Quote Originally Posted by Anbesol
Well I would certainly worry more about the lint than the scratch. The scratch is kind of a bummer, but if you paid a decent price I wouldn't have worried about it. The lint *could* matter, mostly depending on where - and between which elements. If its between certain elements that may be more problem than others. It is a particular problem if it is near the aperture diaphragm, if so return immediately regardless of any visible problems with the image.

The sky images look clean, can't see any problems my self, the small dot in the top center - can't tell if its a cloud or anything else, but looks most like a cloud. For the most part, the light should come around the lint without problem, so its doubtful you would notice it in an image. I would just be weary of where it could travel when using that zoom. If it gets near the diaphragm, that can be very bad news. It may just stay in the same spot, or it could travel quite a bit - totally depends on the construction of the lens - and I'm not familiar with that particular one.

hope that helped.
Yes, in retrospect, I was better off with the "blurb". The lint appears to be between the first 2 elements of glass, so it shouldn't go too far. I'll call customer service on Monday, but it's frustrating having the camera all this time without the lens I wanted as my "walk around" - the package price was great, just $50 more than getting the camera with a new 18-55 kit lens. The spots in the sky are definitely reflections, but perhaps not as recognizable in the uploaded version.

Thank you Anbesol, your post was indeed helpful. Perhaps one day I'll know enough to be able to answer a few newbie questions myself.