Panasonic LX-100 Dirty Lens

Dirty Lens

Ugh, I really like my Panasonic LX-100 camera. It has served me well for 3 years now. I have known it was possible for dirt and lint to get stuck in the fixed lens. There were plenty of discussions mentioning this problem from before I bought it. I just hoped I would never come across the issue. As you can see from the photo above, it has hit my camera quite badly. I have not pin-pointed the exact moment it happened, but I know that I had good clean photos in early September, without any issue, and by the end of September, I had found the lens very dirty. I don’t remember shooting in a particularly dusty situation, so it must have slowly built up without my noticing. I believe shooting with f-stops of 5 and lower, will obscure the dirt, and it may not be as easily noticeable. This image was shot at f16.

There are DIY repair suggestions. The hoover option seems to have the most support online. I don’t actually own a vacuum cleaner, so I will have to wait until I visit my parents house to use theirs. Of course, if that doesn’t resolve the issue, I could always try the nuclear option and disassemble the camera. Being an electronic engineer, I am quite familiar with all the small electronics to be found inside the assembly. However, with so many micro-mechanical components it would cause a little extra concern if I had to go down this route. Fingers crossed that it doesn’t go that far.

I have an update to this here.