• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

dust in Canon 100 - 400 mark ii (1 Viewer)

Steve Babbs

Steve Babbs

Well-known member
Hi all

I've just noticed how much dust is behind the objective lens on my lens. Considering it is about 8 months old and I haven't actually taken it anywhere that dusty this seems pretty crap to me. Have others got this problem or do I just have a Canon lens jinx? (My mark i had the AF fail in just over a year and then the IS failed about a year later but I suspect it had less dust in it.)

Regards

Steve
 
crikey, that is a worry - not really checked mine but will do now..

The old 100-400 was known as the dust pump.

cheers, alan
 
Any zoom that extends will, potentially, suck in dust regardless of whether it is twist of push-pull.
In 5 1/2 years my "dust pump" failed to pump dust but others were not so lucky.
It almost certainly will have zero effect on IQ so I wouldn't worry too much.
 
I had the same problem, lots more dust than the old version. I had mine cleaned (for free) by Canon after I had it for four months and checked to make sure all rings were fine. Looks like it is less of a problem now, but time will tell.
 
lewis20126 said:
Do you take it out of the box? ;)

cheers, a
Click to expand...

Not all "Dust Pumps" pumped dust - mine was a complete failure!
I wish the Mk2, with it's superior optics, was a trombone action like the old one! I find the twist zoom to be much slower and less well balanced with an extending lens - though most seem to prefer this mechanism.
 
johnf3f said:
Not all "Dust Pumps" pumped dust - mine was a complete failure!
I wish the Mk2, with it's superior optics, was a trombone action like the old one! I find the twist zoom to be much slower and less well balanced with an extending lens - though most seem to prefer this mechanism.
Click to expand...

Fully agree with you on that one John,it was much easier and quicker to zoom in and out with the old Mk1 lens and folk (including Canon me thinks)thought going to the twist zoom action would stop the Dust Pump effect.
How wrong they turned out to be 🤐
 
bob freeman said:
Fully agree with you on that one John,it was much easier and quicker to zoom in and out with the old Mk1 lens and folk (including Canon me thinks)thought going to the twist zoom action would stop the Dust Pump effect.
How wrong they turned out to be 🤐
Click to expand...

I can't comment on the new version - never (yet) owned one! But I would love to have the new (MK2) optics in the old (Mk1) lens barrel and no IS = sweet!

By any standards the 100-400 Mk2 is a better lens than the Mk1, it is just that I think it could have been even better if it retained the same barrel construction of the Mk1. Maybe I am weird, quite possibly, but push-pull zooms are far more intuitive, faster operating and better balanced for me. Having said that it is quite likely that I am going to buy a 100-400 Mk2 so I am willing to put up with the poorer ergonomics of the Mk2 for the better glass!

As to the twist versus trombone zoom? Any zoom lens that extends will such in air and dust - simple physics. The twist zooms may (?) suck in less dust but that is only because they are slower to zoom so the seals get a better chance to work. I want speed so that's why I prefer the push-pull/trombone action.
P.S. All the old Canon FD manual focus 70-200 F4 lenses that I have tried/owned didn't suffer from dust - so it can be done.................
 
and I thought I was the only person who actually liked the old push-pull zoom! I do think that there should be better dust sealing in what is - by 'normal' people's standard - an expensive bit of kit.
 
Last edited:
Hope its ok to revive an old thread but this seemed like the best place

I took my Canon 100-400 mkii in to be cleaned last week, its sucked in lots of dust over the years & there's now fungus growing inside - it came back straight away & they won't touch it, saying its not economical to clean. So I just wanted to warn people it might be worth getting their lens cleaned fairly regularly if they start seeing dust &/or fungus & not leave it too late.

You can find everything on YouTube so next week I'll be taking it apart & giving it a go myself - has anybody ever done this? Taking off the objective lens looks pretty straightforward at least & I'm kind of thinking I probably can't make it any worse! Incidentally, in one of the YouTube videos the fella says he's never known a lens suck in as much dust as the mkii 100-400
 
I had to send my 100-400mm mkii to Canon for a clean last month due to excessive dust on the inside of the objective glass. This was following trips to Israel and Texas so environments were pretty dusty but even so I expected better dust proofing than this. As it was just outside of warranty I had to stump up for the clean.
Wish these lenses were all internal zoom as that would resolve the sucking in of excessive dust.
 
Steve Arlow said:
I had to send my 100-400mm mkii to Canon for a clean last month due to excessive dust on the inside of the objective glass. This was following trips to Israel and Texas so environments were pretty dusty but even so I expected better dust proofing than this. As it was just outside of warranty I had to stump up for the clean.
Wish these lenses were all internal zoom as that would resolve the sucking in of excessive dust.
Click to expand...
Taking the objective lens off is pretty straightforward, all you need is a good PH00 screwdriver (don't use a cheap one because you'll chew up the screws), a pair of tweezers & a suction cup to lift the lens out (I used the one you use to stick a satnav to a windscreen). Then, for me at least, just using a rocket blower I easily got rid of all the visible dust on the lenses - the inside of the barrel is sticky, I guess designed to trap any dust that gets sucked in, but it doesn't seem to work very well!

I think to make everything internal you'd end up with a huge lens that would be far less practical but the mkii doesn't seem to be any better than the mki for sucking in dust
 
Warning! This thread is more than 2 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Similar threads

C
I've got a Canon R7 and need to update my lenses
Replies
15
Views
1K
Barred Wobbler
Barred Wobbler
F
New Equipment Starting over
Replies
3
Views
490
Luvfatbirds2
L
G
Lighter alternative to 100-400 II
2
Replies
20
Views
3K
Mikbul
Mikbul
Arbu
EOS RP with EF 100-400mm lens
Replies
3
Views
770
pdwinter
pdwinter
B
Canon EF 400/f5.6 L USM + EOS 7D Mk II combo anyone???
Replies
2
Views
979
BoldenEagle
B

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top