So I just made my first ever ebay purchase – a Canon 17-85mm admittedly used. But there is a small scratch on the first element and a bunch of dust behind it – may have been dislodged in transit (being nice to the seller).

So I was wondering – anyone ever had a lens serviced – what were the costs and who did you use? what are my chances of getting the front element replaced?

Probably the last time I'll bother with ebay for such a delicate item too!

fixation or canons own service dept

Ebay is hit and miss for lenses, really you want to see an item like that in the flesh before buying it – one persons optically perfect is another persons dust minefield.

AFAIK servicing costs on lenses are very high. I'm currently stripping an old manual focus that I dropped and it's a minefield of 0.5mm screws and aperture plates, not fun to work on. As above for people to fix them, but don't be surprised if the repair cost comes in fairly close to your purchase cost!

Yeah as a first ebay purchase it hasn't been ideal but it's the sort of item that is difficult to keep in an as new state I guess.

Dust is innevitable with any zoom lens and unless its really heavy will have no noticable affect on the pics you take, the mark on the front element is a different matter, if shooting into any light you may get flare coming from the scratch, normal shooting it shouldn't show up. Get a lens hood if you dont already have one(EW73B.
We have sent lenses to have their front elements replaced and it's expensive so I would'nt bother. H A Lehmanns is one of Canon Uks repairers so it may be worth contacting them if you want it done though.

Cheers spudgun1, I'm going to have a test of it over the weekend to see how images come out, some of the dust is pretty significant – I was just asking on the off chance that it really needs doing.

Have a try at this if your feeling brave
Dust Cleaning

Or give these a go, service and clean for approx 60 quid,warranty on the work for six months.
Heard good things about them and might even send my 17-55mm to them for a clean out
ACS

Must say never noticed any problems with dust showing on pics and mine has a fair bit. Much more likely to be sensor dust bunnies if you can see anything.
A small scratch shouldn't be too bad either especially if its near the edge, amazing how bad it has to be before anything shows up.

toby1 – Member

So I just made my first ever ebay purchase – a Canon 17-85mm admittedly used. But there is a small scratch on the first element and a bunch of dust behind it – may have been dislodged in transit (being nice to the seller).

I had a 17-85 for 18 months, and while it was an alright lens it suck a lot of dust in. Within a month of having it there were 20-30 noticable dust specks on the inside of the front element from the zoom being such a loose fit (with the camera around my neck while walking the zoom would extend by itself after just two or three footsteps). I never noticed the dust on the photographs, it was just a bit annoying too look at. The zoom extending was far more annoying but a rubber band around the zoom ring cured that.

I never noticed the dust on the photographs

Peter Poddy posted a peck of pickled peppers shot of a lens with a smashed front element that still took recognisable photos! Blemishes on the lens are too close to be in focus and just result in flare and reduced contrast.

fixation is very very good.

Initial shots are showing nothing noticable in fairness, will continue playing for the weekend though.