Shiny spec inside front element. Defect?

aeon3

Hello gents!

Got this brand-new lens off of a guy which had quit doing photography. Apparently he got as a gift and never used it, so technically brand-new. Roughly 3 months.

As I was examining the lens, I noticed this bright shiny little spec inside/below the from glass.

It's not really shiny in the pic but it is, take a look:

What do you think, is it a flaw/defect? Should I try to return it or send it in to Nikon? Never saw that in my other lenses.

Thanks!

Photobug

Log into the Nikon web site and leave this info for their service department. Bet they will have you send it back.

aeon3

So should I really bother?

I could ship it to nikon but Id have to pay shipping costs and hope they do their job right.

Photobug

So should I really bother?

I could ship it to nikon but Id have to pay shipping costs and hope they do their job right.

Yes you should. You should ask if they will do this work under warranty but my guess is they won't. But they will give you a price in advance and you can attach a photo of the lens, as you did here, showing the problem.

Golf007sd

Take some pictures with it and see if you see it on the photo. I highly doubt it will show or have an impact on the end result. If it does bother you then sure send it in.

Paperman

If I had to worry about every spec in my lenses .... )

It won't seem on your images so why bother ?...You will have more of them as you go.

aeon3

I'm not sure...it's still under warranty though. On the other side I'm really concerned that when they repair it, more dust might get in and I end up with something worse.

kanuck

I get these kinds of spots after about 6 months use normally. I have not been able to remove them myself and they really love appearing on the different 14-24mm lens samples I have obtained over the years. I also find these can appear on expensive UV and Polarizing filters such as Leica, Nikon and B&W. Be aware they do not have any impact on image quality whatsoever. A cleaning which runs in the neighborhood of $200 will fix this. Be warned that shipping would prevent you from using this service by Nikon I am certain though...

Ironheart

The warranty is non-transferable, so you will be paying for it out of pocket, unless you have proof of purchase from an authorized Nikon reseller. Nikon manufactures these things so they also know how to repair and clean them. However I have to agree with a few others here; the spec is in a location that will have exactly zero effect on image quality.

aeon3

I have the invoice from the store along with the warranty papers, all still blank.

I think I have to pay for shipping but nothing else.

My OCD mind wants it gone but the idea of opening up a new lens worries me a bit.
Will it look like it has already been opened? And what if opening it makes big dust specs appear?

BabaGanoush

As Golf wrote, take some pictures to see whether that spot inside the top element of your lens shows up in your images. Since light passing through every part of the lens contributes to every point on the image, such a small spot will not be visible in your photos any more than would a tiny speck of dust on the outside of your lens or one of your filters. Heck, any large astronomical telescope of the Cassegrain design has a huge doughnut HOLE in the center of its primary mirror. Do you think that hole creates a dark shadow in images taken with the telescope? Well, it doesn't. In a focused image, all it along with the secondary mirror does is to modify the telescope's diffraction pattern a bit (a shadow of the secondary mirror will be quite visible in unfocused images, however). Ignore the spot, take pictures, and enjoy your camera.