How worried should I be about this lens? (Minolta MC Macro Rokkor-PF 50/3.5)

[hospadar]

Picked up a macro for my SRT, front element seems to be kinda scratched up. Going to shoot some test shots through it, but my general impression is that it won't be much of a problem. Doesn't appear to be any haze/fungus, and I opened things up and blew out the insides, so no internal dust.

I grabbed it for an art project that involves close-ups of body parts (hands/ears/etc), not true macro, probably 1:4 - 1:10 ish for the most part. Lighting will all be pretty controlled so I don't think flare will be a problem, and I can always crank up the contrast in post.

Would you be looking for a replacement, or just roll with it as long as the images come back pretty sharp?

(pics are just the front element, the other elements looked fine to me)

 

[ic-racer]

I suspect you can make great photographs with the lens.

 

[reddesert]

Of course, I can't know, but I suspect it will be fine. Lighting like that tends to emphasize imperfections that are more or less invisible when looking through the lens, especially if you can use a hood / keep bright light sources out of the frame.

My feeling and experience is that defects on the front have less effect than defects on the rear (probably defect size related to the differing beam sizes for subject and image planes, hand-wavingly). When this topic comes up, I also refer to this blog post from Roger Cicala at lensrentals: https://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2008/10/front-element-scratches/

 

[dynachrome]

I also think your photos will be fine. The Minolta 50/3.5 macros are some of my favorites. I have every version from the early pre-setmidel in SR mount until the MD. This includes the 50/3.5 Bellows lens. I still don't have the pre-set model in Leica 39mm mount. I do have the later 50/3.5 AF. It only goes to 1:2 and is not as sophisticated as the 50/2.8 but is still sharp. The later manual focus lenses have plastic barrels. I bought one with good glass but a cracked barrel. I had the lens elements transplanted into a 50/3.5 Celtic Macro body. I don't even remember how many of the Celtics I have. They are all excellent. I used them a lot on an X-700 with a grid type focusing screen. The SRTs are a little dim with the 50/3.5s but OK in bright light.