply about peoples dust in this thread. Move along! I mean really, what's the big deal?
I'm not trying to make anybody sell their 105 and switch to Sigma. I was just stating the fact that I'm sending mine out to get repaired. You sound like that kind of a post does not belong in this thread. Well I'm sorry to hear that but here it is like it or not.
Lightsearcher wrote:
Wow, that's a lot of dust inside that lens.
It is a shame that a brand new $2200 lens + taxes have this problem.
Sometimes people don't pay attention to this kind of issues and reports like this one help to identify and take actions against it.
I agree. A lot of dust for such an expensive lens. I took my lens to Precision Camera Saturday when the Nikon reps were there and they took a look and said this is not normal and to send it in. I was hoping they would just swap it out. But, no such luck. It really got to where it bothered me quite a bit that there was so much dust in that lens that I didn't really care to use it anymore. So I relied on my Sigma 135 instead for most of my shooting. Hopefully I will get the 105 back within two weeks so I can start playing with it again and feel more secure about it now that it's clean.
I mentioned this before I suspect there is a batch issue relating to the 105E with dust seeming to migrate past the seals. I have used mine a lot on the beach, outside in relatively dusty conditions with no issues. The photos did make me look carefully at my 105E again and no issue. I have no qualms with returning my lenses to Nikon if there is an issue and in Australia the turn around can be very quick. With Sigma lenses I have exchanged about 4 Art lenses, tested in store 15 lenses with the 4 lenses I own.
