Cleaning inside of 100-400 GM-OSS lens

[Prim8Pal]

Somehow I managed to get a few particulates on the inside of my lens.  Can someone recommend a good place to get it cleaned, preferably in the East Bay (San Francisco bay area)?  I'd prefer not to have to ship the lens somewhere but would be willing to do it if that's the only alternative.

[Pieter]

Does it affect image quality at all? It is quite common to get some dust inside lenses, especially extending zoom lenses which suck in air while extending. Unless there's a lot of dust inside the lens, this doesn't affect image quality. In such a case, don't bother having the lens cleaned and just accept it's natural to extending zoom lenses. Unless perhaps you're planning to sell the lens and are worried about depreciation.

[FunWithCameras]

Most dust inside a lens has absolutely no impact on the shots. Lens Rentals experimented and found they had to put quite large pieces of post-it on a lens for it to be visible. Basically dust inside the lens is pretty much inevitable and invisible. 

https://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2011/08/the-apocalypse-of-lens-dust/

[Prim8Pal]

Thanks for the info.  The contaminant looks more like it came from some sort of plant material like pollen.   I took a couple of test images and there is a small area where there is a slightly noticeable difference but I will do more testing.

[XKAES]

O-OH.  Has this lens been used in a humid environment?  Seattle?  Singapore?

Pictures would help.  I hope it's not fungus!!!

Edited April 28, 2023 by XKAES