Moving air and dust when zooming

[Felipe Bosolito]

Moving air and dust when zooming

 

I read about two potential problems, which I cannot fully understand – both related to moving air and dust when zooming.

 

Fuji vs. Fuji says when comparing Fuji´s standard zooms: “Eye-blow: Another area the 18-55mm f/2.8-4 wins in is eye-blow. If there is any, I can’t feel it. With the other two lenses, you might dry your eye out if you zoom out too quickly. The 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 is the worst here.“

 

And Philip Sutton writes in his blog „However, it is the dust and filth that creates the amazing light that one can only find in Myanmar.  The thought of sucking all of this into my camera each time I zoomed, was not comforting. … I started reading a lot about the 18-135 mm lens.  I loved the fact that it is sealed.“

 

I cannot understand the eye-blow problem at all, because there is no direct connection between lens and ocular in mirrorless cameras. The dust problem I can understand, but I have a hard time to believe that this is a relevant problem.

 

Does anybody have a thought, experience or deeper insight into this moving air and dust “problem”?

[milandro]

unless you are in an extremely dusty ( worst if in combination with high humidity) environment, this pump effect shouldn’t be a problem.

 

After a very bad experience with an X-E1, I was a little too concerned about dust on the sensor problems  but actually, I always managed to blow dust off the sensor ( and the lens, on the last lens element, very nasty, visible on both the 10-24 and the 12mm).  

 

A friend went also to Myanmar and came back with dust stuck to the sensor of his camera ( probably a combination of dust and humidity, like for example the condensation formed going in and out an airconditioned area to the streets of a tropical country ) which required specialized cleaning.

 

I have the 18-55 and have had no problems using it.

Edited February 20, 2017 by milandro

[Aswald]

Eye blow also exists on the Pro1/Pro2 + xf55-200. In fact you can feel air puffing on your eyes even with lenses like the xf60 and xf35. All these just means more dust getting into the lens chambers, sensors and cameras. At this point, I'm just living with it but I'm not liking it. It also explains why xf lenses traps dust after a couple of months using them.

 

I recall feeling the same with Canon's ef100-400 L mk1 (pump action). Compared to the mk2, the mk1 was a dust vacuum.

 

When at places like Myanmar, don't pump too much. The sand gets into everything and is a nuisance really. My cloth was dirty brown when I wiped them down after a day trip to Tonle Sap during a dry spell. Water from splashes on the boat ride will just help the dust get caked into your equipment eventually. If I had a choice, I would've washed them under running water.