At the risk of sounding paranoid - I wanted to know if the following pics demonstrate a normal level of dust and grime one could expect to find inside the lens elements.





This lens is just under one year old. I have seen the articles that show example photos using a lens with a smashed front element, demonstrating only slight contrast loss - so some dust shouldn't be a biggie, right?

Also, these were taken using an LED light, which does tend to exaggerate and show up EVERYTHING.
I am more concerned about the hazy looking grot in the second photo.

Do you think this could be attributing to a lack of contrast or increased flare ?

Here is an example of the a scene shot with the lens in question- compared to my 25+ year old Nikkor 105 2.5 AI which shows noticably better colour and contrast. No PP applied to both pics and identical exposure settings.