Lens with deep scratch

[awty]

Hi all
I picked up a Schneider Super-Angulon 1:8/90 for a great price. Only problem was a bit of fungus on the inner lens and a scratch on the front element. I wiped away the fungus and was wondering what was the consensus for dealing with the scratch. Toe jam, ear wax or Sharpy? Or is there a better method?
Don't think the scratch would have any impact beyond maybe adding some flare.

 

[DWThomas]

Hi all
I picked up a Schneider Super-Angulon 1:8/90 for a great price. Only problem was a bit of fungus on the inner lens and a scratch on the front element. I wiped away the fungus and was wondering what was the consensus for dealing with the scratch. Toe jam, ear wax or Sharpy? Or is there a better method?
Don't think the scratch would have any impact beyond maybe adding some flare.

View attachment 345356

No first hand experience, but I believe I've heard India ink recommended. Could probably apply it with a fine quill pen or a super fine watercolor brush.

 

[250swb]

India ink or black paint if you have a fine enough brush. It's not going to make any difference to the image in the broad scheme of things anyway but the idea of colouring it black is to stop reflections in those one-in-a-thousand situations.

 

[Dan Fromm]

Some years ago I bought 210/5.6 Fujinon cells. The lens had been dropped on rocks. The front cell's front surface had a number of deep scratches. Needless to say the price was very low. As was, unusable, much flare. I applied india ink to the threads with a Micron pen. Its fine now.

 

[xkaes]

Are you sure it was fungus that you "wiped away"? Fungus typically etches the coating and the damage is permanent -- and is often in the interior of the lens. Perhaps what you thought was fungus was simply haze???

 

[Patrick Robert James]

India ink or a Pigma Micron pigment pen. The Pigma would be handy to have around for retouching dust spots on 4x5 negs too. Get the smallest one.

I'd definitely fill the scratch though.

 

[awty]

Are you sure it was fungus that you "wiped away"? Fungus typically etches the coating and the damage is permanent -- and is often in the interior of the lens. Perhaps what you thought was fungus was simply haze???

Yes, I generally only need to wipe away fungus or organic matter without too much trouble. Haze is 50/50 for me whether it has etched into the glass or not.
The front and rear main elements on these large format lenses simply unscrew by hand from the shutter and are easily cleaned usually.

 

[awty]

Thanks for the advice, I'll be just doing the ink trick.
I already had an earlier version of this lens, but this one has a better shutter for large format. Think I will use the other for 6x12 camera. Great lens.

 

[ic-racer]

I’d not put ink on that. Then the lens will not only be scratched, it will have ink on it too.

If you removed the haze you are ahead of the game; I’d use it as is.

If the lens still has more flare than a new lens of same design, I’d think more likely some of the haze was
permanent.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

That scratch is not really much of anything to be concerned about. I have a lens with multiple scratches on the front AND rear elements, deep enough to catch a fingernail on, and you wouldn't know it to see the images it makes. I gave it a torture test- photographed in the rain, at night, with neon lights in the frame, and no flare that I could detect. I've even seen some lenses that have actual cracks the whole way through the element that still make great images (although I would never point them at a light source).

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

That scratch is not really much of anything to be concerned about. I have a lens with multiple scratches on the front AND rear elements, deep enough to catch a fingernail on, and you wouldn't know it to see the images it makes. I gave it a torture test- photographed in the rain, at night, with neon lights in the frame, and no flare that I could detect. I've even seen some lenses that have actual cracks the whole way through the element that still make great images (although I would never point them at a light source).

It makes we wonder why I bother cleaning my lens.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

It makes we wonder why I bother cleaning my lens.

Well, enough schmutz (to use a technical term) on the lens and it will show up as either generalized softening of the image or, in the case of water drops, spotted softening/reduced contrast. Cleaning the schmutz is very different than a scratch.

That said, I once bought a Rolleiflex 2.8C on Ebay that was described as having "mild coating damage" to the front element but otherwise in good shape. WELL... not only did it need at least $600 worth of rehabilitation, and it reeked of tobacco smoke, but the front element damage was not coating loss. Instead it looked like it had extended intimate relations with a belt sander. There was no way it would ever produce a sharp image, and it would flare even with the mother of all lens hoods.