How Close to Look? or New Lens Paranoia?

Recently bought two lenes:


50mm f1.4 and 100mm f2.8 Macro. I put a nice finger smudgeon the 50mm, so had to clean it up. And noticed there a number of tiny specks on the front element that will not come off. I mean tiny, as in shine a bright light on the lens to see them tiny, but tough! Feel free to wonder how it is I got a finger smudge on the new lens (I've thought it over, and determined I'm a goober)


So I took a close look at the 100mm, and noticed fewer, but still some tiny specks, and also what I assume is One Genuine Factory Installed Piece of Dust inside the lens (can a Rocket Blaster blow dust into the lens body by way of the two little vents at the fron of the lens?).


Of course these little items won't affect picture quality, but is it typical of Canon Lens/all Lenses? Should I even be lloking that close?


Thanks!

<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"]<span style="font-size: small; font-family: Calibri;"]I remember the dread I felt when I first noticed a speck *inside* my 24-70. Roll on feelings of guilt, must be terrible photographer, can&rsquo;t even keep expensive equipment in decent condition, going to store my glass in hermetically sealed vacuums, etc., etc., (don&rsquo;t know what a &lsquo;goober&rsquo; is, but it sounds like how I felt at the time). So I rushed to a Canon service centre here in Athens and was told that the speck would have to be huge to show up in pictures (unlike dust on the sensor). My angst-ridden desire to part with hard-earned money (&ldquo;can you take my lens apart and clean it, please?&rdquo;) was met with benevolent (and honest) scorn. The answer was no. I noticed this on the 85 mm portrait lens, too. Arghh! If you&rsquo;re really worried about it, follow the dust delete data instructions in your camera to correct for it, but if you really can&rsquo;t see any defects, come and join the ranks of wiser, sadder photographers and their blemishes&hellip;
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;" class="MsoNormal"]<span style="font-size: small; font-family: Calibri;"]On a more serious note, Bryan always points out that weather-sealed L lenses are only sealed when a filter is used and the 100 mm isn&rsquo;t an L. There must be imperfections in the glass manufacturing process which QC at Canon lets through because the overall IQ doesn&rsquo;t suffer, but if you truly want to learn the meaning of lens speck pain, Google &lsquo;Canon dust pump&rsquo;&hellip;

Dread...Perfect description of what I feel. Could the lens coating itselfcause the lens look like it needs to be cleaned?


Thanks for the help!

it's like getting your first scratch on a shiny new macbook pro.. doesn't really impair the functionality at all.. but still feels like a kick in the groin.

more like ur first scratch on your new convertible. I still remembered when i hit the curb and made a dent on the rim.

I dropped my first motorcycle doing a u-turn while idling in 2nd gear. My foot slipped and kicked it down into neutral, and down it went. That was worse. 12 years ago, and it still makes my heart skip a beat!

Oh yeah!